Terms of Service

By installing, accessing, or using the Offerings, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, you must not use the Offerings. These Terms apply to your use of the free Academic Formats add-in and any related free services. If we introduce premium or paid features in the future, such features may be subject to additional or modified terms, which will be presented to you at the time of purchase or activation.

Academic Formats provides tools to help users check documents for compliance with selected academic formatting standards, currently focused on APA 7th Edition formatting for student and academic work. In particular, the add-in is designed to assist with automated checks related to: • **Document Setup**: Margins, fonts, spacing, paragraph indentation, and page numbers. • **Title Page**: Presence and basic formatting of elements such as paper title, author name(s), institutional affiliation, course information, instructor name, and due date. • **Abstract Page**: Structure, approximate word-count ranges, basic placement, and presence of a keywords section, where applicable. • **References**: General checks for alphabetical ordering, hanging indents, line spacing, and basic validation for certain common reference types. The Offerings are not a substitute for professional editing, legal advice, or your institution's own requirements. Academic Formats does not generate or verify the substantive accuracy of citations or references, does not check for plagiarism, does not guarantee compliance with any particular grading rubric, journal requirements, or institutional rules, and does not provide legal or academic advice of any kind.

Subject to your continued compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to install and use the Academic Formats add-in for your own internal academic or educational purposes. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by Academic Formats and its licensors. **Permitted Use** (examples): • Use the Offerings to assist you in preparing and reviewing your own academic documents. • Recommend the Offerings to students, colleagues, or other users, provided you do not misrepresent our relationship or make promises on our behalf. **Prohibited Use** (without our prior written consent): • Copying, modifying, reverse engineering, decompiling, or attempting to derive the source code or underlying ideas of any part of the Offerings, except to the limited extent that applicable law expressly permits despite this restriction. • Using the Offerings to provide commercial formatting, compliance, or consulting services to third parties as a primary business, including offering the Offerings as a hosted service. • Circumventing, disabling, or interfering with any security or technical measures, usage limits, or licensing controls of the Offerings. • Accessing the Offerings by automated means (for example, bots or scrapers) other than as expressly permitted by documented APIs or interfaces we provide. • Removing, obscuring, or altering any proprietary notices (such as copyright or trademark notices). Any use of the Offerings that is not expressly permitted by these Terms is prohibited and may result in immediate termination of your license.

Academic Formats is designed as an assistive tool only. It can help you identify potential formatting issues, but it is not a substitute for your professional judgment or institutional guidance. Without limiting other disclaimers in these Terms: • The Offerings may fail to detect issues, may flag non-issues, or may not interpret complex or unusual formatting correctly. • Academic style guidelines (including APA 7th Edition) may be updated or interpreted differently by institutions, publishers, and instructors. We do not guarantee that our implementation reflects every nuance or institutional variation. • You remain solely responsible for reviewing and approving your documents before submission and for ensuring that your work complies with all applicable academic, institutional, and legal requirements. • We do not promise or guarantee any particular academic or professional outcome (including grades, acceptance, or publication). Some features may be labeled as beta, preview, or experimental. Such features may be incomplete, may change at any time, and may be less reliable than other parts of the Offerings.

The Offerings, including all associated software, interfaces, visual design, documentation, and underlying technologies, are owned by Academic Formats or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. These Terms do not transfer any ownership rights to you. Your documents, and any academic or other content you create, remain your property. Because we do not receive your documents for analysis, we do not claim any rights in them. If you voluntarily provide any feedback, ideas, or suggestions regarding the Offerings, you grant Academic Formats a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, and otherwise exploit that feedback for any lawful purpose, without obligation to you.

You agree to use the Offerings responsibly and in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws. In particular, you are solely responsible for: • **Account and Device Security**: Maintaining the confidentiality of any accounts, credentials, and devices you use with Microsoft Word and the Offerings, and for all activities that occur under your control. • **Document Content and Compliance**: Ensuring that your documents and academic work comply with all applicable academic integrity policies, institutional rules, copyright laws, and other legal obligations. Academic Formats does not review, monitor, or approve your content. • **Review of Results**: Carefully reviewing all checks, messages, and suggestions provided by the Offerings before relying on them, and independently confirming whether they are appropriate for your situation. • **Prohibited Use**: Not using the Offerings in connection with any unlawful, harmful, or fraudulent activity, or to process content that is illegal under applicable law. • **Backups**: Maintaining separate and adequate backups of your documents and data. The Offerings do not serve as a backup or archival service, and we are not responsible for any loss of documents.

We may suspend or terminate your access to some or all of the Offerings, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice if we reasonably believe that: • You have violated these Terms or any applicable law. • Your use of the Offerings creates risk or possible legal exposure for us or others. • We discontinue all or part of the Offerings. You may stop using the Offerings at any time by uninstalling the add-in and ceasing to access our website. Upon any termination, your license to use the Offerings will automatically end. Certain provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive (including, without limitation, ownership provisions, disclaimers, limitations of liability, and indemnity obligations) will survive termination.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE OFFERINGS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE", WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, ACADEMIC FORMATS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ANY WARRANTIES ARISING OUT OF COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. Without limiting the generality of the above, we do not warrant that: • The Offerings will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. • The Offerings will detect every formatting issue or be compatible with every version or configuration of Microsoft Word or operating system. • Any results, suggestions, or outputs from the Offerings will be accurate, complete, or suitable for your specific academic or professional needs. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties. To the extent that applicable law requires any warranties with respect to the Offerings, such warranties will be limited in duration to the shortest period permitted by law.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL ACADEMIC FORMATS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, GOODWILL, OR DATA, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFERINGS OR THESE TERMS, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ACADEMIC FORMATS' AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE OFFERINGS OR THESE TERMS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (USD $100), OR, IF YOU HAVE PAID FEES FOR USE OF THE OFFERINGS, THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO ACADEMIC FORMATS FOR THE OFFERINGS DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, WHICHEVER IS GREATER. FOR FREE OR TRIAL USE OF THE OFFERINGS, OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO USD $100. Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude or limit liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law. In such cases, our liability will be limited to the minimum extent permitted by law.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Academic Formats and its owners, officers, directors, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any third-party claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: • Your use or misuse of the Offerings. • Your violation of these Terms or of any applicable law or regulation. • Any content, data, or materials you submit or provide to us (for example, in support requests). We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you. In that case, you agree to cooperate with our defense of the claim.

Unless otherwise required by mandatory law in your jurisdiction, these Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to them or the Offerings will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction in which Academic Formats is organized and primarily operates, without giving effect to any conflict of law principles. Before initiating any formal legal proceeding, you agree to first contact us at support@academicformats.com and provide a brief written description of the dispute and your contact information, and allow us a reasonable time to attempt to resolve the dispute informally. Subject to any mandatory rights you may have under applicable law, you and Academic Formats agree that any claims or disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Offerings must be brought on an individual basis and not as part of any class, consolidated, or representative action.

We may modify these Terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the Offerings, changes in law, or new business practices. When we do: • We will post the updated Terms on this page and update the 'Last Updated' date above. • If we make material changes that significantly affect your rights or obligations, we will take reasonable steps to notify you (for example, by email if you have provided one or by a notice on our website). By continuing to use the Offerings after the effective date of the updated Terms, you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Offerings.

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms or the Offerings, you may contact us at: **Email (general and legal)**: support@academicformats.com **Email (privacy)**: privacy@academicformats.com **Website**: academicformats.com Please include sufficient detail in your communication so that we can understand and respond to your inquiry.