Privacy Policy

The short version

Your files are processed entirely inside your browser and are never uploaded to our servers. We do not ask you to create an account, we do not set tracking cookies, and we do not run analytics on this site.

The sections below explain each of those claims, and are honest about the one thing we do not control: the standard request logs kept by whoever hosts the files.

Who we are

This site is operated by PDF Tools (thulem.com). For the purposes of data protection law, PDF Tools (thulem.com) is the controller of any personal data described in this policy.

You can reach us at [email protected]. That address is read by a person, and it is the fastest way to raise anything on this page.

How your documents are handled

When you choose a PDF, your browser reads it from your disk into its own memory. Every step after that — reading the pages, combining them, and producing the finished document — is performed by code running in that browser tab, on your device.

No part of the document's contents is transmitted anywhere, and neither is its name, its size, or its page count. There is one narrow exception, and it is worth stating plainly: if a document uses Chinese, Japanese or Korean text, your browser requests the matching character table from this site so it can draw those characters. That request is to this site only, never to a third party, and it carries nothing but the name of the table. It does mean our server logs can show that some visitor opened a document using that writing system, which is why we describe it here rather than call the exception absolute.

When you close or reload the tab, the browser releases that memory and the file is gone from the page. The only copy that persists is the one you deliberately save to your own computer.

Information we collect

We collect no personal information through this site. There is no account system, no sign-up, and no contact form, so there is no field in which you could hand us your details.

If you email us, we receive what you put in that email: your address, your name if you sign it, and the contents of your message. We use it to answer you, and for nothing else.

Cookies and browser storage

As of the date above, this site sets no cookies of any kind and stores nothing in your browser's local storage, session storage, or IndexedDB. There is no consent banner because there is currently nothing to consent to.

If that changes — to remember an interface preference between visits, for example — we will describe exactly what is stored, in this section, before the change goes live.

Analytics and tracking

We run no analytics on this site. There is no Google Analytics, no third-party measurement script, no tracking pixel, and no error-reporting beacon. We do not know how many people visit a given page or what they do there, beyond whatever appears in our host's raw logs.

The site also loads no resources from third-party servers. Fonts, styles, scripts, and images are served from the same domain as the page, so opening a page contacts nobody but the host.

Advertising: planned, not yet active

No advertising is served on this site today. No ad code is present on any page, and no advertising cookie is set, by us or by anyone else.

We intend to fund the site by displaying Google AdSense advertising in future. The blank, clearly labelled boxes you may notice on tool pages are reserved space, held open so the page will not jump around on the day advertising is switched on. They contain no advertising code.

When advertising does go live, Google and its advertising partners will be able to use cookies or similar technologies to serve and measure ads, which may include personalised advertising based on your previous visits to this and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies is governed by Google's own policies; your browser's settings and Google's ad settings both offer ways to limit personalised advertising.

We will update this page before any advertising code is added, and this section will then say that advertising is active rather than planned. Advertising will not change how your documents are handled: the work will still happen entirely in your browser, and an advertising network will have no access to your files.

Hosting and server logs

The pages, styles, and scripts that make up this site are ordinary files served by a hosting provider. Like essentially every web host, that provider may record standard request information — your IP address, the file requested, the time, and your browser's user-agent string — in its own logs, for security and operational purposes.

We add nothing to those logs, do not use them to build a profile of you, and do not combine them with any other source. They cannot contain the contents of your documents, because your documents are never sent.

Children

This site is a general-purpose utility and is not directed at children. Because we collect no personal information from anyone, we do not knowingly collect personal information from children either.

Your rights over your data

Data protection law gives you rights over personal data an organisation holds about you: to ask what is held, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to object to how it is used, to restrict its use, and to receive a copy of it.

In our case the honest answer is that there is almost nothing for those rights to bite on. We hold no account for you, no profile, and no copy of any document you have processed — your files never reach us in the first place. The only personal data we can hold is an email you have chosen to send us, together with whatever appears in our host's standard server logs.

To ask what we hold, to have something you sent us corrected, or to have it deleted, email [email protected] and say what you would like done. We will carry it out and confirm when it is done. You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority if you believe we have handled your data badly.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes we will update the date at the top of the page. Material changes — switching advertising on, in particular — will be described in the relevant section rather than folded in quietly.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about how anything on the site works, can go to [email protected]. We would rather answer a question than have you guess.