Privacy policy

The short version

• There is no account and no sign in.
• The website counts visits and a few button presses in aggregate, with no cookies and no personal data. The desktop app has no analytics at all.
• There is no advertising and no tracking of individuals.
• Your documents are read and typeset on your own device. We never receive them.
• We do not sell, rent or share personal information, because we do not collect it.

What we collect

Nothing about you or your documents. The only personal information we ever hold is what you choose to send us by email.

The website uses Umami, a cookieless analytics service, to count page views, where visitors arrive from, and whether a few buttons were pressed: opening a file, pasting, trying the sample, dropping a file, and choosing a store link. It sets no cookies and builds no profile of anyone. It never receives a document, a document's title, a file name or a pasted link, because those are not part of what the page reports. The counts are aggregate and are used to decide what to build next. The web reader contains no advertising. The desktop app contains no analytics and makes no such requests.

The web reader

Your documents stay in your browser. A file you open or Markdown you paste is read and typeset by the web page itself. It is not uploaded to a MarkdownPaper server, because the reader does not need one.

Your library is stored on your device. Recent documents and preferences are kept in your browser's own storage (IndexedDB) on that device. We cannot see them. You can remove them from the library, or clear the site's data in your browser settings. Clearing it never deletes the original file on your computer.

Share links carry the document in the link. A share link holds the compressed document after the # in the address. Browsers never send that part of an address to a server, so a shared document goes from you to the person you send it to without passing through us.

Opening a public link is a request you make. If you paste the address of a public document, such as a GitHub README, your browser fetches it directly from that site. We are not involved in the request.

Documents can point elsewhere. Images and links inside a document belong to whoever wrote it. When an image loads or you follow a link, your browser contacts the site it points to, under that site's own privacy policy.

Server logs. The website is served by a hosting provider that may keep standard access logs, such as IP address, browser type and the page requested, to keep the service secure and working. These logs never contain your documents, and we do not use them to identify or profile anyone.

The desktop app

It reads only the files you choose. On the Mac it runs in Apple's app sandbox, so macOS itself allows it to reach only the files and folders you open, pick in a dialog or double click. It remembers those choices on your Mac so your library reopens after a restart.

Its library stays on your Mac. The app keeps a copy of each document and its preferences in its own folder on your computer. Edits to a document that came from a file are saved back to that file. Deleting a document from the library removes only the app's copy, never your file.

It makes no network requests of its own. The only network traffic is loading an image that a document links to. There is no telemetry, crash reporting or usage tracking.

Purchases are handled by the store. The platform store handles payment and your account. We receive only anonymous sales totals from it, never your name, address or payment details. The store's own privacy policy applies to the purchase.

If you email us

When you write to us, we use your email address and message only to reply to you. We keep the conversation for as long as it is useful for helping you, do not add you to any mailing list, and never share it.

Children

MarkdownPaper is not directed at children under 13 and collects no personal information from anyone, including children.

Your rights

Since we hold no personal information beyond emails you send us, there is usually nothing to access, correct or delete. If you have written to us and want that correspondence deleted, ask and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. Anything that would collect data, such as optional diagnostics, will be described here before it is ever turned on.

Contact

Alpstack Technologies, India markdownpaper@alpstack.com

See also the terms of use and support.