Grammarly

Grammarly is available free of charge to all LMU students. Please also note the privacy policy.

• Age: You must be at least 16 years old to use the service. Students under this age limit require the express permission of their legal guardians
• Optional use: The use of Grammarly at LMU is optional
• Purpose of use: You may use Grammarly within the scope of your studies (bachelor's or master's program) or your doctoral studies
• Editing content with Grammarly: You must comply with all legal requirements when using Grammarly. This includes data protection law and copyright law. Please pay particular attention to the following guidelines:
  You may not enter any content in Grammarly that
  • contains personal data or data that can be linked to a specific person, in particular special categories of personal data (including health data, information on political or sexual orientation), as well as data that is subject to professional secrecy in accordance with Section 203 of the German Criminal Code (StGB) or a special duty of confidentiality
  • contains illegal, harmful, or abusive content, including pornographic, obscene, defamatory, offensive, threatening, inflammatory, or racist content
  • could damage the reputation of LMU or its University Hospital (KUM)
  • contains third-party or copyrighted content, unless you have acquired the rights to make use of such content

You must disclose the use of Grammarly if you have edited texts with Grammarly and these are submitted for assessment/evaluation/grading (e.g., by your instructors), unless your institution or your instructors have expressly stated otherwise.

Availability of stored data: if you save content to the Grammarly cloud (e.g., documents), it will be accessible until you delete your Grammarly account. Your data cannot be restored after deletion. Therefore, please back up any data you still need in good time. For more information about the specific deletion policies, please refer to our Privacy Policy for Grammarly.

Grammarly offers two types of tools: a standard text editing tool for correcting grammar, writing style, and spelling errors, and a generative AI tool that goes beyond the text editing tool's capabilities and can take over the formulation of a text.

You can use Grammarly's standard text editing tool and the AI writing tool through the following usage options:

Using Grammarly via the web editor

After logging in to the Grammarly website, you can enter and edit texts directly in your browser. You can choose whether you want to save your documents in the Grammarly cloud. The maximum size is 4 MB. For more information on restrictions for uploaded documents, please visit the provider's website under “What are the limitations when using Grammarly”.

Using Grammarly via the browser extension (web plugin)

Install the Grammarly browser extension. Once you have activated it in your browser, you can start typing on any website. Grammarly processes your text in English and displays suggestions.

According to the provider, Grammarly ignores fields where sensitive text is entered, such as credit card details, passwords, and the URL text entry in your browser. You can decide for yourself whether you want to disable the Grammarly browser extension for entry in a specific text field (instructions under “Turn off Grammarly's browser extension in a text field”.

You also have the option of disabling Grammarly completely for certain websites. Instructions can be found under “Grammarly's browser extension user guide”.

Our suggestion: disable the Grammarly browser extension on certain websites where confidentiality of information is crucial, such as financial or healthcare portals.

Using Grammarly with the Grammarly desktop app (Windows and Mac)

Install the Grammarly desktop app for Windows or the Grammarly desktop app for Mac.

The Grammarly desktop app is compatible with numerous apps and clients, such as Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. After installing the application, open any desktop app or client. As soon as you start typing, the floating Grammarly widget will appear on your screen. The desktop app runs by default whenever you are actively writing in English and also offers the features of the browser extension for text input on websites. Similar to the browser extension, you can use the desktop app settings to specify that Grammarly should be disabled completely or in a specific app for a limited time.

For more information, visit the provider's website at “How to choose where Grammarly for Windows and Mac works”.

Our recommendation: You can limit Grammarly's editing at any time by adjusting your Grammarly settings, especially if you are editing sensitive content.

Using Grammarly on mobile devices

The Grammarly app for mobile devices (Android, iPhone, iPad) available in the relevant app store is an alternative keyboard to the standard keyboards found on iOS or Android mobile devices. All text typed with this alternative keyboard is sent for processing to Grammarly, including messages from instant messenger services. For this reason, and despite the security and privacy measures taken by the service provider, we do not recommend using these apps. If you still wish to use the apps, you should do so with caution.

Grammarly is an AI-powered, cloud-based writing assistant that provides suggestions for grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style to improve writing. Grammarly only processes texts in English. Grammarly is known as a web editor. However, Grammarly’s tools also work on desktops, mobile devices, and in various apps. The way Grammarly interacts with your text depends on the tool you use, so the privacy aspects vary depending on how you use it.

LMU students have access to the standard text editing tool and the generative AI writing tool with the Grammarly Edu-licenses.

The use of Grammarly for LMU students is optional. By using the service, you agree to Grammarly's Customer Business Agreement and the Terms of Use for Information Processing Systems of LMU.

• You can only use the service if you belong to LMU. To do so, you will need your LMU user ID. Registration is via single sign-on (SSO).
• Please also note our Terms of Use for Grammarly

We may need to contact you, for example if the service is unavailable for an extended period of time. If there is no other equivalent or better way to inform you, we will use your personal data for this purpose, for example, via the LMU information service.

The use of Grammarly for LMU students is optional. Grammarly's services are provided on behalf of LMU by the American company of the same name. For this purpose, LMU has acquired educational licenses (Edu-Licenses) and entered into a data processing agreement with the company. When you use the Grammarly service, we process your personal data in accordance with the information provided in the description of the processing activity. We use your data in accordance with data protection laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Bavarian Data Protection Act (BayDSG). These laws regulate how personal data should be handled.

