Draftback

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Watch the writing process unfold - play back a Google Doc as if it were a movie

Latest reviews

• (2025-06-12) Blake Victor Kent: This is a great product that I use regularly as a college professor to keep my students honest. Sometimes documents don't seem to render properly, so that is the only reason I am giving it 4 stars. It's very useful. Kind of annoying to see a bunch of whiners on here complaining about paying (gasp!) for a product. I've interacted with the developer before and he ran it free for years. It takes a fair bit of his time. And he's not allowed to charge for it? There's no other free program out there that does it as well as this, as far as I know.
• (2025-06-10) Evan Statema: Great extension. I used it for a whole month! Then, I had to subscribe which made me want to crash out and cry. It was good until it wasn't.
• (2025-06-02) Sol: Yet another case of a developer adding absolutely nothing to their product then randomly making it paid. I have been using this for free, no improvements were made, and now ya wanna charge 100 bucks for...what? Looks like I am making the jump to Process Feedback. Twas good while it lasted. I wish you the best of luck, James Somers!
• (2025-05-27) Yasha Kogan: teachers are rats
• (2025-05-21) Perso Famille: This is the sad tale of a fellow who seemed like a good guy, nay, a thoroughly decent chap, who went and developed a handy, free extension. Then, said extension hit it big, and so he figured, why not fleece his user base with outrageous prices? The mask slipped, and he revealed himself to be just another "do no evil" Techbro, cut from the same cloth as the rest. Next thing you know, we'll hear he's sold out to some Big Tech behemoth, retired, and is funneling millions to Trump. The only silver lining in this whole mess is that there's a similar, yet more sophisticated, free, and open-source extension out there called Process Feedback.
• (2025-05-19) ex4 gaming: its all good but $100 for this!? its just not it
• (2025-05-18) Dom Inic: ur not getting my money
• (2025-04-25) Robin Dodder: In today's modern world, this extension was a great way to gain insight into my students' writing process. I was able to determine their styles as well as catch plagiarism/AI abuse. This app also allowed me to manage groupshared documents so that I could more accurately score collaborative work. But then... they named their price. As a teacher, I am already overextended. I work at LEAST 10 hour days (if I'm lucky, it's 10...), and this tool was essential for me so that I could help my young writers develop. To have that yanked away MID SCHOOL YEAR and start asking for fees -- it was a betrayal. Our schools are underfunded, so there's no way they'll pay my subscription fee. *I* can't afford to pay my subscription fee either, and there's NO way my tax return money is going back into my classroom again this year. This is extortion. You get us hooked on a tool that really helps us do our job and help students (especially when the students can't or won't voluntarily put forth the effort to strengthen their skills), and then you rip it away and ask for money. I feel like I'm being blackmailed now. This sucks. Thanks for NOTHING, Draftback... thanks for giving me a way to do a better job then dropping me AND MY STUDENTS off the edge of a cliff.
• (2025-04-19) Johanne Randoux: Not sure it's really working as expected, cause i can't see the "document graphs ans statistics" section : no data is displayed. The re-rendering option says "clearing existing revisions" with only a spinning wheel, and no indication of progress. What is the maximum number of revisions that draftback can handle ? Are the different authors individually listed in the stats ?
• (2025-04-10) Harry Gorman: AS IF! What a joke. I will NEVER pay for your app. Unless my school board pays for it, you'll never get my money. Thanks for our time together Draftback! For any other disgruntled educators disgusted at this level of greed, there is 'Process Feedback for Google Docs' in the store. Huzzah to the greater good! Boo to greed.
• (2025-04-04) seitabe: This the type of greed they talk about in the bibles, charging for draftback is crazy work, I dont mind if its ads but charging this much? Crazy
• (2025-04-02) alize aloc: 100 dollars for this is ridiculous
• (2025-03-25) Alex Smith: Charging to this program is asinine, and charging as much as they are is criminal.
• (2025-03-19) Jason Allen: Although it had its viewability issues (truncated thumbnail/side view), the decision to charge is a dealbreaker for me. Uninstalling now.
• (2025-03-17) Derek: Charging for this is crazy work.
• (2025-03-12) Manal QURESHI: although its good, you have to pay 100$ A YEAR for it. You could buy so many snacks with that guys its not even funny
• (2025-03-09) Cory Rasmussen: Finally, a tool that helped me check for plagiarism and allowed good discussions with my students, and now you want to nickel and dime teachers. Hopefully, Google finds a way to give us similar access for free.
• (2025-02-26) Marc Williams: Used to be a helpful tool to combat cheating. Now charging $100/year.
