In your workbook and on your computer. Chat Merge reads your table, builds the messages in the pane and writes the status column inside Excel. It has no account, no analytics, no cookies and no tracking, and the pane makes no call to our servers. I have no access to your contacts or your messages.
What goes over the network #
- Loading the add-in: the pane loads its code from addins.pythonandvba.com and Microsoft’s Office script. These requests carry no workbook data.
- Opening a chat: when you click Open this chat or Open next chat, the phone number and the message are part of the address of the chat page that opens (WhatsApp’s chat page, WhatsApp Web, or the link that starts the WhatsApp app). WhatsApp therefore receives them, under its own terms and privacy policy. We never see them.
- Nothing else: no analytics, no tracking, no advertising and no automatic error reports. The diagnostic info in About is only copied when you click the button and only sent if you paste it into a message to support.
What is stored where #
- In the workbook: your message and the phone column you chose. They are saved with the file, so they travel with it when you share the workbook. If you do not want that, clear the message before you share it.
- On your device: your settings (where chats open, the default country code, the status column options, the theme and a dismissed note about the desktop app), kept in the add-in’s browser storage.
- In your table: the Chat Merge status column, if you leave it on.
SendCommander #
If you use the optional hand-off on Windows, your contacts and message go to your clipboard and then to the SendCommander app on your own computer, which shows them for your review. Nothing is uploaded by Chat Merge.
The formal details are in the privacy policy.