OpenStage Guide: privacy

Written 2026-10-31 from what the add-in's code does. If the add-in changes, this changes with it.

In short

OpenStage Guide does not collect anything about you or your course. It has no accounts, no cookies, no analytics and no advertising. Your course content stays in your Word document, on your computer.

What the add-in does with your document

It reads and writes the Word document you have open, only when you choose an action in its pane. What it reads is used on your computer to show you the guide's structure and to make what you ask for (a new block, a review, a learner workbook, a PDF). None of it is sent anywhere by the add-in.

The learner workbook is made on your computer and opened as a new Word document, or saved to your Downloads folder.

What it asks the internet for

An Office add-in is a small web page that Word shows in a pane, so it must be loaded from somewhere. Three kinds of request are made:

1. The add-in's own files (the page, its scripts, its pictures), from the website that hosts it.
2. Its own build record, from the same website, when you choose "Check loaded build". This is only a record of which version of the code is running.
3. Office.js, Microsoft's library that lets an add-in talk to Word, from appsforoffice.microsoft.com. Microsoft's own terms and privacy statement apply to that request.

Your course content is not part of any of these requests.

What the website that hosts it can see

Like any website, the host can record the address of the computer that asked, the time, the file asked for and the browser or Office version. That is the host's own ordinary log, kept under the host's own policy, and it is the only personal-looking information involved. The add-in itself does not add to it and does not read it.

What stays on your computer

• The look you chose for the learner workbook (the look's name, an organization name you typed, an accent colour, black and white or colour, the page size, the number of lines). It is kept in the add-in's local browser storage on your computer so the pane can start where you left off. It is never sent anywhere. Clearing the browser storage for Word add-ins removes it.
• Brand presets saved in the older tools, in the same place.
• Files you ask for: a workbook, a PDF, a backup or a diagnostic record. These are saved where you choose, or to your Downloads folder.

Questions

Ask the person who gave you the add-in. If you installed it from a public website, the contact on that website is the one to ask.