Process Feedback for Google Docs
Extension Actions
Shows the edit history of a Google Docs document.
📌 What is the Process Feedback extension?
The Process Feedback extension is for teachers and students. It pulls the edit history of a Google Docs document and turns that history into a writing process report. In the process report, you can explore copy-paste events, the frequency and timing of breaks taken, typing fluency, time spent on each paragraph, time allocated to revision compared to initial drafting, and total typing time.
➛ Support for multiple tabs
➛ Shows user contributions
➛ Works for Google Classrooms
🛠 How do I use the extension?
➛ Step 1: Add this extension to your browser
➛ Step 2: Open your Google document
➛ Step 3: Find the “Explore Process” button near the menu bar and click on it
➛ Step 4: If you prefer the ribbon view instead, change the settings in the extension popup
❌ Unable to install the extension?
➛ To install any Chrome extension, you need to log in to Chrome.
➛ Please reload the Google Docs page after installing the extension.
➛ Your institution’s IT department may need to approve installing any new Chrome extension.
🔗 How to share the writing process report?
➛ Share Link: Copy the URL of the report link and share it.
➛ Share PDF: In the sidebar, click “Download Process Report” to download a PDF of the process report.
👤 Who is it for?
The extension is primarily designed for students to self-reflect on their writing process.
⚙️ How does it work?
The extension pulls the entire edit history of your Google Doc, which is already maintained by Google, and turns the writing journey into an interactive process report.
📚 How can teachers integrate it into a course?
Please visit www.processfeedback.org/gdocs for step-by-step instructions on how to integrate the extension into your course.
✨ How is it different from other extensions?
Unlike extensions like Draftback, this extension provides many rich features. Students can also download a PDF report or simply share a link to their process report. In a way, it is a free alternative to extensions like Draftback, Originality.ai, Revision History, and Grammarly Authorship, but with many more features.
⚠️ Limitations
The extension is not well-tested with large documents with 100K+ changes or 100K+ characters. Its text styling is also not perfect yet. If you run into issues using the extension, please email us at [email protected].
📜 Terms and conditions
By installing the extension, you agree to and acknowledge the terms and conditions at https://processfeedback.org/terms/.
🔒 Privacy policy
➛ By default, this extension does not collect any user data and runs fully locally in a user’s device.
➛ When a user chooses to save online, for sharing the report with others, it collects the author information and full edit history data of the Google Docs document. Collected data is stored only so users can view reports with the process report link and share the report with others.
➛ For co-edited documents, users should always obtain permission from all co-authors before viewing or sharing process reports.
📖 Reference/citation
If you are using Process Feedback for a research project, please cite the following peer-reviewed research article:
Adhikari, Badri; “Thinking Beyond Chatbots’ Threat to Education: Visualizations to Elucidate the Writing or Coding Process”; Education Sciences; 2023.
Latest reviews
- Lisa Horner
- This extension is awesome for assessing written work and originality. It helped my students learn that AI is not the way to go with written work.
- Jennifer Menzel
- This app has helped to streamline my essay grading process, especially when it comes to checking for AI cheating.
- Amy LeFevre
- Process Feedback has saved me as an English teacher in a day of AI. I tell the students that all their writing must be completed on the Google Doc I provide, and I can still allow them to type writing assignments because of Process Feedback.
- Kelsey Box
- Such a helpful tool for teaching English!
- Sung Eun Park
- So glad to find this tool. Made my job a lot easier and productive. I was switching from DraftBack, and PF offers much more in-depth analysis.
- Nina Avis
- Useful tool for teachers
- Rebecca Howe
- This is a great resource for students and teachers. The play back video is helpful, but I also really like active typing sessions information, all of the visual representations of text added and removed, etc. Definitely worth trying out.
- Ruben Garza
- Wow. This is awesome whether it be free or not. I'm glad that it is free though, of course. It has so much data, aka proof. Thank you!
- Noriko Nishimoto
- Free and Improved! You can pin point where exactly you want to see students' editing history in the fast forwarding video. I was relieved it's free, and it's much quicker and easier to work with, than the other for fee apps.