Grammarly stores and processes the following personal data until your personal Grammarly account is deleted:

• First name, last name
• Email address
• Date (day) of your last activity within Grammarly
• Affiliation status with LMU (student, employee)

In addition, the following event data is processed within a writing session:

• Your text entry, written in English
• Event and event time
  • That you are using Grammarly in a document
  • When you accept or reject a suggestion (your “content”)
  • When you end a writing session
• Your IP address
• Authorization information
• Client or browser version, including operating system details
• Application container operating system identifier (either the hostname portion of a web application's URL or the application ID at the operating system level)
• The Grammarly desktop apps collect user content and context from the application you are using (e.g., in emails, your reply, the subject line of the email, and the recipients are collected).

The Grammarly tools analyze the text you enter for review or as part of an instruction (“prompt”) in real time by transmitting it to the Grammarly servers. This means that your content passes through Grammarly's systems before you see the suggested improvements on your screen. However, the extent of Grammarly's access to your text and documents depends on which specific tool you have actually installed and are actively using. You can decide for yourself which content Grammarly accesses, depending on the specific application used (web editor, browser extension, mobile, or desktop app).

• If you use Grammarly exclusively via the web editor, Grammarly only processes the content that you explicitly enter into the web editor's input field. You also have the option of saving your content in the Grammarly cloud for further editing at a later time.
• If you use Grammarly with the browser extension (web plugin), Grammarly processes everything you enter within an active website. You can disable this feature for specific websites by adjusting your personal Grammarly settings. According to the provider, Grammarly does not work in URL entry fields or in password or credit card information fields. For more information on these topics, please visit the provider's websites at “Turn off Grammarly on one or more websites” and “Does Grammarly's product read everything I write?”
• If you use Grammarly via the desktop app (Windows or Mac), Grammarly will start processing text as soon as you start typing. By adjusting your personal Grammarly settings, you can decide whether Grammarly has access to content in certain desktop apps (e.g., Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, or the Element client), just as you can with the browser extension. You can find the exact procedure on the provider's website “How to choose where Grammarly for Windows and Mac works”
• If you use the mobile versions of Grammarly (for iPhone, iPad, Android devices), everything you type while using the Grammarly keyboard is automatically transmitted to Grammarly. In this case, you have no option to use Grammarly selectively. For this reason, we strongly advise against using the mobile app.
• The generative AI feature can be used independently of the basic text editing feature and can be disabled in the feature customization tab in your account settings. For more information, visit the website How can I disable Grammarly AI? Does Grammarly use trigger AI detectors?.
  

Further information on specific Grammarly tools and usage options

In order to enable the use of Grammarly as described above, personal data must be transferred to other entities:

• to the manufacturer (Grammarly)
• to the subcontractors of the manufacturer

The data transfer complies with data protection requirements. The data transfer takes place within the scope of the GDPR or to countries with an appropriately adequate and recognized level of data protection. No data will be transferred to a third country or to an international organization without permission.

Your content will not be used to train Grammarly's underlying AI.

Grammarly's suggestions for improvement are only visible to you. LMU administrators do not have access to this content. Your user profile is also not visible to other users.

• Your content is stored in the Grammarly cloud via a cryptographic hash for up to 24 hours to provide consistent suggestions in a single writing session
• Documents you create using the Grammarly editor are retained until you move them to the application's trash bin. Items in the trash are permanently deleted after 30 days
• If you delete your Grammarly account, the data contained therein will be removed from our systems within 30 days of your request
• Your Grammarly account will be deleted when you lose your LMU affiliation
• Your Grammarly account will be deleted when your de-registration takes effect
  

Responsible for data processing

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 Munich

Competent department for data processing

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Division VI (IT-Services)
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 Munich

General questions and support

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Division VI (IT-Services)
IT Service Desk
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 Munich
Support address: it-servicedesk@lmu.de
Contact form

Contact details of the Data Protection Officer at LMU

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
-- Data Protection Officer at LMU --
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
80539 Munich
Tel.: 089-2180-2414
Data Protection Officer

The terms of use, data usage information, and privacy policy in their currently valid versions apply. As of July 2025.

• Right to information (Art. 15 GDPR): You can obtain information about the data stored about you. For more information, please visit the manufacturer's website at “Your Privacy Rights & Choices, Your Other Data Rights”
• Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR): You have the right to request the erasure of your data. However, the right to erasure under Art. 17 (1) and (2) GDPR does not apply, among other things, if the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority (Art. 17 (3) (b) GDPR)
• Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR): You can object to the processing of your data
• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): If incorrect personal data is processed, you can request that it be corrected
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR): Under certain circumstances, you can request that the processing of your data be restricted
• Withdrawal of consent: If you have given your consent to data processing, you canwithdraw it for the future. Previous processing remains unaffected

In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). The competent authority for Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is the Bavarian State Commissioner for Data Protection.

If you wish to exercise your rights or have any questions, please contact the division responsible for data processing. The responsible division will then check whether the legal requirements are met and take the necessary measures accordingly.