Privacy Policy

Last updated: 2026-08-16. This is a plain-English summary of how OutlookDog handles your data. August 2026: added the rules you teach, the mailbox reads that back them, and anonymous usage counts.

The short version

OutlookDog asks for permission to read your email because no email assistant can work without it. Here is the deal we make with that access: your mail is never stored on our servers, never sold, and never used to train AI models. The add-in runs inside your own Outlook. When you use an AI action, your message text is sent for processing in that moment — directly to your own AI provider if you bring your own key, or through our encrypted relay to Microsoft Azure OpenAI — and nothing is kept afterwards except a usage count.

What OutlookDog reads

To do its job, OutlookDog reads the message you have open (subject, body, sender, attachment names, and message headers). If you tap the Categorize icon at the top of the pane to sort your whole inbox, it also reads your recent inbox messages — that data flows directly between your Outlook and Microsoft's own service (Microsoft Graph) and never touches OutlookDog's servers. The optional sender-history signal ("first message from this sender") likewise queries your own mailbox via Microsoft Graph directly. That inbox access is consented just-in-time: Microsoft asks for it the first time you categorize your whole inbox — reading the single message you have open needs no consent beyond installing the add-in.

Once you have granted that permission, three more things use it. So that the list is complete, here is every time OutlookDog reads your mailbox beyond the message you have open, and what each read is for:

• Categorizing your whole inbox — when you tap the Categorize icon at the top of the pane, OutlookDog reads your recent inbox (the newest 1,000 messages) to work out which category each message belongs in.
• Teaching a rule in plain English — reads the sender addresses of your recent mail (the newest 500 messages) so the rule can be matched to senders you actually have. Only the addresses are used; a short, bounded list of them travels with the sentence you typed to the AI lane you are using, as described under “Rules you teach it” below.
• Applying a new rule to mail you already have — reads the newest 1,000 messages when you accept the offer that appears right after you teach a rule. The offer tells you how many messages would change before anything is written, and the same read backs the Undo.
• Suggesting a starter rule — once per session, quietly, OutlookDog reads your recent mail (and checks which sender domains are long-standing) to see whether there is an obvious rule worth offering you. If there isn’t one, nothing appears and nothing is asked of you.

All four read your mailbox through Microsoft Graph, directly from the add-in. None of them copies your messages to OutlookDog’s servers, and the only change any of them can make to a message is adding or removing one of your Outlook category labels.

Two AI lanes

Bring your own key (BYO): your message goes directly from the add-in to your chosen AI provider. It never passes through or is stored on OutlookDog's servers. Your key is stored as-is (not encrypted by OutlookDog) in your own mailbox's add-in settings — Microsoft protects it like the rest of your mailbox data, it roams with your account, and anyone with full access to your mailbox could read it, so we recommend a key you can revoke. It is sent only to the provider you chose — never to OutlookDog's servers.

OutlookDog-AI (managed): your message is sent over an encrypted connection to our backend, which relays it to Microsoft Azure OpenAI to generate the result, and returns it to you. OutlookDog never stores your message content, and it is never used to train any models. As part of Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service, prompts may be retained by Microsoft for up to 30 days solely for abuse monitoring, after which they are deleted. We retain only usage counts and the account details described below.

Link safety checks

To warn you about known-dangerous links, OutlookDog may check the web addresses (URLs) found in a message against Google Web Risk (Google's commercial Safe Browsing database) via our backend. Only the URLs are sent — never the message text, subject, or sender.

Feedback

If you tap 👍/👎 on a result, we record the rating and which labels were on screen at the time (for example "Marketing" or "Suspicious") so we can improve accuracy — never the message itself. If you send us a free-text note through "Talk to the Dog," we store and email ourselves exactly what you type, so we can reply and improve — please don't paste your message content into it.

Error diagnostics

If the add-in hits an unexpected error, it sends us a diagnostic report so we can fix it: the error message and technical stack trace, the add-in version, the page address, and your account email. These reports are designed to capture what went wrong — not your message content — and go only to our support inbox.

Your account

When you sign in with Microsoft, we store your account email address and name to operate your account, enforce free-trial limits, and send you occasional product updates (for example, new features or upgrade options). We never sell it or use it for third-party advertising. You can opt out of product emails anytime by emailing support@outlookdog.com.

Billing

If you subscribe to a paid plan, checkout and payment are handled by Stripe as our merchant of record. Stripe collects your payment and billing details directly — we never see or store your card number. We receive only your subscription status, plan, and a Stripe customer/subscription identifier, which we store to run your account and unlock Pro. See Stripe's privacy policy for how they handle payment data.

