While it says on Copyleaks’ overview page that it’s “free,” this is not entirely accurate (which you’ll also notice if you scan the user reviews). To clear up any confusion, the app does have a free plan, but it only provides 10 free credits per month.

For every 250 words the app scans, one Copyleaks credit is deducted from your account. So, if you have a 2,500-word document, you need 10 credits for the app to scan it entirely. Luckily, Copyleaks has three plans: free, subscription, and prepaid. Each tier has its own benefits and pricing scheme. In this example, we’ll use the free plan.

To install Copyleaks, head over to the “Add-ins” group of the “Insert” tab, and then click “Get Add-ins.”

The Office Add-Ins window appears. In the search bar at the top left of the window, search for “Copyleaks.” Select “Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker,” which should be the first result.

Copyleaks’ overview page appears. Read through everything, and then select “Add.”

After it installs, a new “Copyleaks.com” group appears in the “References” tab in Word. Go ahead and select “Scan.”

Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker opens in the right-hand pane. Use your email address to create an account, and you’ll receive an email that asks you to verify it. Once you do, you receive the 10 free credits.

If you’d like to purchase more, select “Get Credits” at the bottom of the right-hand pane which takes you to the purchase page.

Once you’re ready to check your Word document for plagiarism, select “Scan.”

The scanning process begins, and it might take a few minutes, depending on the size of the document. As the app scans, URLs appear in the right-hand pane. The volume and percentage of similar words found in the document accompany the URLs.

Once the scan completes, select “Launch Report” to see the detailed findings of the scan.

The report opens in your default browser. It shows information like the number of words in the scanned document versus the percentage of similar words found. It also highlights identical words in pink (see 1, below), and words with a related meaning in almond (see 2, below).