TabBar for Office

1. Data collection

TabBar for Office collects no data. It is a sandboxed Mac App Store app with no network access — it makes no connections to us or to any third party, and nothing about you or your documents ever leaves your Mac. There are no analytics, no tracking, and no advertising.

2. How TabBar works on your Mac

To show your open documents as tabs, TabBar uses macOS Automation (Apple Events) to communicate with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Those three applications are named in the app's sandbox entitlement, and they are the only ones it is able to address. It reads the names of your open documents, workbooks and presentations, and the file path of each one so that two with the same name can be told apart, so it can list them in the tab bar; it raises a window when you click its tab. Names and paths are held in memory only, for as long as the document is open.

TabBar does not read, store, or transmit the contents of your documents. It works only with those names and paths and with window positions, entirely on your Mac. macOS asks for your permission the first time TabBar controls each of the three applications; you can review or revoke it at any time in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.

On some Macs, macOS refuses those Apple Events before it ever asks you, and the tab bar cannot reach that application at all. In that case TabBar offers Grant Permission, which installs a small helper script of its own. Because Apple requires such a script to live in the app's own Application Scripts folder, and a sandboxed app may not write there unaided, macOS shows you a folder panel once; TabBar accepts only that one folder and nothing else you might select. A macOS security-scoped bookmark to it is then stored on your Mac, in the same local settings store as your other preferences, so that an app update does not ask you again. The helper does exactly what the Apple Events above do — list document names and paths, and bring one to the front. It is written by TabBar, regenerated on every launch, reads nothing else on your Mac, and is removed with the app.

PowerPoint is the one host that offers no command to focus a presentation by name, so there a presentation is brought forward by handing macOS its file path, which focuses the presentation already open rather than opening a second copy. A presentation you have never saved has no path; it appears in the bar but cannot be switched to.

3. Personal information

TabBar requires no account, no sign-in, and no email address. We do not ask for, collect, or store any personal information.

4. Purchases

TabBar for Office is a one-time purchase on the Mac App Store. There is no free tier, no tab limit and no in-app purchase — since version 2.0 the app contains no purchase code at all. Payment is handled entirely by Apple through the App Store. We never see or store your payment details, card information, or billing address. Installing the app again, or on your other Macs, is handled by Apple using your Apple Account.

5. Settings stored on your device

Your preferences — such as whether TabBar launches at login and whether the bar is shown or hidden — are stored locally on your Mac in the standard system settings store (UserDefaults). This stays on your device and is removed when you delete the app.

6. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page, with the "Last updated" date above revised accordingly.