Rules you teach it

When you teach OutlookDog a rule — “mail from @invoices.acme.com goes in Read” — that rule is compiled on your device and stored in your own mailbox, in Outlook’s roaming settings. It is not sent to us and it is not stored on our servers. That is why your rules follow you between Outlook on the desktop, the new Outlook, and Outlook on the web without us holding a copy.

Deleting your rules is entirely in your hands. Open the Training page from the top of the pane and remove one, or remove them all. Because we never hold them, there is nothing for us to delete on your behalf — deleting your account does not remove rules from your mailbox, and removing them from your mailbox removes them everywhere.

If you write a rule in plain English, the sentence you typed — together with a short, bounded list of sender addresses from your recent mail, so it can work out who you meant — is sent once to the AI lane you are using, in the moment, to turn it into a rule. It is used for that single request and then discarded. We never store it, never write it to our logs, and it is never used to train a model — the same Azure OpenAI terms described above apply to it, so Microsoft may hold it for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring and no longer. On bring-your-own-key it goes directly to your provider and never touches our systems at all, under whatever terms you agreed with them.

Anonymous usage counts

To see whether features work — how often people finish signing in, how often a taught rule actually fires — the add-in sends us counts only. An event says that something happened and nothing else: no rule text, no sender addresses, no message content, no subject lines, and nothing that identifies you. We store the totals per day; we do not record who sent them.

Data retention & deletion

We keep usage counts and your account email and name while your OutlookDog account is active, to run the service and contact you about it. You can download or permanently delete your data yourself on your account page (Data & privacy) once any active subscription is cancelled — or email support@outlookdog.com and we'll do it for you, including unsubscribing you from product emails. Billing records stay with Stripe as required by tax law.

Rules are the exception, and only because we never have them. Any rules you taught live in your mailbox, not on our servers, so deleting your account leaves them untouched. Remove them yourself from the Training page at the top of the pane — “Remove all” clears every one.

What deletion does. When you delete your data, we erase everything — your name, usage, feedback, and subscription details — from our live systems immediately, with one exception: a one-way hash of your email address. We keep only this hash — never the address itself — so we can tell whether that address has already used a free trial and prevent repeat free trials (a fraud-prevention measure we have a legitimate interest in). It's checked only at sign-up, and never used to contact, market to, or profile you. Ask us and we'll remove it too, once any trial-abuse concern has passed.

Backups. We keep encrypted, access-controlled backups of our account data (never your email content — that is never stored) so we can recover from a failure. Deleted data is removed from live systems right away and then ages out of backups automatically: daily backups are kept for 3 months and monthly archives for up to 3 years, after which they are permanently deleted. Backups are used only for disaster recovery, never to repopulate deleted accounts.

Who's responsible, legal bases & your rights

Data controller: Speraj LLC (OutlookDog). For any privacy request, contact support@outlookdog.com.

Why we're allowed to process your data (legal bases): to provide the service and run your subscription (performance of a contract); for fraud/abuse prevention, security, and product improvement (our legitimate interests); and, where the law requires it, with your consent. The trial-abuse email hash is kept under the legitimate interest of enforcing one free trial per person.

Where your data is processed: on Microsoft Azure (hosting, storage, Azure OpenAI, and Azure Communication Services for email), Stripe (payments), and Google (Web Risk link-safety lookups — the links in an email you open are checked against Google's database) — which may process data in the United States and other regions. International transfers rely on those providers' Standard Contractual Clauses and equivalent safeguards. Your email content is never stored. Business customers can request a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) by emailing us.

How long we keep it: account data (email, name, usage, subscription) while your account is active; on deletion it's removed from live systems immediately and ages out of backups (3-month dailies, 3-year monthly archives). Feedback notes and error diagnostics are kept only as long as they're useful for support.

Your rights: you can request access to, correction of, deletion of, or restriction of your data, or a portable copy, and you can object to processing based on legitimate interests — email support@outlookdog.com (you can also self-serve download or delete on your account page). If you're in the EEA or UK, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data-protection supervisory authority.

Age: OutlookDog is a workplace/productivity tool intended for adults. It is not directed to children, and you must be at least 16 (or the age of digital consent in your country) to use it.

What we never do

We never sell your data, never store your email content, and never send, forward, delete, or move mail on your behalf. The only change OutlookDog makes to a message is adding or removing one of your Outlook category labels.

Contact

Questions: support@outlookdog.com.