About Grammarly Authorship – Grammarly Support

What is Grammarly Authorship?

Grammarly Authorship enables users to demonstrate their sources of text in a Google Doc or Microsoft Word document. When a user enables Authorship tracking within either Google Docs (via the Grammarly browser extension) or Microsoft Word (via Grammarly for Windows and Mac), Grammarly Authorship proactively tracks the writing process. Authorship automatically categorizes the source of text as it is entered into the body of a document. Because Grammarly runs on your browser and across your desktop (via the Mac and Windows client), Grammarly is able to distinguish between text that is typed directly into your document, text that is pasted from a browser-based source, and text that is pasted from an unknown source, like a private browsing window. Furthermore, Grammarly Authorship provides specific categorizations, distinguishing text that is AI-generated from the text that is typed by the end user and then modified with Grammarly’s generative AI rephrasing capability. Authorship also categorizes text that is typed and then edited with traditional, non-generative Grammarly features, like grammatical error correction, clarity rewrites, and word choice suggestions.

As of April 22, 2025, Authorship is available within Google Docs via the Grammarly browser extension and as a beta release in Microsoft Word via Grammarly for Windows and Mac.

For users on accounts obtained or purchased through Grammarly’s website (Free, Pro, and Premium):

Basic Authorship tracking functionality is available to all users in both Google Docs and Microsoft Word, with the option to generate and share any number of Authorship reports. Grammarly Pro and Premium plans also include detailed attribution for external sources other than text entered by the user, including text that is copied from a website or desktop application (in Microsoft Word only) and text that is copied from a generative AI source. If you use Grammarly Pro or Premium, you also have access to AI and plagiarism detection within Authorship reports, showing specific text that may overlap with online sources or may have been AI-generated despite not being directly pasted into the body of the document.

For users on accounts purchased through our Sales team (Grammarly for Education, Enterprise, and certain Pro and Business accounts):

Users on these accounts can also enable tracking, generating, and sharing an unlimited number of reports. Users on these plans will also have detailed attribution from external sources and the ability to see any AI or traditional plagiarism checks within their reports.

Customers who are using the Grammarly browser extension for Chrome and Edge can turn on Authorship within Google Docs. Customers using Grammarly for Windows and Mac can enable Authorship within Microsoft Word on their desktops.

Note for K–12 Grammarly for Education and Grammarly Business account admins: GB admins can use the admin panel to switch Authorship on or off in the Grammarly browser extension in Google Docs for your entire team.

K-12 institutional admins should reach out to their Customer Success Manager to request that Authorship be turned on for their users in both Google Docs and Microsoft Word.
By default, Authorship is not available in Grammarly for Windows and Mac for Grammarly Business team members, as it is currently in beta in this product offering. If you’d like your team to have access to Authorship in Microsoft Word before the feature becomes generally available, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager to request it.

How do I activate Grammarly Authorship?

Within Google Docs

If you have the Grammarly browser extension installed in Chrome or Edge and you open a blank Google Doc, you will see a dialog asking you to enable Authorship.

After you click OK or close the dialog, you will then see two notifications at the bottom left of your screen: one will let you know that Authorship is now available, and the second one will show the menu to activate Authorship tracking.

You can either:

Click the thumbprint icon next to the Track writing activity pop-up to turn on Authorship tracking for that single document session, or
Take no action, in which case nothing is tracked.

You can also select the Start automatically option in the widget menu if you want tracking to start automatically whenever a new Google Doc is opened. Doing so means you will always be able to generate a report that categorizes text sources. If you only enable tracking for the current document you are working on, please keep in mind that you will have to turn it on individually from the thumbprint icon at the bottom left for each document you want to track.

Once you click Track writing activity (shown as a thumbprint icon) for the first time within Google Docs, a clipboard permissions dialog will show up:

Once you click Allow access, your browser extension will ask for its own permissions. The Chrome permissions are shown below, as an example:

IMPORTANT: Please note that if you do not allow clipboard access, Authorship will only be able to track text actions within the current Google Doc and will not be able to attribute any text from browser-based sources.

Once you’ve turned on Authorship and granted clipboard access, the menu will look like the following:

You are always able to keep the thumbprint icon from appearing via the individual settings on the Grammarly browser extension main menu.