- Nora Torreano
- Very helpful as a jumping off point for conversations with students regarding whether or not the work is their own as well as if, when, and how to use AI
- Megan Justice
- I've used a lot of different tools but none has been as comprehensive as this one. From a quick view screen on every submitted assignment to very detailed data when I need it, Process Feedback has been the best tool I've used. Thank you so much! Please keep this one free!
- Ryan Mammarella
- Best essay review extension that I've found so far.
- Sarah Schanke
- Love it! I switched to this plagiarism checker when the old one I used became no longer free. I love it! Videos of what the kids have done, results on what was copy and pasted, and the little time count they spent on the document that's automatically there. It's fantastic! Highly recommend and have told my whole English department about it.
- Ryan Gatton - AHS
- Great product for teachers in this new age of AI! Thank you!
- Susan Ciavarro
- Extremely user-friendly for the busy teacher :). Provides a full overview of the probable sources and contributors. A very helpful tool.
- David Schalm
- Havent used it much but so far it has provided great detailed information about the writing process and helps me to authenticate work being submitted.
- Timmy LEUNG [11DS]
- Very helpful. I'm glad it's free.
- Lisa Marcos
- This is an excellent resource for teachers to help students. It not only shows a number of cut and pastes (which can highlight potential plagiarism) but also is useful for showing a students' editing process. It has been very useful for conversations.
- Abigail Watson
- Great tool to use in school, the reports are very detailed and make the conversations with students and parents easy.
- Fiona Game
- I think this is one of the better tools to understand how students may be using AI. In particular, the tool in the 'Full Report' which appears last of all, called 'Compare changes', allows teachers to see the editing process in a very fine-grained way. I find this one very helpful where a student might be re-typing an "AI response" from a different computer screen.
- Ian Tibby
- I'm the Dean of Students at my school, and this extension has been a game changer and life saver for us. We've used to check any reports of Cheating or Plagiarism and successfully used it to catch some of them. Our students are more likely to do their work properly now as we have this tool to catch them cheating. Thank you guys so much for creating this!
- Dorothy Simon
- I teach high school in a very competitive school, where, unfortunately, AI writing has been invading my classroom steadily. I use it on every assignment my students do on Google Docs. Not only does it help me see where they might have used an AI, but it lets me know how long they actually spent on the assignment. I have been able to use it to retrieve earlier versions of a response/ essay, and check that on an AI identifying program. I love that it lets me check the process on work they did three years ago; as I write their recommendations for college, I like to be sure I'm not referencing something they didn't write on their own. I love that it's right there, and with a few quick clicks, I get the information I need in seconds. I wish I'd had it from the day ChatGPT was released on the world.
- Silvio Mazzella
- I am a high school teacher and I love using the Process feedback for Google docs. This free tool is very useful when grading student writing and it helps me to monitor plagiarism and AI use. In addition, it gives me the opportunity to provide feedback on the student's writing process. I am thankful that this is a free service for all to use.
- ALISON FIORELLI
- This is great, free alternative to backdraft. It would be cool if it flagged large sections being copied and pasted, so I did not have to watch the whole playback.
- Maria Whittle
- I'm a college professor and I find this tool to be very helpful when grading student writing. The reports can help flag AI use, but they are also super helpful to see what the student's writing process was like, which helps me tailor my feedback to their strengths and weaknesses, and offer writing strategies to them going forward. I would definitely recommend this tool to colleagues.
- Emily Okes
- The report and "live" video are full of details that help to monitor students' and writers' work. While it is very helpful to monitor for inappropriate plagiarism or AI use, it can also be used to show how a work's text can be reorganized and edited for improvement. In some cases it seems to show more detail than Google Docs' version history. I am grateful that it is free to help teachers and writers.
- Erik Ingmundson
- It's a great tool. It's useful for identifying potential uses of outside sources. It also can give great insight into a student's writing process, giving teachers the opportunity to provide feedback not only on the text that was submitted, but on the process the student followed in getting there. I REALLY hope this tool remains free!
- K Tappe
- This is a pretty amazing free tool (and I hope it stays that way!) The statistics it is able to provide on writing behavior are invaluable to me as a professor. I particularly like the copy/paste behaviors, as I strictly forbit students from pasting into their working document, so I can observe their writing process. Keep up the good work!!
