Rulequill Privacy Policy

Effective: October 19, 2026. Publisher: Front Porch Puzzle Press ("we").

Rulequill is a Google Sheets™ add-on that draws cell borders and group shading by rules you set, such as "a line under each group when column A changes". It runs entirely inside Google Apps Script under your Google account. We do not operate a server for Rulequill, and no spreadsheet content is ever sent to us.

Google user data Rulequill accesses

The spreadsheet you open it in, and only that spreadsheet (Google scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets.currentonly): the cell values in the columns your rules use, the size of each sheet, and the cell borders and fill colours Rulequill draws. Rulequill cannot open, list or read any other file in your Google Drive™.
Permission to show its menu and sidebar inside Google Sheets™ (scope script.container.ui). This gives no access to data.
Permission to make one outside request (scope script.external_request), used only to check a Rulequill Pro license key with Gumroad. No Google user data is included in that request.
Permission to run when you're not using the sidebar (scope script.scriptapp), used only if you turn on automatic refresh. Rulequill then creates one "on change" trigger for this spreadsheet, so it can redraw the borders after each change. Turning automatic refresh off deletes the trigger.

Rulequill does not access your name, email address, contacts, Gmail, Calendar, Drive files or any other Google account data.

How Rulequill uses Google user data

Rulequill uses the spreadsheet data above for one purpose only: to work out which rows your rules match and to draw or remove the matching borders and fills. Specifically, it reads the values in the rule's range (and in any cells a custom formula refers to) when you click Save, Preview or Refresh, or, if you turned on automatic refresh, a few seconds after the spreadsheet changes. It then draws borders and fills in the same spreadsheet.

It does not use your data for any other purpose: no advertising, no analytics, no profiling, no building of user databases, and no training or improving of AI or machine-learning models (generalized or otherwise).

How Google user data is stored

Cell values are not stored by Rulequill anywhere. They are read into memory inside Google Apps Script while a refresh runs and discarded when it finishes.
Your rules and a record of what Rulequill drew are saved in the spreadsheet's own document properties, which are part of the spreadsheet file in your Google account. A rule holds what you typed into it (range, column, the text or number to look for, or the formula, and the line style). The record holds only row and column positions and line styles, never cell contents. Both are deleted when you delete the rules ("Remove all rules here").
Your license key (if you buy Pro) is kept in Apps Script user properties, stored by Google in your own Google account; we have no access to it.
Error reports. If a command fails, Google Apps Script records the error message (for example "That formula is too long") in our project's Google Cloud™ error log so we can fix bugs. These messages never contain your cell values, and Google deletes them automatically after its standard log retention period (30 days).

How Google user data is shared

We do not share, sell, rent, transfer or disclose Google user data to anyone. Rulequill has no servers of ours to send it to. The only third party Rulequill contacts is Gumroad (api.gumroad.com), and only to confirm a Pro license key when you activate it and about once a week after; that request contains the license key and Rulequill's product ID, never any spreadsheet content or Google account data.

The borders and fills Rulequill draws are ordinary formatting in your spreadsheet, so anyone you share the spreadsheet with sees them, as they would see formatting you added yourself.

How we protect your data

Least privilege. Rulequill requests the narrowest Sheets scope Google offers (spreadsheets.currentonly), so it can reach only the spreadsheet it is used in. The trigger permission is used only when you switch on automatic refresh.
No copies, no servers. All processing happens inside Google's Apps Script environment under your own account. Your spreadsheet content never reaches us, so there is no copy of it for us to lose or for anyone to breach.
Encryption. Data moving between Google Sheets™, Apps Script and Google's storage is protected by Google's infrastructure, which encrypts data in transit and at rest. The license check to Gumroad is sent only over HTTPS (TLS).
No human access. No person at Front Porch Puzzle Press can view your spreadsheets, rules or license key.
Secure development. Rulequill's code contains no third-party trackers or analytics libraries, loads no remote scripts, and is tested before each release.

Retention and deletion

Cell values are never retained. Rules and the drawing record stay in the spreadsheet until you delete them in the sidebar ("Delete" on a rule, or "Remove all rules here"), which also removes the borders and fills Rulequill drew. Turning off automatic refresh deletes its trigger. Uninstalling Rulequill from Extensions > Add-ons > Manage add-ons and removing its access at myaccount.google.com/permissions stops all access immediately. Because we hold no copy of your data, there is nothing on our side to delete.

Google API Services User Data Policy

Rulequill's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google Workspace™ API data is not used to develop, improve or train generalized AI or machine-learning models.

Changes and contact

We will post any changes on this page with a new effective date. Questions: hello@frontporchpuzzlepress.com.

Google Sheets™ and Google Workspace™ are trademarks of Google LLC. Rulequill is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.