Within Microsoft Word

If you have Grammarly for Windows and Mac installed on your computer and you open a blank Microsoft Word document, you will see a dialog asking you to activate Authorship.

Note for Mac users: You must save your document in order to enable tracking.

Once you’ve seen this dialog, you can either:

Click the thumbprint icon next to the Track writing activity pop-up to turn on Authorship tracking for the current, single document session, or
Take no action, in which case nothing is tracked.

You can also select the Start automatically option in the widget menu if you want tracking to start automatically whenever a new Microsoft Word doc is opened. Doing so means you will always be able to generate a report that categorizes text sources. If you only enable tracking for the current document you are working on, please keep in mind that you will have to turn it on individually from the thumbprint icon at the bottom left of each document you want to track.

Once you click Track writing activity (shown as a thumbprint icon) for the first time within Microsoft Word, a clipboard permissions dialog will appear:

IMPORTANT: Please note that if you do not allow clipboard access, Authorship will only be able to track text actions within the Word doc itself and will not be able to attribute any text from browser-based or desktop sources.

Once you have activated Authorship, the following menu will appear on the screen:

You can keep this menu from appearing via the individual settings in Grammarly for Windows and Mac.

How does Grammarly know where my text came from?

Grammarly Authorship only works if you provide access to your clipboard. Once that’s granted via the steps outlined above, Grammarly is able to see the latest text copied to the clipboard from browser-based sites or (if you’re working in Word) from desktop applications. Grammarly only has access to the most recent copied action, as the only thing Grammarly is concerned with is the text that makes its way into the body of the document. With clipboard access, Grammarly can determine whether text is copied from a gen AI source like ChatGPT or Claude, or from a more traditional online source like Wikipedia.

Without clipboard access, Authorship is still able to document your typing actions and actions you take using Grammarly within the document; it can also categorize any pasted text as “copied from an unknown source,” but it will not be able to attribute the text beyond that.

How do I know that Grammarly Authorship is recording my activity in a document?

You are always in control of whether Grammarly Authorship records your writing activity. By default, Grammarly Authorship does not track your writing activity. Once you’ve activated Authorship tracking, you will see the green thumbprint icon in the lower-left corner of the screen in both Google Docs and Microsoft Word. The thumbprint icon will be gray if tracking is not activated.

How do I view my Authorship report?

When you are ready to view your report, hover over or click the thumbprint icon at the bottom left of your screen and click See report. In both Microsoft Word and Google Docs, the report will open in a separate tab within your default browser. The report will have three sets of information available to you, and whichever audience you decide to share it with:

Authorship Analytics—Shows a breakdown of your text sources, organized by “human-typed” and “sourced” categories, along with data about the amount of time spent on the document and the number of active writing sessions. A “session” expires after 10 minutes of idle time in the document.
Authorship Report—The report includes the full body of your text, color-coded by text category, along with details about the text source.
Authorship Replay—The replay shows your full typing and editing history from start to finish. Particularly if you wrote over a long period of time, the replay is meant to help you remember the primary actions you took in your document, giving you the opportunity to delete any unnecessary text, cite sources accordingly, and make any last-minute edits.

Grammarly Authorship is showing inconsistent attribution. Why is that?

While Authorship is now generally available in Google Docs, it’s not necessarily able to capture 100% of cases accurately. There may be cases where keystrokes are typed too fast for Authorship to pick them up accurately, cases where text is pasted from a desktop source where Authorship does not run, or instances where text was pasted from a new AI tool that has yet to be categorized as generative AI. Authorship is still a beta feature within Microsoft Word, which means text attribution may be more unstable than in Google Docs.

If you notice a bug in either platform, please report it by contacting our Support team here: Submit a request.

How do I share my report with others?

At the top of your report, you’ll see a green Share button. Upon clicking it, you’ll see a unique URL that you can copy and share with whoever you choose. Your audience will be able to see all of the same information you see in the report.

What content is attributed and what is not?

Within Google Docs: Any text from a browser-based source where Grammarly is available will be attributed. That means text from a generative AI tool, academic article, periodical, and more will be attributed. Text that is copied from a desktop source or private browsing window will not be attributed, but will be categorized as “Copied from an unknown source.”

