IT administrator’s guide for deploying the Process Feedback for Google Docs extension

This guide covers what an IT administrator needs to do to make the Process Feedback for Google Docs extension available at an institution: approving it, letting users install it themselves, or deploying it centrally through the Google Admin Console.

Before you start: Read how to pilot Process Feedback for Google Docs at your institution. It explains the difference between free individual use and an institutional agreement, and how to ask us to disable sharing for your domain before you deploy the extension.

About the product

Process Feedback for Google Docs is a browser extension that analyzes a document’s Google Docs edit history to generate a writing process report. The report shows when and how the document was written, including copy-paste events, typing time and fluency, revision and break patterns, timing that may indicate AI use, and per-author contributions in collaborative documents. Teachers can compare multiple student reports in a dashboard, and reports can be downloaded as PDFs.

Neither teachers nor students need to create a Process Feedback account, sign up, or log in.

a) Product name (type): Process Feedback for Google Docs (browser extension)

b) Product description: Available online at the product description page

c) Developer: Process Feedback LLC, St. Louis, MO, USA

d) Target platform: Google Workspace and the Google Chrome browser

e) Deployment method: Individual installation, or central deployment through the Google Admin Console (Force install)

f) Availability: Chrome Web Store, also available for Firefox and Edge

Step 1. Approve the extension

If your organization’s Google Workspace or browser policy blocks extensions, the extension must be explicitly approved or allow-listed before users can install or use it. In most cases, your IT administrator handles this approval in the Google Admin Console.

If your institution has an agreement with us, send us your institution’s email domain (for example, @school.edu). Domain-based settings, such as disabling the Share this Report feature, are applied to accounts under that domain.

Step 2. Choose how to install

Pick one of the two options below:

  • Individual installation (Step 3): teachers and students install the extension themselves from the Chrome Web Store. Use this when your policy allows individual installation.
  • Central deployment (Step 4): the extension is force-installed for an organizational unit, such as all students or all faculty, through the Google Admin Console.

Step 3. Individual installation

Teachers, students, and other users can install the extension directly from the Chrome Web Store when organizational policy permits it.

  1. Open the extension page in the Chrome Web Store.
  2. Click Add to Chrome and complete the installation prompts.
  3. Open or refresh a Google Docs document.
  4. The extension shows a ribbon above the document with a Writing Process Report button. Clicking it generates the report, and the report sidebar also offers a Download Process Report option.

Teachers and students can also follow our step-by-step installation guide.

Step 4. Central deployment through the Google Admin Console

  1. Sign in to admin.google.com.
  2. Go to Devices → Chrome → Settings → Users & browsers.
  3. Select the target Organizational Unit (OU) on the left, for example “Students” or “Faculty”.
  4. In Apps and extensions, open Additional settings and make sure Allow types of apps and extensions includes Extension.
  5. Go to Apps & extensions → Users & browsers.
  6. Click the yellow Plus (+) icon and choose Add from Chrome Web Store. Search for Process Feedback, or paste the extension ID: chcbikmmlhbbdkfiaaaljabpefdfajnb
  7. Change the Installation Policy from Allow install to Force install, then click Save.

Step 5. Confirm that everything works

Sign in with an institutional account and open any Google Doc. Then check that:

  1. The Process Feedback ribbon appears above the document, with a Writing Process Report button.
  2. Clicking Writing Process Report opens the report.
  3. If sharing has been disabled for your domain, the Share this Report option in the report sidebar is no longer available.

Data responsibility and privacy

The extension is built with a privacy-first, local-first architecture. All analysis happens in the user’s browser, and report data never leaves the device unless the user explicitly chooses to save a report online in order to share it. With default settings, no student identity data or document content is sent to our servers.

To learn more, read how the Process Feedback for Google Docs extension works.

Support

Email us at contact@processfeedback.org.

We are still working on a short course for students. Please stay tuned!