The short version. Chronolane runs inside Excel and stores the timeline in your workbook. Your spreadsheet content never reaches our servers, and there is no account. The add-in sends usage events and error reports under a random ID, and this site counts visits without cookies.
1. What this policy covers
This policy explains what BYTE IDEA S.R.L. (“we”, “us”) does with personal data when you use the Chronolane add-in for Microsoft Excel (“the add-in”) and this website. It applies from 24 September 2026.
Excel, Excel for the web and Microsoft AppSource are run by Microsoft. What Microsoft collects when you use them is covered by the Microsoft Privacy Statement, not by this policy.
2. Data in your workbook
The add-in reads the table on your sheet (task names, dates, and any columns you map such as progress, dependencies, owners or lanes) in order to draw and update the timeline. This happens inside Excel on your device or, for Excel for the web, in your browser session with Microsoft.
- We do not transmit, store or process cell values, sheet names, file names or timeline settings on our servers.
- Timeline settings, styles and History snapshots are written into the workbook itself (as add-in settings and custom XML parts), so they travel with the file.
- If you share the workbook, everything Chronolane added is shared with it, like any other content in the file.
- A few preferences, such as whether you have seen the introduction tour, are kept in the add-in’s storage on your device.
3. Usage data and error reports
The add-in does not ask you to sign in, and we hold no account or profile for you. To see which features are used and to fix what breaks, it sends us usage events and error reports through PostHog, an analytics service. This is part of how the published add-in works; there is no separate setting for it.
| Data | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Usage events: the action (for example “timeline created from a template”, “Timescale settings applied”, “snapshot restored”), the add-in version, and the Excel host and platform | See which features are used and where people get stuck | Legitimate interest |
| Error reports: the error message, stack trace and the part of the add-in where it happened | Find and fix bugs | Legitimate interest |
| A random ID created on first use and kept in the add-in’s storage on your device | Group events from one installation without knowing who you are | Legitimate interest |
| Technical details the analytics library adds (browser, operating system, screen size, language) and the IP address of the connection | Tell environments apart when fixing a bug | Legitimate interest |
We never receive cell values, task names, column headers, sheet or file names, or your email address. The random ID is not linked to your name, email or Microsoft account. [confirm how the PostHog project treats IP addresses, e.g. “PostHog discards the IP address after deriving an approximate country”]
Our legitimate interest is keeping the add-in working and improving it. You can object at any time; see Your rights.
4. Feedback
If you use ⋯ › Send feedback, the ribbon’s Leave feedback button, or answer the short survey shown after your first timeline, your answers are sent to PostHog with the same random ID and the add-in version. Please don’t include personal or confidential information in free-text answers.
5. This website and cookies
This site sets no cookies. To count visits we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which does not use cookies or local storage and does not identify or follow individual visitors. Cloudflare, which delivers the site, processes each request (IP address, browser, page requested, time) to serve it and to protect it against abuse; we don’t keep request logs ourselves.
The add-in uses its own storage on your device (not cookies) for the random ID and your preferences, as described above.
6. Emails to support
If you write to us, we receive your email address, your message and anything you attach, such as a copy of a workbook. We use them only to answer you. If you send a workbook, it stays in our support mailbox and is not used for anything else; you can clear any sensitive cells before sending it.
7. Who we share data with
Only the processors we need to run the service:
- Cloudflare, Inc. hosts this website and the add-in’s program files, and provides the cookie-less website analytics.
- PostHog, Inc. receives the usage events, error reports and feedback described above, stored in PostHog’s EU cloud.
- Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd (Microsoft 365) runs our support mailbox.
Each processes data only on our instructions under a data-processing agreement. Where a provider may access data from outside the European Economic Area, the transfer is covered by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. We do not sell personal data and do not share it with advertisers.
8. Retention
Usage events, error reports and feedback are kept for [retention period set in PostHog, e.g. 12 months]. Support emails are kept for as long as we need them to help you and for [period, e.g. 2 years] afterwards. Website visit statistics are aggregated and contain no personal data. Everything in your workbook is yours and is retained for as long as you keep the file.
9. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us to access, correct, export or delete your personal data, restrict or object to its processing, and complain to a supervisory authority (in Romania, the ANSPDCP). Write to admin@byteidea.onmicrosoft.com; we answer within 30 days.
Usage data is linked only to the random ID, not to who you are, so we usually cannot find it from your name or email. If you want it deleted or want to object to its collection, write to us and we will work out with you how to identify it. The add-in has no switch to turn usage data off, so the way to stop it entirely is to remove the add-in.
10. Children
Chronolane is a work tool and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect data from them.
11. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we update the date and version at the top of this page. If a change affects what the add-in collects, we will announce it on this site before it takes effect.
12. Contact
BYTE IDEA S.R.L., Str. Dinicu Golescu nr. 7, parter, spațiu comercial 3, Sector 1, București, Romania. Data protection contact: admin@byteidea.onmicrosoft.com.