Within Microsoft Word: Similar to Google Docs, any text from a browser-based source where Grammarly is available will be attributed. Additionally, because the Grammarly desktop application works across desktop apps, text from other desktop applications will also be attributed (examples are Notes and the ChatGPT desktop app).

Which Authorship features are available on the Grammarly Free plan? Which are available on Grammarly Pro, Premium, Enterprise, Grammarly for Education, and Grammarly Business plans?

All Grammarly users have access to Authorship’s basic tracking and reporting features. (However, K–12 and GB users of Grammarly for Windows and Mac are invite-only while the product remains in beta.) All plans, including the Free plan, can:

Generate an unlimited number of Authorship reports
Share an unlimited number of Authorship reports
See “Typed by a Human” analytics
See “Typed by a Human” detailed insight cards
See color-coded text broken down in the report

Grammarly Pro, Grammarly Premium, Grammarly for Education, and Grammarly Business users can also see:

“Copied from a source” analytics (including percentage of text that was AI-generated)
“Copied from a source” detailed insight cards, including specific text that was from an AI-generated source

What data does Grammarly Authorship collect about me?

To provide a record of your editing history, Grammarly Authorship will collect the text you write in the context of a document, including text you write and then delete, text you paste from websites or desktop sources and their source names such as Wikipedia and ChatGPT, as well as your prompts to generative AI.

What data does Grammarly Authorship NOT collect about me?

Grammarly does not collect or store any data that is not pertinent to the writing process. In other words, Grammarly does not track browsing history or web traffic that does not involve copying text into your clipboard (for instance, video views, article reading, gaming activity, etc.). Grammarly is merely collecting the text that you copy into your browser’s clipboard and then paste into the body of your Google Doc.

Where is Grammarly Authorship data stored?

While you are writing, Grammarly Authorship stores its data on your device only.

On-device data is stored encrypted at rest using the AES-256 GCM encryption algorithm and a randomly generated 256-bit key. The key is stored on Grammarly servers, retrieved from your device on demand during your Grammarly session, and stored in memory for the purpose of reading and writing encrypted authorship data. When you delete your browsing data related to Google Docs, the Authorship on-device data is deleted as well.

When you click the “See report” button on the thumbprint icon at the bottom left of the screen, Authorship data for the current document is sent to Grammarly servers, over an encrypted connection using TLS, for processing. The data remains on Grammarly servers for up to 24 hours.

When you share your Grammarly Authorship report with others, such as an instructor or editor, the report data for the respective document is sent to Grammarly servers and stored for 12 months or until you delete your account, whichever comes first. As the originating user, you can view the report anytime during that 12-month period by going back to the original document and clicking View report. You can also delete this report data at any time by clicking on the trash bin icon for the respective document, as shown below.

What Authorship data is shared when I generate and send a report link?

When sharing a report, your reader has the ability to see all the same information you do when you view the Authorship report, including:

Top-level document analytics
The full text of your document, color-coded by source
Text insight cards that describe the text source, word counts, words edited, and typing/editing time
A full replay of your typing and editing process

The replay feature includes the ability to see text being written and deleted, the names of websites where text is copied from, and your prompts to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. You can preview what data will be available to your instructor by choosing “See report” and replaying the writing activity before sharing it. You also have the option of excluding the replay in the report when sharing, if you do not want your audience to see your entire writing and editing process.

What are some security considerations when using Grammarly Authorship?

Grammarly Authorship data includes a history of how your document has been edited, including parts of the document you have deleted from its latest version, as well as the names of websites you may have used while editing your document. While this data is encrypted on-device at rest, it may be accessible by other users of the device while you are logged in to your Grammarly account on that device. We recommend logging out of Grammarly before letting others use your device, especially if you are using a shared device such as a school or library computer.

For Grammarly for Education Admins: Authorship Analytics

As your users activate and use Authorship, you will begin to see aggregated data in your Grammarly for Education admin panel under the Analytics tab. The Authorship Analytics subtab will show the following data across your institution as Authorship is used:

Total amount of text that is typed
Total amount of text that is copied from a website
Total amount of text that is AI-generated
The top 10 sources of external text used in writing

Note: In the spring of 2025, only data from Google Docs will be populated in the dashboard. By August 2025, data from both Google Docs and Microsoft Word will be available.