Process Feedback for Google Docs
Extension Actions
Shows the edit history of a Google Docs document.
đź“Ś 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.
âž› Support for multiple tabs
âž› Shows user contributions
âž› Works for Google Classrooms
đź› How do I use the extension?
âž› Step 1: Add this extension to your browser
âž› Step 2: Open your Google document
➛ Step 3: Find the “Explore Process” button near the menu bar and click on it
âž› Step 4: If you prefer the ribbon view instead, change the settings in the extension popup
❌ Unable to install the extension?
âž› To install any Chrome extension, you need to log in to Chrome.
âž› Please reload the Google Docs page after installing the extension.
➛ Your institution’s IT department may need to approve installing any new Chrome extension.
đź”— How to share the writing process report?
âž› 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.
đź“š 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].
đź“ś Terms and conditions
By installing the extension, you agree to and acknowledge the terms and conditions at https://processfeedback.org/terms/.
đź”’ Privacy policy
➛ By default, this extension does not collect any user data and runs fully locally in a user’s device.
âž› 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.
âž› For co-edited documents, users should always obtain permission from all co-authors before viewing or sharing process reports.
đź“– 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
- Meryem Busra UNSAL
- We met with this app thanks to a colleague, and it saved us! we were looking for an effective tool to detect AI and see student progress, I think process feedback is great.
- Jen DeBaere
- This has been a huge help in detecting AI activity in student assignments. The data provided helps give a clear picture of the work students put into an assignment (or don't).
- William De Boer
- Holy this is really cool
- Jerrod Griebel
- This has been a game-changer for evaluating academic integrity among my students. I cannot recommend it enough!
- Michael Tobler
- Contributions/Editors, paste events, cpm metrics, graphs... this thing has it all. More than you probably need, even. I used Draftback before it went paid-for and am glad some tools are still free to use.
- JEFFREY KUSNIEZ
- This is a must have! It allows you to track edits on documents and see the resources students are using. It also helps with group projects to track who did or did not contribute to the project. And you have all the data at your fingertips to provide the evidence you need to support your case.
- Olives
- I'm so glad I found this app. I've been accused of using AI on my writing assignment when that's the farthest from the truth! But with this extension, I feel more assured that my originality can be defended. Thank you to all the people who helped to create this app.
- Morgan Clark
- Very detailed reports that allow me to see who contributed to a document with a click of a button. It also shows me what was copy/pasted into the document, when the document was worked on, and a writing replay. Saves a lot of time so I don't have to sift through the version history to find plagiarism.
- DIANE THOMPSON
- This is the best Chrome extension ever!! Anything you want to know about your students' writing, you can find it right here. It might add a minute to the grading process, but it saves a TON of time checking for plagiarism and authenticity elsewhere. I appreciate how in depth the reports are, and I gladly pay a small fee for this, so for it to be free, do whatever needs to be done to keep it!
- Lyle Witt
- What a fantastic tool! As a writing teacher, I find this extension the perfect solution to evaluating students' engagement in the writing process. With a tool that offers this level of granularity, I can verify that students have actually written their work and students can show me--by composing all of their work in a single document--that they have actually written their essays. Google Docs version history is helpful, but this provide much, much more detail.
- Star Glover
- Incredibly detailed and helpful; I can't believe it's free!
- Mark Riniker
- This is the most phenomenal Google Doc extension to evaluate the authenticity of a student's writing process. In the age of AI, this is an essential Chrome extension.
- ROBERT ROY WALKER
- Great extension for helping show outside edits, AI, and the like.
- Michael KOPP
- This tool is useful and easy to understand. It's really helpful for guiding students and checking their work on assignments.
- Mrs. Jean Walker
- This is my go to AI checker. It has proven very reliable and has helped me identify/justify cases of AI. Please keep it free!
- Robin Selzler
- This extension has made bearable the challenging process of keeping students accountable. SO helpful and efficient. Please do keep it free for us poor teachers, as someone else said!
- Patti Taylor
- I've used this on just one assignment with my students, but it's been incredibly helpful for seeing some of their drafting process!
- Rachel Bradshaw
- This is such a helpful tool! Please keep it free for us poor school teachers! :)
- Tanisha Bates
- Amazing product. Works very well. I love that it's free.
- Brandy Nesbitt
- This has been a game changer for our school now that we don't have GoGuardian and holding students accountable for their assignments.
- Geoffrey Balme _ Staff - HollySpringsHS
- Generally speaking, just having the tool and showing the students what the tool does curbs 90% of the copy/pasting young and devoted to generative AI tools young people are likely to attempt. In a world where a high school student will yell across the room in front of a teacher that "Google is your best friend!" Process Feedback is a godsend. Thank you!