- Larkin Bond
- This has helped identify AI use as an English Teacher. It is a gamechanger!
- Kimberly Reigle
- This an excellent, user friendly tool for educators.
- Dana Shool
- I just found out about this tool and love that it is free. I had another extension that did the same thing but became a paid service and I was so bummed. This works just as well and I love the video plus large copy/paste event. It is helpful to show students that I have access to this and can easily spot plagiarism/AI use. Thank you!
- Jo Carmona
- In this era of teaching, many educators are pressed to remove measures of student accountability. I'm glad there are still good people making effective tools that preserve the honesty component of academic excellence.
- William Chesser
- I teach at a virtual school and I use this daily in grading. It is a game changer for knowing how my students are doing the work that they turn in. Thank you so much for this incredibly useful tool.
- Kate Wallis
- Love it! It's like Draftback but better.
- Angelina Dulong
- I teach college writing, and I have an assignment called "awkward conversations" where students must prove they didn't use AI to write a paper. The students who use Process Feedback to show their process can do this in a matter of seconds; the students who try alternative methods take much, much longer and are less confident in their proof. My students feel empowered to have conversations when there are questions of AI use due to Process Feedback, and I'm excited to move on to using it for other purposes next quarter.
- Shanon Manley
- I just ran across this and it has already saved me from having to search to see what my students are doing - it is an awesome tool to show exactly what the students are working and the time spent working. I love this and am so thankful it is free. I need to figure more out and would love to see it show me where students are accessing the information from.
- Jillian Hamilton Oley
- This is an amazing tool for teachers! It is so easy to use and offers a useful snapshot of data about your student's writing process. A must have!
- David Ziringer
- keep up the good work, very quick and helpful way to get flagged about potential student AI misuse
- Lori Slifka
- It allows for a quick and easy way to see how much time my students have put towards assignments!
- James Castle
- Love being able to see what the process is for writing. Also helps to see how long it takes for the writing to take place. Strongly encourage the use of this program.
- Sarah Christopherson
- The options of a basic or detailed report are great. It really provides an inside look to the writing process and is a valuable tool for both students and educators.
- Mark Landuyt
- Excellent, detailed reports really give insight and introspection to the writing process. It is a tool for students and teachers to examine their process. Of course, it is tool to help accountability for students in a world of AI, but the word count tools and tracking changes features help students reflect and revise their writing habits.
- 류성은
- It’s great to have a free program that lets us see the detailed process of how students write their reports. In today’s world, this kind of tool is extremely useful. The analysis doesn’t take as much time as expected, and the program records valuable information such as the total writing time, the number of revisions, and typing speed. In particular, when the typing speed is abnormally fast, the tool provides TP so that we can directly locate that part. By pressing the play button, we can even watch the entire writing process as a video. Thanks to the comprehensive analysis, we can easily identify unusual points without having to watch the whole writing video.
- Jason Simon
- This is by far the best tool I have found to take an in-depth look at student writing, sift through a ton of data, and, of course, disincentivize student cheating and AI use among my high school English students. I'm so glad this is free, unlike some of the other extensions that switched to a pay mode after we'd already been using them.
- Dexter Aley
- Fantastic tool! An even better extension than "Revision History". I truly hope that the creators keep this free, as it is a daily user for me. You have NO idea how many cheaters there are in computer and business classes. Without this, I'd have to spend hours a month Googling suspicious phrases in papers to show kids and parents what is ai/cheating and what is not. THANK YOU!
- Thomas Scheip
- Fantastic tool to see Google Doc edits in real time. Very helpful as a writing educator to see a student's writing process
- Jessica Peterson
- Excellent extension - it does exactly what I want it to and gives me lots of information about student's writing.
- Noah Funk
- Amazing program. Extremely elaborate.
- Shelly Phillips
- This is an excellent resource! It has great analytics and many different charts you can use depending on what your writing focus is on. My favorite data is on how long students take to write their papers. It has both a quick report and long report option and both show a playback of the student's work.
- Aaron Brashear
- Lifesaving, I had my legitimate essay flagged by Turnitin and this extension allowed me to prove my case and fight for my academic integrity.