Revision History - Metrics Guide
Understanding Revision History metrics, features, and flags
Understanding Your Summary Statistics
When you open a Google Doc with Revision History installed, you'll see a summary bar at the top with four key metrics. Here's what each one means:
Revisions
What it measures:
How many times text was deleted and then replaced with new writing
Why it matters:
This shows genuine editing behavior - not just deletions, but actual revision work where someone removed text and wrote something new in its place.
What's counted:
Meaningful edits where text is replaced (not just typos or single character changes)
Typical range:
Varies widely depending on writing style. Some writers edit heavily as they go, others edit at the end.
Large Copy/Pastes
What it measures:
The number of times large text segments were pasted into the document
Why it matters:
Helps identify when content was brought in from external sources or other documents
What's counted:
Only substantial pastes that are both:
- 20 or more words, AND
- 150 or more characters
What's NOT counted:
Small pastes like a sentence or two, URLs, or brief quotes
Writing Sessions
What it measures:
The number of distinct work sessions on this document
Why it matters:
Shows how writing was distributed over time - was it done in one sitting or developed over multiple sessions?
How sessions are defined:
Any break of more than 5 minutes creates a new session
Example:
If a student works for 20 minutes, takes a 10-minute break, then works another 15 minutes, that counts as 2 writing sessions.
Active Writing Time
What it measures:
Total time spent actively typing, editing, or making changes
Why it matters:
Distinguishes active work time from document being open but idle
What's counted:
Time when changes are being made
What's NOT counted:
Breaks longer than 5 minutes (reading time, thinking time, document sitting open)
Important note: This measures engagement time, not total elapsed time