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How to test Citation Safe for Word

This page is written for the Microsoft AppSource certification reviewer. It walks through a full end-to-end test of the Citation Safe Word add-in — no test account needed, all functionality exercisable on the free tier.

1. Sideload the manifest

Open Word Desktop (2016+), Word for the web, or Word for Mac.
Insert → Add-ins → My Add-ins → Upload My Add-in.
Paste this manifest URL: https://citationsafe.com/word-addin/manifest.xml (or download the file and upload it locally).
A “Citation Safe” button appears on the Home tab of the Word ribbon.

2. Open the task pane

Click the Citation Safe button on the Home tab. The task pane docks on the right side of the Word window. On first load it renders under 1 second (the task pane is a small no-framework page — HTML shell + one CSS file + one JS file, all under 20 KB total). You should see:

Header: “Citation Safe”
Subhead: “Verify citations against primary sources. Not legal advice — human review required.”
Two buttons: “Verify Selected Text” and “Verify Whole Document”
Collapsed “Settings” disclosure at the bottom for paid-tier API key entry

3. Sample verification — expected VERIFIED result

Paste the following two lines into any Word document, then click “Verify Whole Document.”

This case law is illustrative: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
See also Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).

Expected result: two citation rows. Each row shows the citation in monospace, a verdict badge, an explanation, and a “View source” link to CourtListener. Both should be tagged VERIFIED (green background). Each row also includes an “Insert Word comment” button — clicking it adds an inline Word comment at the citation's location carrying the verdict + source URL. This is the verify-as-you-cite flow.

4. Sample verification — expected NOT FOUND result

Replace the document contents with:

As held in Wexler v. Fintech Holdings, 987 F.3d 5555 (9th Cir. 2099), digital assets are chattel.

Expected result: one citation row, verdict NOT FOUND (red background). This is a deliberately-fabricated citation — the case does not exist. This is exactly what the add-in exists to catch before you file. Click “Insert Word comment” to attach the NOT FOUND verdict as an inline comment in the document.

5. Verify Selected Text vs. Verify Whole Document

Both buttons call the same verification endpoint (https://citationsafe.com/api/verify) and return the same verdict shape. The difference is the input:

Verify Selected Text uses context.document.getSelection().text — check just the paragraph or citation you have highlighted. Useful when a document is long and you only want to verify one specific pin-cite.
Verify Whole Document uses context.document.body.text — check every citation in the current draft. Standard pre-file smoke check.

6. Verdict semantics

VERIFIED — the cited authority exists in the primary source we checked (CourtListener for U.S. federal + state opinions) and, where a quote was pin-cited, the quote is present in the opinion text.
UNCONFIRMED — we could not confirm the citation in the sources we checked as of the timestamp shown. It may be outside our coverage (unpublished orders, non-U.S. jurisdictions, or citations whose reporter series is not indexed). It does NOT automatically mean the case is fake.
NOT FOUND — the citation does not appear in the primary source and we have no evidence the cited authority exists. This is the fabrication verdict.

Live accuracy metrics for each verdict layer are published at /quality.

7. Paywall boundary (free-tier limit)

The free tier is gated at two layers:

Server-side: the verification API returns HTTP 402 after the third document verification in a calendar month per IP, with body “Free limit reached — see citationsafe.com/pricing.”
Client-side (task pane only): a courtesy local counter (window.localStorage key CS_TRIAL_COUNT) throttles anonymous trial verifications from the same device to 3, then shows an in-pane upgrade CTA linking to https://citationsafe.com/pricing. The reviewer can reset the local counter with the “Reset local trial counter” button under Settings if the server-side quota is still available.

To exercise the paywall, click “Verify Whole Document” four times in a row. The fourth click surfaces the paywall message. No card, no signup, no support ticket needed — the boundary is the same for every anonymous user.

8. Data handling

The add-in reads the text of the document you are actively editing (via context.document.body.load("text") for whole-document mode, or context.document.getSelection().load("text") for the selection-only mode). The text is sent to https://citationsafe.com/api/verify for citation extraction and verdict lookup. The default retention policy keeps only the SHA-256 hash of the transmitted text plus the extracted citations and their verdicts — the raw text is not retained. Full policy at /privacy.

The task pane loads only two external resources: https://appsforoffice.microsoft.com/lib/1/hosted/office.js (Microsoft’s Office JS runtime, required) and https://citationsafe.com/api/verify (the verification endpoint). No third-party analytics, ad networks, or telemetry are loaded from the task pane.

9. Optional: Insert Word comment (ReadWriteDocument permission)

The manifest declares ReadWriteDocument permission because each result row exposes an “Insert Word comment” button. On click, the task pane calls context.document.body.search(rawCitation, ...) and attaches an inline Word comment at the first match carrying the Citation Safe verdict and, when available, the source URL. No other edit to the document is ever performed by the add-in.

10. Support

Reviewer questions: support@citationsafe.com. Company: Digital Empire Holdings LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States. EIN: 42-3897663.