Anonymous Usage Statistics

StoryCAD can send a small amount of anonymous usage information back to the StoryCAD team. We use this data to understand which features people actually use, how long typical editing sessions are, and where to spend our development effort.

Sharing this information is entirely optional. StoryCAD works exactly the same whether you opt in or not. If you don’t want to share anything, simply leave the checkbox unchecked — either during first-run setup or on the Other tab of the Preferences dialog.

What we collect

When you opt in, each time you close StoryCAD we send one record that contains:

  • Session timing — when StoryCAD was started and stopped, and the total clock time for the session.
  • Outlines you worked on — for each outline opened in the session: the outline’s internal ID (a random identifier; not the file name), when it was opened and closed, how many story elements it contained, how many you added or deleted, and the outline’s genre and story form (e.g. “Mystery”, “Short Story”). These are the same values you pick from the drop-downs on the Story Overview form.
  • Features used — the names of StoryCAD features you used (for example Conflict Builder, Key Questions, Print Reports) and how many times you used each one during the session.
  • An anonymous ID — a random identifier (a GUID) generated on your computer the first time you opt in. This lets us tell that two sessions came from the same installation without knowing anything about who you are.

What we do not collect

We deliberately do not collect any of the following:

  • The content of your outlines — no character names, scene descriptions, story text, notes, or anything else you type into StoryCAD.
  • The titles or file names of your outlines.
  • File paths on your computer.
  • Your real name or email address. (If you’ve given these to StoryCAD for error reporting or the newsletter, they live in different preferences and are never attached to your usage data.)
  • Your IP address. The usage data is delivered over a secure connection and the server does not log the address it came from.

Usage data is not sold, shared with advertisers, or given to anyone outside the StoryCAD team.

How your identity is protected

The anonymous ID is a randomly generated GUID — a string of letters and numbers like 3a7b1c4e-9f22-4e7c-a1d3-8b6e2f5a9c10. It is not derived from your name, email, machine name, or anything else that could identify you.

If you change your mind and turn usage statistics off, your anonymous ID is erased from your preferences file. If you later turn it back on, StoryCAD generates a brand-new anonymous ID, so the two stretches of data cannot be linked together.

Turning it on or off

You’ll be asked about usage statistics the first time you run StoryCAD. You can change your answer at any time:

  1. Click Preferences on the menu bar.
  2. Select the Other tab.
  3. Check or uncheck Send anonymous usage statistics.
  4. Click Save.

The change takes effect for the next session. Data already sent from earlier sessions is not retrieved, but no new data will be sent while the option is off.

Why we ask

Knowing which tools are used heavily and which are rarely touched helps us decide what to improve, what to document better, and what new features to build. Sharing usage data is a direct, low-effort way to help shape StoryCAD’s future — thank you if you choose to do so.