# Google Docs Comment Automation — Journey Log

2026-06-21

## Background

Task: review Chinese→English Buddhist translation manuscripts on Google Docs
by adding editorial comments (the "Wade" style — anchored suggestions on
specific text). The reviewer is an AI agent running on Hermes with API access.

## Phase 1: Google Workspace OAuth Setup

Set up OAuth2 for Google Workspace access:
- Created Google Cloud project (932146571366)
- Enabled APIs: Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Docs, People
- Created Desktop OAuth client, downloaded client_secret.json
- Completed OAuth PKCE flow → token at ~/.hermes/google_token.json

Success: authenticated with scopes covering all needed services.

## Phase 2: Reading Documents and Comments (Success)

Used the Google Drive API v3 `comments.list` endpoint to fetch comments
from existing review documents:

- Doc 1 (1DTzH7...): 61 人生佛教在当代的弘扬 — 121 comments
- Doc 2 (13S_0u...): 附录 我的判教观 — 151 comments
- Doc 3 (1LxCcX...): 16 觉醒的艺术 — 201 comments

Total: 473 editor comments by Wade, spanning 2026-04-17 to 2026-06-20.
These comments were well-anchored (kix.XXXXXXXX format) and contained
actionable editorial suggestions in Chinese.

## Phase 3: Pattern Analysis (Success)

Analyzed all 473 comments to extract systematic review rules. The editor's
feedback follows clear patterns:

R1  — Active voice + "we" subject
R2  — Noun → verb conversion
R3  — Simplify vocabulary
R4  — Break long sentences
R5  — Remove unnecessary words
R6  — Conversational / interview tone
R7  — No -ly adverbs
R8  — Concrete over abstract
R9  — Terminology alignment
R10 — Missing content detection
R11 — Source faithfulness
R12 — Sentence structure clarity
R13 — Specific word fixes
R14 — Positive feedback (随喜), naming the translator

Created skill: skills/translation-review-comment/SKILL.md

## Phase 4: Attempting to Create Anchored Comments (Failure)

Task: apply the review rules to a new document
(1NmJKNavB4IBg56ZRBdS5ux9ObRVlHPnSxVmjjXCyITs — 佛法与企业管理, translator: maple).

### Attempt 1: comments.create without anchor

Result: comments appear as document-level (unanchored). The translator has no
way to know which text each comment refers to. User rejected this approach:
"Without anchors, there is no way to know where the translator should edit."

### Attempt 2: kix anchors from Docs API response

Searched the document body via `documents.get` for kix segment IDs.
Result: the Docs API response does NOT expose kix anchors. Only footer IDs
(kix.hf0, kix.list) appear. Text segments have no kix identifiers.

### Attempt 3: kix anchors from HTML export

Exported the document as HTML via Drive API `files.export_media`.
Result: HTML export contains NO kix IDs. Since 2021, Google Docs renders
content on `<canvas>`, so there are no DOM nodes with kix attributes in
the exported HTML.

### Attempt 4: Browser-based kix extraction

Tried navigating to the document via browser to extract kix IDs from the
live page DOM. Result: requires Google sign-in. Agent cannot authenticate
to Google in a browser session.

### Attempt 5: Line-based anchor format (official docs)

The Drive API docs describe an alternative anchor format using line numbers:
```json
{"region": {"kind": "drive#commentRegion", "line": 1, "rev": "head"}}
```
Created a test comment with this format. Pending user verification on whether
it actually anchors in the Google Docs UI.

### Official Position

The Google Drive API documentation states (as of 2025):

> "The anchor is saved and returned when retrieving the comment, however
> Google Workspace editor apps treat these comments as un-anchored comments."

The kix.* anchor format is Google's internal, undocumented format that has
never been reverse-engineered. A 2016 thread on the Google Apps Script
community confirms this has been a known limitation for nearly a decade
with no resolution.

## Phase 5: Workaround

Created `translate-files/佛法与企业管理/review-comments.dj` — a structured
file listing each comment with:
- The specific text it should anchor to (quoted)
- The comment content

The translator can manually add these comments in the Google Docs UI by
selecting the quoted text and inserting each comment.

## Key Findings

1. **Reading comments works perfectly** via Drive API `comments.list`
2. **Writing anchored comments does NOT work** — the anchor is silently
   ignored by Google Docs editor apps
3. **The only reliable way** to add anchored comments to Google Docs is
   through the browser UI (select text → Insert → Comment), which requires
   human interaction or a headless browser with Google authentication
4. **Google Apps Script** might support anchored comments from within
   the document environment (untested — requires different auth model)
5. The `translation-review-comment` skill remains useful for `.dj` file
   review where `patch` can be used instead of comments

## Files Created

- skills/translation-review-comment/SKILL.md — systematic review rule checklist
- translate-files/佛法与企业管理/review-comments.dj — manual comment reference