The add-in runs inside Excel on your own computer. The stops you optimize go to one place, Google, using a key that belongs to you, and the only thing that ever reaches a server of ours is the license check. This page is the plain-words version.
The formal document is the Route Planner Privacy Policy.
What goes to Google #
When you optimize a route, the add-in reads the stops from the column you selected (addresses, or latitude and longitude pairs) and sends them in a single request to the Google Maps Platform, which returns the best stop order along with the distances and travel times. That request goes directly from Excel to Google under your own Google Maps API key, so the usage runs on your Google account and the results are written straight back into your worksheet.
Google handles those stops under the Google Privacy Policy. The add-in reads only the column you picked for the route; the rest of the workbook is never read and never transmitted.
The “Open route in Google Maps” link #
After a route is calculated the add-in can build a Google Maps directions link that carries your stops in their optimized order. That link is assembled on your machine and sits there. It leaves only if you click it, which opens maps.google.com in your own browser, where Google’s privacy policy applies. It is never sent to us.
What ever reaches us #
- The license check: your license key, an anonymous installation identifier (a random value generated on your device, not derived from your hardware) and the add-in version. Never stops, routes or workbook contents.
- Nothing else. There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking and no automatic error reporting.
A record of the last successful check stays on your device so the add-in keeps working for a 7 day offline grace period when the license server cannot be reached.
What stays on your device #
Your license key, your Google Maps API key and your settings live only in your per-user Office add-in storage. Your Google Maps API key is never sent to us; it is used only to talk to Google. Clear the keys in Settings, or remove the add-in, and all of it is gone.
If you send a support message #
Error messages are shown in the add-in only. You can copy a short diagnostic report (add-in version, Excel version, recent error messages, never your stops or your keys) and include it yourself when you write in. Nothing is transmitted unless you send it.