What is Grammarly Authorship?
Grammarly Authorship is a set of features that helps users demonstrate their sources of text in a Google doc. When you activate Authorship within Google Docs, it proactively tracks the writing process as you write.
Authorship automatically categorizes text sources as new material is entered into the body of a document. Because Grammarly runs on your browser and within the body of a Google doc, Grammarly is able to distinguish between text that is typed, 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 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.
Important: The beta version of Authorship currently works in Google Docs through Grammarly for Chrome and Grammarly for Microsoft Edge. It will be gradually rolled out to all Grammarly Free, Premium, and Pro users, as well as some Grammarly for Education users.
How do I activate Grammarly Authorship?
If you have Grammarly for Chrome or Grammarly for Microsoft Edge installed and you open a blank document in Google Docs, you will automatically see a pop-up inviting you to activate Authorship:
After you click OK or close the pop-up, you will then see a small green thumbprint icon in the lower-left corner of your screen:
You can either:
- Click Track writing activity to switch on Authorship tracking for that single document session:
- Take no action, and nothing will be tracked.
You can also select Start automatically in the widget menu if you want tracking to start automatically whenever a new document is opened in Google Docs. Doing so means you will always be able to generate a report that categorizes text sources. If you only activate tracking for the current document you are working on, please keep in mind that you will have to do so again, from the “thumbprint” icon in the lower-left corner of your screen, for each document you want Authorship to track.
You can also switch off Authorship completely in the Grammarly browser extension settings. To do that, click the Grammarly icon in the toolbar of your browser extension and turn off the corresponding option:
How does Grammarly know where my text came from?
Grammarly Authorship only works if you provide access to your browser-based clipboard. When you turn on Authorship tracking, a pop-up will appear asking for access to the clipboard. Once you grant access, Grammarly is able to see the latest text copied from browser-based sites into the clipboard. At any given time, Grammarly only has access to the source of the most recent copied text, as the only thing Grammarly is concerned with is text that makes its way into the body of your document. With clipboard access, Grammarly is able to 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 in collaboration with 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 in any detail 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. When Grammarly Authorship is activated in a document, you will see a thumbprint icon in the bottom-left corner of the document window. When your writing activity is being tracked, you will see a Stop tracking button that allows you to end the tracking.
How do I view and use my Authorship report?
When you are ready to view your report, click the thumbprint icon at the bottom left of your screen and select See report. 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 (active writing sessions is a stat that will be added in October 2024). 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 sources.
- Authorship replay: The replay shows your full typing and editing history from start to finish. Particularly useful 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, and make any last-minute edits.
How do I share my report with others?
At the top of your report, you’ll see the 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?
Any text from a browser-based source where Grammarly is available will be attributed. That means text from a generative AI tool, an academic article, an online periodical, and more will be attributed. Text that is copied from a source outside your browser or from a private browsing window will not be attributed but will be categorized as “Copied from an unknown 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 and their source names such as Wikipedia and ChatGPT, as well as your prompts to generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Grammarly itself.
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 is not tracking browsing history or web traffic that does not involve copying text into your clipboard (for instance, it ignores video views, article reading, and gaming activity). 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 at rest is stored encrypted 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. Uninstalling the Grammarly browser extension for Chrome will delete the on-device data.
When you click the See report button on the thumbprint icon at the bottom-left corner 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 document’s author, you can view the report anytime during that 12-month period by going back to the original document and clicking See report. You can 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 you share a report, your recipient can 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 the person(s) you share it with by choosing See report and replaying the writing activity before sharing it. You 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 that you used as sources of text 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 into your Grammarly account on that device. We recommend logging out of Grammarly before letting others use your device, especially if you’re using a shared device such as a school or library computer.
When will Grammarly Authorship be available?
Once initially deployed to a segment of students, Grammarly Authorship is being gradually rolled out to non-student users on individual Free, Premium, and Pro accounts. If you don't see it in the Grammarly browser extension for Chrome or Edge yet, stay tuned for updates.