• (2025-02-16) Ashton Rademacher: Dev is taking advantage of the current prevalence of accusations of AI written work to sell an overpriced extension. Not worth it when I can just record my screen for free. Don't support this greedy behavior. Use free alternatives.
• (2025-02-05) Michelle Hermelin: Excellent
• (2025-01-31) you mad: Draftback used to be a great free tool, but now they’re charging $9.99 a month. Way too expensive for what it does. Super disappointing to see a once-free service lock its features behind a paywall. Not worth it.
• (2024-12-10) Ev il a: Works for google docs (with long load time) but nothing else. Things like google slides and google sheets, you can see the button but it just keeps on loading and unclickable. I mean an't they just as important? Why can't we use it?
• (2024-12-04) Meher Pillai: yo ts entire extension a snitch 😭😭😭😭😭😭
• (2024-11-22) Beth Lakin: It stopped showing me the graph/stats part-- it tells me to re-render it, which I do, but it still doesn't show that part anymore. Ugh.
• (2024-11-01) Kimberly Curtis: This has been working well for me but I have a recent document that just shows up as blank. Any suggestions?
• (2024-06-19) Bonnie Day: Loved it but now it won't show me the video or anything. It says it renders it but then has nothing to show. Any solutions to this??
• (2024-06-13) JAMES KLODNICKI: Question - what does it mean when sentences being written are both red/struck through AND green at the same time? Is this an indication of cut and past from another document?
• (2024-05-16) Rachael Burman: Excellent functionality and the graphs of information are helpful. Only wish that this also worked for Google Slides (or maybe even all websites like canva..etc). Not sure if this is me or not, but draftback doesn't appear when I open a students work in google classroom. I have to go find the students work in google drive to open and then draftback appears.
• (2024-04-23) Tina: Was working beautifully now it's just blank after I see it reviewing.
• (2024-03-26) Hazel: Great in concept, but this should not work if all users don't have it. Having my teachers assume I use AI because of how sporadically this shows me writing is problematic.
• (2024-03-11) Prospero Musk: Title: DraftBack privacy issue In today's digital age, technology continues to revolutionize the way we work and interact with information. As a result, various software extensions and applications have been developed to enhance productivity and efficiency. However, alongside these advancements, concerns regarding privacy and data protection have emerged as significant societal issues. This essay critically examines the extension known as DraftBack and its potential privacy implications. While acknowledging its value in playback and analyzing work processes, we will argue that the extension may infringe upon individuals' privacy rights, potentially violating existing laws and regulations. DraftBack is a browser extension designed to record and replay the drafting process within Google Docs. It allows users to review the sequence of edits made in a document, providing valuable insights into the writing and editing process. By capturing every keystroke, and editing action, DraftBack offers a detailed playback feature that enables users to understand the evolution of a document. While DraftBack offers an innovative and potentially beneficial service, it raises serious privacy concerns. Privacy is a fundamental right that shields individuals from unauthorized intrusion into their personal lives and activities. The extension's ability to record and replay every action taken within a document may constitute an invasion of privacy, as it captures sensitive information such as writing style, editing habits, and potentially confidential content. In addition, the use of DraftBack in educational settings raises further concerns. While it can be a useful tool for teachers to monitor students’ writing processes, it also opens up the possibility of misuse. For instance, a teacher could potentially use DraftBack to monitor a student’s writing process without their knowledge or consent, infringing on their privacy rights. Moreover, DraftBack's recording feature may contravene existing privacy laws and regulations. In many jurisdictions, laws are in place to protect individuals' privacy, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the United States. These regulations impose strict requirements on the collection, storage, and usage of personal data. DraftBack's recording and storing of users' keystrokes and actions could potentially fall afoul of these laws, as it could be considered the collection of personal data without adequate consent or legitimate purpose (I know DraftBack doesn't store the info online but locally, but still people who have access to edit the doc can see every single keystroke of you typing by using this extension). Furthermore, ethical considerations must be taken into account. DraftBack's recording and storage of data without explicit consent raises questions regarding the ethical use of technology. It is crucial for developers and users alike to consider the potential harm that may arise from such practices and to prioritize the protection of individuals' privacy rights. In summary, DraftBack offers an innovative solution for reviewing and analyzing the writing process, its potential privacy implications cannot be overlooked. The extension's ability to record and replay every action within a document raises concerns about the invasion of privacy and potential violations of existing privacy laws. It is essential for developers and users to strike a balance between productivity-enhancing tools and the protection of individual privacy rights. Thank you and please take legal actions on this by removing this extension off the store or improve the privacy by much more. I do not want this to advance to a much deeper consequences.
• (2024-02-25) willow potato: Super fun to watch my writing process back!
