Privacy

Comment Export for Sheets™ reads the comments in a spreadsheet you open it in, and writes them into a tab in that same spreadsheet. Nothing is sent anywhere else. There is no server behind it, no account, and no database, so there is nothing for me to collect and nothing for me to lose.

I'm the developer, and this page describes exactly what the add-on does. If any of it turns out to be wrong, tell me and I'll correct it.

What it asks for

The add-on requests three permissions, and these are the narrowest ones that let it work:

• See, edit, create and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use this app with (drive.file). This is granted one file at a time, by you, when you press Grant access to this file. The add-on cannot see any other file in your Drive, and it is never given broad Drive access.
• View and manage the spreadsheet this application is used in (spreadsheets.currentonly). This is what lets it write the results tab back into the spreadsheet you're in.
• Connect to an external service (script.external_request). The only address it ever contacts is googleapis.com, Google's own API, to ask for a copy of the spreadsheet you granted access to. It contacts no other host.

The add-on has no server of its own. There is no address your data could be sent to, because I don't operate one.

What happens when you press the button

• It asks Google's Drive API to export the spreadsheet you granted access to.
• It reads the comment records out of that export. This happens inside Google Apps Script, running under your own account, on Google's infrastructure.
• It writes a tab named Comment Export into the same spreadsheet, containing the sheet and cell each comment sits on, who wrote it, when, whether it's resolved, and its replies.
• The copy it worked from is discarded when the run ends.

Your comments never leave your Google account. They go from your spreadsheet, through Google's own infrastructure, back into your spreadsheet.

What I collect

Nothing. I have no analytics in this add-on, no error reporting service, no usage tracking, no mailing list signup, and no way to see who has installed it beyond the aggregate install count that Google shows every developer on the Marketplace. I cannot see your spreadsheets, your comments, your name, or your email address.

What is stored

Nothing outside your own spreadsheet. The add-on keeps no database and writes no settings. The only thing it leaves behind is the Comment Export tab, which is yours, sits in your file, and which you can delete like any other tab.

Sharing

There is nothing to share. No data is sold, rented, transferred, or disclosed to anyone, because none is collected in the first place.

How the data is protected

The add-on processes the contents of a spreadsheet you grant it, which may include sensitive information. This section sets out the specific measures that protect it.

Encryption in transit. Every request the add-on makes is HTTPS over TLS to googleapis.com. Unencrypted HTTP isn't used and isn't reachable: the manifest's urlFetchWhitelist pins the only address the add-on may contact to https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/, and Google Apps Script refuses any outbound request to any other host. This restriction is enforced by the platform rather than by my code, so it holds even if the code were altered or defective.

Encryption at rest. Your spreadsheet, and the tab the add-on writes into it, stay in Google Drive and are encrypted at rest by Google. No copy is held anywhere else, because there's nowhere else: I operate no server, no database and no storage of any kind.

Access control. The add-on runs inside Google Apps Script under your own account, using an OAuth token issued to you, and it can reach only the individual files you have granted through drive.file. It is never given broad Drive access. Neither I nor anyone else can run it on your behalf or read anything it processes. There are no developer accounts, administrative consoles or support tools with access to your content, because there's no system to log in to.

Retention and deletion. The exported copy of your spreadsheet exists only in memory, for the duration of a single execution, and is discarded when that execution ends. Nothing is retained. There is no backup, archive, log or cache of your content. Revoking access takes effect immediately and leaves nothing behind but the Comment Export tab in your own file, which you can delete like any other tab.

Secure development. The add-on requests the narrowest scopes that let it work, two of which are non-sensitive and scoped to a single file at a time. The complete source is published at github.com/bsunter93/comment-export-for-sheets, so every claim on this page can be checked against the code rather than taken on trust. It uses no third party libraries and loads no external code at runtime.

Incident response. Because no user content is collected, transmitted to me, or stored outside your own Google account, there's no store of data that could be breached. If a security issue is found in the add-on itself, report it to sunterbb@gmail.com. I will acknowledge it, publish a corrected version, and describe the issue and its scope on this page.

Google API Services User Data Policy

Comment Export for Sheets™ use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Revoking access

You can remove the add-on at any time from the Google Workspace Marketplace, and you can review or revoke its permissions at any time at your Google account permissions page. Revoking access takes effect immediately.

Children

The add-on is a tool for working with spreadsheets and is not directed at children.

Changes

If the add-on ever starts doing something this page doesn't describe, this page changes first. The date at the top is when it was last revised.

Contact

Benjamin J. Sunter, Denver, Colorado. sunterbb@gmail.com. Questions and corrections both welcome.