134 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
134 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
# Google Docs Comment Automation — Journey Log
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2026-06-21
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## Background
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Task: review Chinese→English Buddhist translation manuscripts on Google Docs
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by adding editorial comments (the "Wade" style — anchored suggestions on
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specific text). The reviewer is an AI agent running on Hermes with API access.
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## Phase 1: Google Workspace OAuth Setup
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Set up OAuth2 for Google Workspace access:
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- Created Google Cloud project (932146571366)
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- Enabled APIs: Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Docs, People
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- Created Desktop OAuth client, downloaded client_secret.json
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- Completed OAuth PKCE flow → token at ~/.hermes/google_token.json
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Success: authenticated with scopes covering all needed services.
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## Phase 2: Reading Documents and Comments (Success)
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Used the Google Drive API v3 `comments.list` endpoint to fetch comments
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from existing review documents:
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- Doc 1 (1DTzH7...): 61 人生佛教在当代的弘扬 — 121 comments
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- Doc 2 (13S_0u...): 附录 我的判教观 — 151 comments
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- Doc 3 (1LxCcX...): 16 觉醒的艺术 — 201 comments
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Total: 473 editor comments by Wade, spanning 2026-04-17 to 2026-06-20.
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These comments were well-anchored (kix.XXXXXXXX format) and contained
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actionable editorial suggestions in Chinese.
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## Phase 3: Pattern Analysis (Success)
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Analyzed all 473 comments to extract systematic review rules. The editor's
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feedback follows clear patterns:
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R1 — Active voice + "we" subject
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R2 — Noun → verb conversion
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R3 — Simplify vocabulary
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R4 — Break long sentences
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R5 — Remove unnecessary words
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R6 — Conversational / interview tone
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R7 — No -ly adverbs
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R8 — Concrete over abstract
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R9 — Terminology alignment
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R10 — Missing content detection
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R11 — Source faithfulness
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R12 — Sentence structure clarity
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R13 — Specific word fixes
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R14 — Positive feedback (随喜), naming the translator
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Created skill: toolkit/skills/mpi-translation-review-comment/SKILL.md
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## Phase 4: Attempting to Create Anchored Comments (Failure)
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Task: apply the review rules to a new document
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(1NmJKNavB4IBg56ZRBdS5ux9ObRVlHPnSxVmjjXCyITs — 佛法与企业管理, translator: maple).
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### Attempt 1: comments.create without anchor
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Result: comments appear as document-level (unanchored). The translator has no
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way to know which text each comment refers to. User rejected this approach:
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"Without anchors, there is no way to know where the translator should edit."
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### Attempt 2: kix anchors from Docs API response
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Searched the document body via `documents.get` for kix segment IDs.
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Result: the Docs API response does NOT expose kix anchors. Only footer IDs
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(kix.hf0, kix.list) appear. Text segments have no kix identifiers.
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### Attempt 3: kix anchors from HTML export
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Exported the document as HTML via Drive API `files.export_media`.
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Result: HTML export contains NO kix IDs. Since 2021, Google Docs renders
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content on `<canvas>`, so there are no DOM nodes with kix attributes in
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the exported HTML.
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### Attempt 4: Browser-based kix extraction
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Tried navigating to the document via browser to extract kix IDs from the
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live page DOM. Result: requires Google sign-in. Agent cannot authenticate
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to Google in a browser session.
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### Attempt 5: Line-based anchor format (official docs)
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The Drive API docs describe an alternative anchor format using line numbers:
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```json
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{"region": {"kind": "drive#commentRegion", "line": 1, "rev": "head"}}
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```
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Created a test comment with this format. Pending user verification on whether
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it actually anchors in the Google Docs UI.
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### Official Position
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The Google Drive API documentation states (as of 2025):
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> "The anchor is saved and returned when retrieving the comment, however
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> Google Workspace editor apps treat these comments as un-anchored comments."
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The kix.* anchor format is Google's internal, undocumented format that has
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never been reverse-engineered. A 2016 thread on the Google Apps Script
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community confirms this has been a known limitation for nearly a decade
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with no resolution.
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## Phase 5: Workaround
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Created `translate-files/佛法与企业管理/review-comments.dj` — a structured
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file listing each comment with:
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- The specific text it should anchor to (quoted)
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- The comment content
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The translator can manually add these comments in the Google Docs UI by
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selecting the quoted text and inserting each comment.
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## Key Findings
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1. **Reading comments works perfectly** via Drive API `comments.list`
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2. **Writing anchored comments does NOT work** — the anchor is silently
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ignored by Google Docs editor apps
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3. **The only reliable way** to add anchored comments to Google Docs is
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through the browser UI (select text → Insert → Comment), which requires
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human interaction or a headless browser with Google authentication
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4. **Google Apps Script** might support anchored comments from within
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the document environment (untested — requires different auth model)
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5. The `translation-review-comment` skill remains useful for `.dj` file
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review where `patch` can be used instead of comments
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## Files Created
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- toolkit/skills/mpi-translation-review-comment/SKILL.md — systematic review rule checklist
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- translate-files/佛法与企业管理/review-comments.dj — manual comment reference
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