• (2024-02-21) Cynthia Soll: This software proves useful for both writers and instructors. I recently recommended it to my writers' group, where a couple of honest users were accused of using AI. Using this tool allows them to prove they wrote their material. Conversely, I also recently recommended it to the instructors at our school, as it allow them to review their students' work for copy and paste actions (from sources such as AI). Of course, it's also a great tool for students to use to prove that they wrote their work themselves. Oh, and FYI: I saw that a previous reviewer made comments regarding glitches. I have not encountered any of these glitches, so perhaps they were resolved.
• (2024-01-27) Katie Thibert: This tool has been great to see how students write. It also is helpful to catch AI use. Lately it has become quite glitchy and only will show you a portion of the overall text as the student typed. I much preferred when we could see the full view. This happened out of nowhere and has made using the software very difficult to work with. It also seems to stop prematurely, not show the full text being typed out (just stopping short). Really hoping that these glitches get fixed or I will drop it and go elsewhere.
• (2023-12-27) Jessica Davila: This has been a very useful extension as a teacher watching the writing process of my students. I love seeing how their writing develops over time. It is also very convenient for detecting plagiarism. I am able to discover when chunks of text are being pasted into a document. This has been a helpful tool in encouraging students to create their own authentic work.
• (2023-10-23) Oliver Blenniss: Kinda mid because it keeps spinning, would get something else tbh.
• (2023-10-23) Oliver Blenniss: Kinda mid because it keeps spinning, would get something else tbh.
• (2023-03-30) Caine Marlette: This was a lifesaver! I am in high school in an AP class and today I got accused of using ChatGPT to write an essay. I have never written a review for an app before, but I absolutely loved this, especially how I can use it for documents I have already written. I used this to prove my innocence then recommended this software to my teacher. I know there are probably other resources like this one and to be honest it was a little confusing with the "embed"-ing, but this was the first one I saw, and it absolutely save my buttocks.
• (2023-03-30) Gianni Marlette: This was a lifesaver! I am in high school in an AP class and today I got accused of using ChatGPT to write an essay. I have never written a review for an app before, but I absolutely loved this, especially how I can use it for documents I have already written. I used this to prove my innocence then recommended this software to my teacher. I know there are probably other resources like this one and to be honest it was a little confusing with the "embed"-ing, but this was the first one I saw, and it absolutely save my buttocks.
• (2023-03-17) Spocckce Delton: Very outdated, hasnt been updated in a year, plus its still using that same old 2015-2016 layout which is pretty boring and it sucks how its not even using the same layout as the 2023 layout for google docs.
• (2023-03-17) Spocckce Delton: Very outdated, hasnt been updated in a year, plus its still using that same old 2015-2016 layout which is pretty boring and it sucks how its not even using the same layout as the 2023 layout for google docs.
• (2022-09-22) Cindy Bahl (Cindy): FAIL. Does not work. At all. I tried everything. It is useless.
• (2022-09-22) Cindy Bahl: FAIL. Does not work. At all. I tried everything. It is useless.
• (2021-04-06) Luis A. Socías Contreras: EXCELENT I COULD RECOVER LOST WORK THANK YOU!!!!
• (2021-04-06) Luis A. Socías Contreras: EXCELENT I COULD RECOVER LOST WORK THANK YOU!!!!
• (2021-01-29) JORDI BARDAJI CUSO: It is a very useful extension. It is very convenient for teachers to discover plagiarism. I would love the same extension for sheets.google. Thank you so much, it’s wonderful.
• (2021-01-29) JORDI BARDAJI CUSO: It is a very useful extension. It is very convenient for teachers to discover plagiarism. I would love the same extension for sheets.google. Thank you so much, it’s wonderful.
• (2020-09-02) Yuna K: Helpful for a writer hoping to analyze their own writing habit and style It'd be nice if we can manage the Extraction for Embed, such as deleting them at will whenever we want, or the ability to maintain a list of where the embedded pieces are shared.
• (2020-09-02) Yuna K: Helpful for a writer hoping to analyze their own writing habit and style It'd be nice if we can manage the Extraction for Embed, such as deleting them at will whenever we want, or the ability to maintain a list of where the embedded pieces are shared.
• (2020-04-12) Zack Matthews: I decided to test this with a paper I wrote awhile back, and while it do show the typing and edit history, it struggled to keep track of everything. At times it would put words places that they are not in reality, miss some deletes, and not put in all of the paragraph enters. As a result, the end result according to the program is a mess from what it was originally. And an additional problem is that it doesn't capture any of the formatting. This is a cool product, I just wish it better matched the original document in the end.