Is Grammarly Safe? What It Reads in Client Documents

Is Grammarly Safe for Client Documents?

It depends on the account and the firm’s approval for processing client information. Grammarly checks writing through a cloud service, so a draft affidavit can leave the computer while suggestions appear beside it.

Treat a public website announcement differently from a client’s affidavit or advice email. Public copy can be checked without exposing confidential matter details. For client work, the firm needs an approved managed account, agreed data terms and restrictions on where the assistant operates.

Turning off generative AI does not stop ordinary writing checks from sending text for processing. If the firm has not approved Grammarly for client material, disable it in the relevant applications and sites before opening that material. Keep an unapproved personal account out of the workflow even when a staff member pays for it.

What Grammarly Reads and Keeps

Grammarly receives content you submit or permit its products to access. That can include email drafts, document text and web-page content, depending on the enabled product and permissions.

The current privacy policy, published by Grammarly’s parent Superhuman, covers individual use. It also describes account details and technical information such as device data and usage logs. Content processed under an organisation’s managed account instead follows that organisation’s contract and data-protection terms.

The policy gives a purpose-based retention rule. Data is kept for providing products, meeting legal obligations and other stated business purposes. The period depends on the data and settings, so closing an email draft is not a deletion instruction.

Grammarly’s privacy and security FAQs distinguish saved documents from other checked text. Documents in the Grammarly Editor remain until the user deletes them or requests deletion after contract expiry or termination. Other text is processed as needed to provide and administer the service. The FAQs describe hosting in the United States.

Generative AI adds another data flow. Grammarly says prompt text and the context used for its generative features are shared with service providers. Those providers cannot train their large language models on user content. That restriction is separate from Grammarly’s own product-improvement and training setting.

For example, asking Grammarly to rewrite a paragraph of an affidavit sends the prompt and relevant context for generative processing. Leaving rewrite features unused does not make the ordinary grammar checker a local-only application.

Grammarly Business and Enterprise

Business protections depend on how the account was purchased and configured. The word “Pro” alone does not establish that training is off.

Grammarly’s Product Improvement and Training control distinguishes these accounts:

• Individual Free, Premium and single-user Pro accounts have training on by default, with an opt-out control.
• Multi-user Pro accounts bought through the website also have training on by default. Only administrators can change it in the account’s data settings.
• All Enterprise-tier accounts have training off by default. Pro and Business accounts purchased through Sales also have it off by default.

When training is off, Grammarly says it does not use the organisation’s content to train models or improve products for other users. Aggregated writing statistics can still be collected and used. This setting does not stop the processing needed to deliver writing suggestions.

The Customer Business Agreement, now issued by Superhuman, prohibits training generative AI models on Customer Data without prior written consent. Match that agreement to the firm’s order. An individual’s privacy preference and a contractual restriction are different protections.

The business data-processing addendum provides for return or destruction of personal data following termination, on the customer’s written request. It has exceptions for legally required retention and protected backup copies. A business subscription therefore does not imply immediate deletion after every writing check.

Administrators can also turn off generative AI for the team. Open Organization and select Feature access. Set AI assistant, Strategic suggestions and Paragraph-level rewrites to Off. Confirm with Turn off when prompted. These are feature controls, separate from the training setting and the restrictions on ordinary checking.

Keeping Grammarly Away From Client Work

Disable each installed Grammarly component that can reach client material. A browser-extension setting does not cover a separate desktop installation.

For the browser extension, use Grammarly’s website controls:

1. Open the relevant website using a blank or non-confidential page.
2. Select the Grammarly toolbar icon.
3. Turn off the option allowing the extension to check text on that site. To stop checking across all sites, turn off Check text with browser extension.
4. Reload a non-confidential test draft on the excluded site and confirm Grammarly no longer checks it.

For the desktop application, follow Grammarly’s Windows and Mac controls:

1. Place the cursor in a non-confidential text field in the application or site you want to exclude.
2. On Windows, right-click the floating Grammarly widget or tab. On Mac, select the Grammarly menu-bar icon.
3. Choose Turn off Grammarly. Avoid the one-hour option for an ongoing restriction.
4. Open Settings and select Block list. Confirm the excluded application or site appears there.

Add a browser-level restriction if Grammarly is only approved for a few public-writing sites. In Microsoft Edge, open Extensions, then Manage extensions, then Details for Grammarly. Under Site access, choose On specific sites and enter only approved addresses. Microsoft’s extension permission instructions explain that setting.

Where Word’s built-in spelling and grammar checks meet the need, use those within the firm’s approved configuration. Microsoft explains that basic Editor functionality remains available with content-analysing connected experiences disabled. In that configuration, Editor sends no content or usage data to Microsoft. Keep Grammarly disabled in Word separately.

Before returning to a client document, test every installed component with harmless sample text in the same application. If Grammarly still produces suggestions, identify the active extension or desktop application and disable that component before opening the client’s draft.