Last updated: October 21, 2026
Your files are processed in your own browser and not uploaded. We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, without cookies and without a visitor profile; Google Analytics is only used if you accept it.
What we don't collect
All PDF tools on this site (for example merging, compressing, converting to Word or PowerPoint) process your files entirely in your own browser. Your documents aren't uploaded, so we don't receive, store or see them.
What we do collect
We deliberately keep this list short:
- Analytics: to know how many people use the site, we count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It only records that a visit happened: which page, from which country, via which website, with which type of browser and operating system, and how fast the page loaded. It does this without cookies: it builds no profile and doesn't follow you across other sites. We don't pass it anything of your files either: your files aren't uploaded. Only if you click "Accept" in the cookie banner do we also use Google Analytics, which places cookies to count visits and see which pages and tools are used. If you decline or make no choice, Google Analytics is not loaded at all. Cloudflare and Google don't receive your files: we pass nothing of your files to them or to anyone else.
- Contact form: if you use the form on the contact page, we receive what you fill in: the subject you choose, your message, your email address if you give it, and the language of the page. The message goes through our web server straight to our mailbox at Zoho; the web server doesn't keep it. We use it only to answer you and delete it at the latest 12 months after your question has been dealt with. You can't attach files to the form. If sending through the site doesn't work, your own email app opens instead and you send the message yourself.
- Ads: this site does not show any ads at the moment. If that changes (for example via Google AdSense), we will update this policy first and ask for your consent via the cookie banner before any advertising cookies or other advertising technology are used, with a choice via the same banner.
What is stored in your browser
A few things are kept in your own browser, on your device. They aren't sent to us, so we don't see them.
- Your cookie choice: "pdfc-consent" (your choice) and "pdfc-consent-at" (when you made it), in your browser's local storage (localStorage), so we don't ask again on every page. After 12 months we ask again.
- Your theme: if you choose Light or Dark at the bottom of the page, that choice is kept as "pc-theme" in local storage (localStorage). With Automatic, nothing is stored. Like your cookie choice, it only remembers a setting you asked for.
- Files you pass on to another tool: if you go from one tool page to another page of this site with files already chosen, those files wait briefly in your browser's own storage (IndexedDB) so the next page can pick them up. That page deletes them straight away; a copy that is never picked up is no longer used after at most 2 minutes and is deleted the next time you open a page of this site. They aren't uploaded.
- A result you pass on with "What next?": when a tool is done, "What next?" lets you open the next tool with the result, without downloading it and choosing it again. For that, the result waits for a moment in your browser's own storage (IndexedDB), on your device. The next tool deletes it as soon as it has picked it up; if you don't continue, it is no longer used after at most 2 minutes and is deleted the next time you open a page of this site. It isn't uploaded.
- Offline copy of the site: a service worker keeps copies of this site's pages, scripts, styles, fonts and PDF libraries, so most tools also work without internet (a watermark with special characters or a non-Latin script, and some PDFs with Asian text, still need internet the first time). It doesn't store your files. A small note, "pdfc-offline-ready", remembers that we already told you the site works offline. Another note, "pdfc-offline-shown", is kept only until you close the tab (sessionStorage), so the "you're offline" message doesn't come back on every page.
Storing your choice, passing files and results on, and the offline copy with its note are strictly necessary to provide what the site offers you: remembering your choice, handing your files and results to the next tool, and letting the tools work without internet without downloading everything again. That is why they need no consent (the exception in art. 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive and art. 129 of the Belgian Electronic Communications Act). You can delete all of this at any time by clearing this site's data (site data) in your browser settings.
The Cloudflare visitor counter works differently: it stores nothing on your device, but its script reads technical details of your browser and device (such as browser type, screen size and loading times) to count the visit. We use it on the basis of our legitimate interest in knowing how the site is used; it sets no cookies and builds no profile (see Analytics above).
Who receives data, and for how long
We use four outside services for this site. None of them receives your files.
- EuroDNS S.A. (Luxembourg), hosting and domain name: our website runs on a server at EuroDNS, which also registers our domain name. The server keeps standard server logs (IP address, requested page, time, browser) to keep the site secure and working; we don't use them to identify you. There is no fixed retention period, and we can't set one ourselves: the hosting keeps about 100 MB of logs (10 files of 10 MB) and automatically deletes the oldest entries once that limit is reached. With the current traffic, that covers at least a few months. We don't use these logs for statistics or analysis, and the files you use in the tools don't appear in them, because they aren't uploaded to the server. Messages from the contact form pass through this server on their way to our mailbox; it doesn't store them. Privacy policy of EuroDNS.
- Zoho Corporation B.V. (Zoho Mail, EU data centre), email: our address support@pdfcommunity.org runs on Zoho Mail. Messages you send with the contact form on this site go through our web server (EuroDNS) straight to that mailbox; the web server doesn't keep them. If you email us, we use your address and message only to answer you. We keep your email for at most 12 months after your question has been dealt with, and then delete it. Privacy policy of Zoho.
- Cloudflare, Inc. (United States), visitor counter without cookies: Cloudflare Web Analytics (see Analytics above). We only see totals, such as the number of visits per page or per country, never individual visitors. Cloudflare shows us these statistics for the previous six months. According to its documentation, it keeps the detailed visit data for 7 days and after that only a sample of about 10%; Cloudflare does not publish when that sample is deleted. Privacy policy of Cloudflare.
- Google Ireland Limited (Ireland), Google Analytics, only after your consent: we have set Google Analytics to keep event and user data for 2 months, the shortest period it offers. Its cookies are kept for up to 2 years (see Cookies). Privacy policy of Google.
Other services, legal bases and your rights
- Who is responsible: the operator of PDFCommunity, reachable at support@pdfcommunity.org.
- Code libraries and fonts: the PDF libraries the tools run on and the fonts for watermarks are served from our own server, just like the rest of the site. Only the small counter script of Cloudflare Web Analytics and, if you accept it, Google Analytics are loaded from another server; neither of them receives your files.
- Legal bases: Google Analytics only with your consent (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)), which you can withdraw at any time via "Cookie settings"; Cloudflare Web Analytics, server logs and answering emails on the basis of our legitimate interest in a secure, working site and in knowing how much it is used (art. 6(1)(f)).
- Children: the tools work without an account and without personal data. Google Analytics cookies are only placed if you click "Accept". If you are younger than 16, ask a parent or guardian first. The age from which you may give this consent yourself depends on your country: in Belgium it is 13, in some EU countries 16. Accepted by mistake? Decline via "Cookie settings" and the cookies are removed.
- Outside the EU: Cloudflare, Google and Zoho, and the subprocessors they use, may process data outside the European Union; for Google this only applies if you have accepted Google Analytics. Where that happens, they rely on safeguards such as the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses.
- Your rights: you can ask for access to, correction or deletion of your personal data, restrict or object to its use, receive a copy in a common format (portability), and withdraw consent. Email us for that. You can also complain to the Belgian Data Protection Authority (dataprotectionauthority.be).
Changes
We may update this policy, for example when we add a new feature or service. The date at the top of this page shows when that last happened.
This page is also available in other languages. If a translation differs from this English version, the English version prevails.
Contact
Questions about this privacy policy? Email support@pdfcommunity.org.