Azure DevOps Niceties privacy policy

Effective date: October 15, 2026

Azure DevOps Niceties improves work-item copying, edits work-item states, summarizes selected work items, and follows your system's light or dark appearance on Azure DevOps. This policy describes the extension's handling of information.

Information used

Enhanced copying is enabled by default unless you have saved an off preference. You can turn off Enable enhanced copying in the extension menu; that choice stays on this device. While copying is enabled, the extension reads Azure DevOps work-item information available in the page you are using, including work-item IDs, titles, types, and URLs in individual controls and loaded release-stage lists. It uses this information to identify work-item copy controls and to format references when you request a copy. URLs identify your Azure DevOps organization or project and the work item being copied. You can re-enable copying in the same menu or choose Enable copying on a release page.

While an enhanced release-stage list is open, the extension requests the project’s work-item type categories from the same Azure DevOps organization using your existing signed-in session. It uses category names to offer shortcuts for copying backlog items, with or without bugs, across standard and custom processes. Category names stay in page memory while the list is open and are not written to Chrome storage. Turning copying off cancels pending category requests. No work-item content is requested by this category lookup.

Inline state editing is enabled by default and can be turned off independently using Enable inline state editing in the extension menu. When you open a displayed work-item State, the extension requests that item’s ID, current state, type, project, and revision, plus the type’s workflow states and transitions, from the same Azure DevOps organization using your existing signed-in session. Choosing a different state immediately sends a revision-checked update of System.State to Azure DevOps. Normal permissions and workflow rules apply; the extension does not bypass rules or suppress normal notifications. Opening or cancelling a picker makes no changes. Workflow definitions have a one-minute freshness period in page memory; expired definitions may remain until reused or the feature is closed; state editing does not save work-item data in Chrome storage. Turning the feature off stops new requests and cancels pending requests; a save already sent to Azure DevOps may still complete.

Selection summaries are enabled by default, independently of enhanced copying. You can turn off Enable selection summary in the extension menu; that opt-out is saved on this device. They read selected work-item IDs and displayed estimates (Effort, Story Points, and Size), types, states, and assignments to show totals and counts in the open page. Displayed assignments may contain names or email addresses; these are used locally to count unassigned rows and are not sent to the developer. This feature makes no additional network requests and does not save work-item data. Turning it off removes the summary and stops selection processing.

When enhanced copying and Include parent context are enabled and you request a rich or Markdown copy, the extension requests the work item's relations and its parent's ID, title, type, and URL from the same Azure DevOps organization. Requests use your existing signed-in Azure DevOps session. The extension does not extract or store your passwords, authentication tokens, or session cookies.

System theme syncing defaults to Automatic: it follows system appearance when Azure DevOps starts with its standard light/default theme and preserves selected dark or high-contrast themes. You can choose On or Off to override this automatic choice. When syncing is allowed, the extension reads the browser's system color-scheme preference and uses Azure DevOps's native theme service to apply the corresponding light or dark theme. It preserves native high-contrast themes and forced-colors settings. Theme matching works independently of the copying preference and does not process work-item content. It does not change your saved Azure DevOps account theme preference.

The extension stores three settings using chrome.storage.sync: the system-theme mode (Automatic, On, or Off), whether to include parent context, and your branch-name prefix. Chrome may synchronize these preferences through your Google account when Chrome sync is enabled. Your inline-state-editing, selection-summary, and enhanced-copying preferences are stored in chrome.storage.local on the current device and are not synchronized. State editing, copying, and summaries default on and respect saved local opt-outs. Work-item information is not stored in Chrome local or sync storage.

How information is used and shared

Work-item information is used to provide copying, selection summaries, and inline state editing. An explicit copy click or keyboard shortcut writes the formatted result to your system clipboard. The extension does not read the clipboard. Other applications, operating-system clipboard features, or clipboard managers may access or retain the copied information according to their own settings and policies. You choose where to paste it.

State updates send the chosen state, work-item ID, and last-read revision to Azure DevOps over HTTPS using the existing signed-in session. Project category requests send the project identifier and existing browser session credentials to Azure DevOps over HTTPS. Optional parent requests send the work-item identifiers and existing browser session credentials to Azure DevOps over HTTPS so that Azure DevOps can authorize and return the requested data. Microsoft operates Azure DevOps. Applying native themes may also cause Azure DevOps to request its own theme data or site resources. The extension does not operate a separate server or send work-item information to its developer.

Google operates Chrome's preference synchronization. Microsoft and Google handle information under their respective policies: Microsoft Privacy Statement and Google Privacy Policy.

The extension has no analytics, advertising, tracking service, or sale of user data. It uses handled information only to provide its stated Azure DevOps features. Its handling of user data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. It does not use or transfer information for personalized advertising or creditworthiness decisions. The developer does not receive work-item information for human review.

Retention and controls

Work-item information is used in the open page. Selected release-item references may be held in that list’s page memory while you interact with it, including items temporarily unloaded or filtered. Clearing the selection, closing/replacing the list, changing views, turning copying off, or closing the tab clears those references. They are not written to Chrome storage or sent to the developer. Parent details may be cached in that page's memory, with a 30-second freshness period; an expired entry may remain in memory until reused or the page is closed. Turning enhanced copying off cancels pending parent requests and clears cached parent details. These details are not written to persistent extension storage. Closing the Azure DevOps tab removes the extension's in-memory state for that page.

Copied data remains in the clipboard until replaced or cleared and may be retained longer by operating-system clipboard history or another application. The extension cannot delete copies you paste elsewhere.

Settings remain in Chrome storage until changed or removed. You can change them in the extension's toolbar menu or options page, turn off enhanced copying, turn off system theme syncing, selection summaries, or parent context, control Chrome sync using Chrome settings, disable the extension, or uninstall it. Chrome manages removal and any synchronized copies according to your profile and sync settings. The developer has no server-side user database to access or delete.

Questions and policy changes

For privacy questions, contact the developer through the project's support page. Do not include private work-item content, organization URLs, passwords, or tokens in a public issue. You can also use the developer contact channel on the Chrome Web Store listing when available. This policy may be updated when the extension's behavior changes; the effective date above identifies this version.