- Well Geesh
- Really like it so far, would recommend!
- Kurt Richter
- Really helpful. Excellent app!
- Shawn Massoni
- I completely echo many of the comments here - this is a critical tool for observing the process and progress of students in college writing classes, and is critical for verifying originality in student work. Let's all make sure this tool never goes away!!
- Chris Rucker
- Great tool for teachers
- Benjamin McKeown
- As a high school teacher, this is the best tool I have found to verify originality, AI use and plagiarism. Thank you!
- Lisa Narcisi Stewart
- I love this app. It is enormously helpful because it allows me to see at a glance how long a student spent on their work. If I have doubts about the originality, then I can click on the app, and follow up with more information. I love it, and I hope it remains free because it makes a huge difference for me as a teacher. I'm sharing it today in a workshop with other teachers. Thank you for this great resource.
- Violine Ong
- really useful!! thank you process feedback!! :D
- Anna Mills
- This is an excellent app; it shows students that we care about their learning and hard work on writing and gives students a way to show their process if wrongly accused of using AI.
- Jessica Biller
- I really appreciate this, students just knowing we have access to it and it is easy to use keeps most of them honest :-)
- Sarah Carr
- This is a vital tool for assessing student writing and providing feedback.
- Kristine McManus
- This is an excellent program that keeps students honest in their assignments.
- Julie Harman
- Very helpful.
- Stacey Lucas
- I just started using Process Feedback and I already love it. Beyond making it really difficult for students to cheat, it's also helping my students examine their own work habits. We've had some great conversations about time management and procrastination using data from their reports. Thank you for this amazing tool and thank you even more for making it free!
- Audrey Ramm
- As an English instructor, I find this application invaluable. All of the data provided makes cheating nearly impossible.
- Ashlea Carey
- Excellent to view students' writing process in real-time!
- Shelly De Mendoza
- This made my life sooo much easier as an English teacher!!
- Ciara O'Keeffe
- It helped me prove that I wasn't using AI in projects
- Grace Guertin
- This is the best app! As an English teacher, this app rules to support and grade students work. I would highly recommend!.
- Amber Mabus
- This tool is fabulous for anyone who teaches writing. I have been able to see my students' entire writing process, which has limited AI-related academic dishonesty and other forms of plagiarism. I can't reccommend this tool enough!
- Jamie Bzorek
- I love this extension! As a busy high school teacher, I love the quick feedback that this extension provides. The student know I will be using this, so it stops a lot of cheating.
- Julie Carlson
- This is such an excellent tool to evaluate the originality of a student's work quickly. Students tell me they copied and pasted from a separate doc they created; I make sure that I have provided the blank doc for them, so this explanation no longer flies. I'm sure some still use AI, but they have to retype what has been generated... maybe some information will stick that way!
- Leanne Wright-Gray
- This tool gives us so much information about a student's working process. It is very helpful to see the work unfold over time, including copy and paste events, time spent typing, and changes made.
- Chris Arnold
- As a high school teacher, I want my students to use their own voice in their writing. I know the temptation to use AI to do their work is hard to resist. Why take hours to do all the hard work when AI can do it for you in minutes? But by being able to view their writing process, it gives me insight into their writing style, their habits, and most importantly, whether they actually did the work themselves. This tool is invaluable for teachers and I'm grateful that it is free to use.
- Denise Wright
- I love this extension. I use it to check for cutting and pasting and if I suspect if an essay is not "original." However, it also allows me to see how an essay was created and how much time a student spent writing. This helps me make meaningful comments and feedback because I know if someone threw it together, vs truly struggled to find what they wanted to say.
- LINDA DONOHUE
- I was so glad to find Process Feedback! I use it for all of my higher level writing classes, and honestly, it saves me a lot of time. It's very useful when I suspect an assignment isn't "original" and need some backup. I've already shown it to another English teacher today and plan to share with others. The fact that it's free, too, is an added bonus!
- Sr. Joan Roeder
- Love this! Free, fast, way better than other extensions
- Victoria Wittmaier
- I love Process Feedback. It gives a thorough report that tells me whether my students cut/pasted from other places, when they did so, and shows me their typing and drafting processes. I have had good conversations with students based on their report here. Thank you so much for keeping it free! I have so many students I'm not sure I could afford it otherwise! Love it!
- Matthew Storing
- A great tool for teachers.
- Terrence Guo
- better than draftback