Finance and controlling
Budgets, forecasts and financial models: formulas overwritten by values, ranges that no longer cover every row, broken references, results that moved, hidden rows and sheets.
Probe Desktop · Windows and macOS
Know which changes to your documents need a second look.
Budgets, contracts and presentations go through many hands. Probe Desktop watches the Word, Excel and PowerPoint files of your OneDrive or Google Drive folders and, when one changes, shows you the modifications that alter a number, a commitment or a calculation, next to what was there before.
Free and open source · Runs on your computer · No account · AI optional.
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X A formula was replaced by its value: the cell no longer updates
Forecast Q3.xlsx · Synthesis!F18 · high
=SUM(Sales!F2:F240)*(1-Assumptions!C4)
1 284 000
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W Text removed about a sensitive topic (payment, liability, termination…)
Master services agreement.docx · Paragraph 41 · high
The Supplier's total liability shall not exceed the fees paid in the preceding twelve months.
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W A date was changed
Master services agreement.docx · Paragraph 12 · medium
Either party may terminate with 90 days' notice, no earlier than 01/01/2027.
Either party may terminate with 90 days' notice, no earlier than 01/01/2029.
Track changes shows what someone typed. It does not show that a total now stops one row short, that a formula became a frozen number, or that a sheet was hidden. Probe Desktop reads the document itself, so these changes surface even when nobody announced them.
Who it is for
For the teams whose files carry the numbers and the commitments.
Legal and procurement
Contracts and amendments: amounts, dates and notice periods changed, obligations softened from "shall" to "may", negations added, liability or payment clauses removed.
Management and sales
Board decks and proposals: figures changed on a slide or in its notes, slides deleted or hidden just before the meeting.
Compliance and audit
A record of which version was reviewed, when, and what changed since: macros, external links and embedded objects that appear in a file are flagged too.
Assistants and project offices
Many shared files, little time: one queue of documents that changed, sorted by severity, instead of opening each file to find out.
Teams sharing folders with partners
Clients or suppliers edit the files of a shared OneDrive or Google Drive folder: see what they changed, even when nobody sent a redline.
How it works
Set it once, then only look when something matters.
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Choose your folders
Pick the OneDrive or Google Drive folders synchronized on your computer; Probe Desktop suggests the ones it finds.
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It records the reviewed version
The first pass keeps a private copy of each document as the reference. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
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A file changes: it compares
In the background, Probe Desktop compares the new version with the reference and flags the risky modifications. The icon near the clock tells you when there is something to see.
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You review, it moves on
Open the findings, check the before and the after, open the document if needed, then mark it as reviewed: this version becomes the new reference.
What it flags
Fixed rules you can read, not a model's opinion.
Every finding comes from a rule that compares the two versions of the file. The same change always gives the same finding, and each one shows its location, its severity and the text or formula before and after.
| Format | Examples of findings | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Excel .xlsx · .xlsm | A formula replaced by a typed value; a range shortened in a formula (SUM(A1:A3) → SUM(A1:A2)); a broken reference (#REF!); a number typed inside a formula changed; a computed result that moved by more than 10%. | high medium |
| A sheet deleted or made "very hidden"; rows, columns or sheets hidden; data validation or protection removed; a named range pointing elsewhere. | high medium | |
| Word .docx · .docm | An amount or percentage changed; an obligation softened ("shall" → "may", "doit" → "peut"); a negation added or removed; text about payment, liability or termination removed. | high |
| A date or a figure changed; a sensitive clause reworded; track changes turned off; pending tracked changes resolved without trace; comments deleted. | medium low | |
| PowerPoint .pptx · .pptm | Figures changed on a slide or in its notes; a slide deleted or hidden. | high medium |
| Every format | Macros added; a link to an external file or template added; an embedded object added. | high medium |
Rules cover English and French wording. Documents written with Office for Mac use the same formats and are covered.
Your documents stay yours
Everything is computed on your computer.
Probe Desktop is not a cloud service. It reads the files your sync client already put on your disk, keeps its reference copies in your user profile and shows its window from a server that only your own session can reach.
If you want a plain-language explanation of a report, connect an Anthropic or OpenAI account, or a model hosted inside your company. Only the flagged excerpts of that document are sent, and only when you ask.
- No account, no sign-up, no server of ours in the loop.
- Findings are computed by fixed rules with no AI provider. An optional provider can explain them and raise extra findings, shown apart.
- An explanation sends the file name, the findings and the changed excerpts, never the whole file.
- API keys stay in the Windows Credential Manager or the macOS Keychain.
- Works with an OpenAI-compatible server run on premises.
- Online-only files are not downloaded just to record a first version, unless you allow it.
Get started
Running in a minute.
Download and open
Get the Windows executable or the macOS application. It starts in the background: look for its icon near the clock or in the menu bar.
Add a folder
The window proposes the OneDrive and Google Drive folders it found. One click and the first pass records every document.
Keep working
When a colleague saves a change, the document appears under To review. Turn on Start at login from the icon's menu to keep watching after a restart.
Good to know
- Watches synchronized folders. Reading the version history of OneDrive, SharePoint and Google Drive directly is on the way.
- Reads Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats. Apple Pages, Numbers and Keynote files and legacy
.doc/.xlsfiles are not read yet. - A finding is a reason to look, not a proven mistake; a document without findings still lists all its changes.
- The first releases are not signed: Windows and macOS ask for a confirmation on first launch, as explained on the download page.
Also from Probe
Reviewing code instead?
Probe for code applies the same discipline to pull requests: it maps a Git diff to risk signals, runs your checks in a sandbox and tells reviewers which lines to read first, with evidence.
| Probe for code | Probe Desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| Watches | Git commits and pull requests | Word, Excel, PowerPoint files |
| Reference | The base branch | The last reviewed version |
| Runs as | CLI, CI, Docker hub | Desktop application |
Stop re-reading every shared file.
Probe Desktop tells you which changes deserve your attention, and lets you skip the rest with a clear conscience.