December 6, 2006

Using Google Desktop as a Google Reader Notifier

Google Desktop is a very powerful software. One of the most interesting gadgets that comes preinstalled is Web Clips, a list of the latest posts from your favorite feeds. The gadgets also shows alerts, so you'll never miss an important news. Here's how can you configure Google Desktop to show the feeds from Google Reader.

1. Copy this address:

http://www.google.com/reader/atom/user/-/state/com.google/reading-list

2. Open Google Desktop, make sure the sidebar is visible. Click on the small arrow next to "Web Clips" and select options.

3. Uncheck "Automatically add clips from frequently viewed sites" and remove all the clips.

4. Paste the address from step #1, and click on the Add button.

5. Login to Google.com in Internet Explorer.

You can also subscribe to the Atom feed from step #1 using Live Bookmarks in Firefox, Opera's feed reader or other desktop client.

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18 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 6, 2006 at 2:04 PM

    Hmm... can't get this to work. I get the following error: "Unsupported web clip version". I've confirmed that I've followed the directions properly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alex ChituDecember 6, 2006 at 2:37 PM

    The thing is that this feed is not public so Google needs to know your username / password.

    So you have to login somehow. You must login using Internet Explorer or use this URL in Google Desktop:

    http://username:password@google.com/reader/atom/user/[.. the URL from step #2]

    The second approach is not very secure, but it works.

    ReplyDelete
  3. High Power RocketryDecember 6, 2006 at 7:58 PM

    Fun stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousDecember 7, 2006 at 11:08 AM

    Crappy that you need to be logged in thru IE. I use my main google account thru firefox, and a secondary one (for my hockey pool!) thru IE. Using this method, it would only read the feeds that my hockey pool account is subscribed to.

    I wish you could log in to Desktop directly.

    Speaking of Google Desktop, is there a good blog post/website that has a good review or rating of Gadgets? For example, there's something like 10 sudoku gadgets! How do you pick one? Where are the good gadgets? The google search for gadgets really leaves something to be desired.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alex ChituDecember 7, 2006 at 11:16 AM

    I think the best Sudoku gadget is the one named "Sudoku", which should appear the first if you do a search for "sudoku".

    Google Desktop sorts the gadgets by popularity (number of downloads), but some rating system would be better.

    Where are the good gadgets? Here.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DanielMay 26, 2007 at 8:41 AM

    Fun stuff indeed, WITH the password trick. But, alas, it doesn't show where a news item is coming from, nor does it mark things as read.

    We really need a proper google reader gadget.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousJune 25, 2007 at 2:10 PM

    Yep, where's the gadget?

    ReplyDelete
  8. M.August 2, 2007 at 7:02 AM

    I like this approach but I wish there was a way to click "Share" in the Web Clips, just like we do in Google Reader.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousNovember 10, 2007 at 6:33 PM

    Add one more vote for a Reader gadget.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousDecember 31, 2007 at 9:57 AM

    Thank you ! I was in ambiguity how Google Desktop doesn't support its RSS reader and I saearched Gadjets but not found anything, Now I surprised that WebClips is for it!
    Thank !

    ReplyDelete
  11. MárioJuly 11, 2008 at 7:54 AM

    Is there a way to backup my current config of webclips? I´m about to format my disk...

    ReplyDelete
  12. henriqueAugust 7, 2008 at 4:43 PM

    I have done this at one pc with XP + IE 6 and it worked fine. So i tried to do at one pc with Vista + IE and couldn't get it working! Any tips?

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousAugust 16, 2008 at 3:05 AM

    Yes seriously. Google needs to make a proper Google Reader gadget for Google Desktop. I was surprised they did not have one!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Caleb Alt WalchNovember 8, 2008 at 7:39 PM

    Still no gadget for this?!

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2009 at 2:34 AM

    + vote for google reader gadget. i'm using chrome and this tips dont help me... :(

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousMarch 3, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    I'm using google chrome and I can't find a better reader for google desktop.

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownApril 16, 2009 at 1:25 PM

    Please try this...
    http://grreadergadget.googlecode.com/files/grreader.gg
    And help make it better! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousJuly 12, 2010 at 5:21 AM

    I'm not getting any alerts from Desktop/Web Clips at all. Any help?

    ReplyDelete

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