Learnya Academy
Lesson 8 of 10 · 9 min

Setting up a watch

Monitor a page, a topic or a source and only be alerted if something changes.

ObjectiveBy the end of this lesson, you will be able to set up a watch that only alerts you when a useful change appears on a page, a topic or a source.

A watch is a task that monitors rather than produces. It looks at a page, a topic or a source at regular intervals and only speaks up when something has changed. A silent watch is a watch that works.

Good uses for a team

  • Follow a regulatory page that concerns your line of work.
  • Monitor academic publications on a research topic.
  • Spot changes in prices or terms at a supplier.
  • Be alerted when a topic comes up in your sector’s news.
Try it in LearnyaSet up a watch on the page of cantonal guidelines on public procurement. Check it every weekday morning and alert me only if the content changes, with a summary of the change and the link. Otherwise, say nothing. Try in Learnya
  1. In “Automations”, choose “New task”.
  2. Tick “This is a watch”.
  3. In the instruction, state the page or topic to monitor and what counts as a change.
  4. Choose the recurrence, for example “Weekdays” at 07:00.
  5. Create the watch, then check its first results on the “Activity” screen.
The Activity feed, where a watch only posts when it has detected a change.

Writing what counts as a change

A web page often changes for reasons of no interest: a date, a banner, a layout. Say precisely what matters to you, for example a new amount, a new effective date or an added document. The watch will be all the quieter and all the more useful.

When a watch reports a change, the notification arrives on the web, on your computer and on your phone. You can then open the linked conversation and ask for a deeper analysis, for example the effect of the change on your procedures.