Privacy Policy
In short
Compfiled is a desktop application that runs on your own computer. There is no account, no telemetry, no analytics and no crash reporting. There is no Compfiled server that receives your documents, because no such server exists.
Some features do need the internet — cloud AI, arXiv downloads, bibliography lookups, sending source to Overleaf, and a LaTeX compiler fetching missing resources. This page lists when they connect and what is sent.
What we collect
The application sends us no documents, file names, settings, usage data, device identifier or installation identifier. It has no telemetry, analytics or crash-reporting service. Information you deliberately send by email is covered under Website and email.
Where your data lives
Your projects, vaults, conversations and settings are stored in a local database on your computer, together with a folder holding the files you attached. On Windows that is %APPDATA%\Compfiled. Documents you save yourself go wherever you choose to put them.
Nothing in that folder is synchronised by Compfiled. Deleting it removes the data managed there, but not exports, projects opened from another folder, or backups saved elsewhere.
What leaves your computer
- Cloud AI (Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude) — when you run a conversion or Workspace request, the selected text, pages or images are sent to that provider using your API key and handled under its terms and privacy policy. Saving or checking a key also contacts its provider to validate it and list compatible models, but sends no document content.
- Local AI (Ollama, LM Studio) — the request goes to the model server running on your own computer and does not leave the machine.
- arXiv — when you fetch source or BibTeX, the paper identifier you entered is sent to arxiv.org.
- Bibliography lookups — a DOI or search query you enter is sent to doi.org or Crossref, depending on the lookup you use.
- Overleaf — only when you choose “open in Overleaf”. The selected LaTeX source and included files are submitted to overleaf.com so it can create the project in your browser, under Overleaf's terms.
- LaTeX compilation — runs locally through Tectonic or MiKTeX. Either compiler may download missing bundle or package resources from its repository and then reuse its local cache. Compfiled does not intentionally upload your document to those repositories.
- External links — choosing the MiKTeX download or donation action opens miktex.org or PayPal in your browser. No document is sent with those links.
- Application updates — handled by the Microsoft Store. Compfiled does not update itself and contacts no update server of its own.
Before the first cloud AI request, Compfiled asks for permission. You can withdraw it at any time in Settings › Privacy; it will ask again before another cloud request.
The editor, generators, PDF Editor, Word to PDF, text-layer PDF to Word, projects, vaults and clips work locally. A scanned PDF to Word conversion can send page images only when you select a cloud AI mode.
API keys
If you add a Gemini or Claude key, Windows DPAPI encrypts it for your Windows user account before it is written to disk. It is never sent to us and leaves your computer only in requests to its provider. Deleting the key in Settings removes the stored copy. DPAPI protects data at rest from other Windows accounts; it does not protect against malware or an administrator already running as your user.
Bug reports
Compfiled keeps a short record on your computer of which features ran — a tool opened, a conversion started, a save that failed and why. It records the shape of what happened, never its content: no file names, no folder paths, no project titles, no document text, no prompts and no keys. Times are counted in seconds since the app started rather than as clock times.
This is not telemetry and it is not a crash reporter. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no server to upload it to. The record exists so that if you hit a bug you have something worth sending, and it is written in advance because a log switched on after the problem has already missed it.
You decide whether it is ever sent, and when. Settings → Privacy → Report a problem shows you the exact text first, then offers to copy it, save it as a .txt file, or open your email program addressed to us. The same screen has a switch to stop the recording entirely and a button to erase what is stored. It is kept for at most three sessions or seven days, whichever comes first, and each session is labelled with a random identifier that is not linked to any other session, to your computer or to you.
Website and email
The Compfiled website is a static site hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Its code adds no analytics, advertising, account system or upload form, and sets no cookies. Theme and language choices are stored only in your browser. Cloudflare processes connection data needed to deliver and protect the site and may set necessary security cookies when an enabled protection requires them, under its privacy policy.
If you email us, your email address, message and attachments are handled by the email providers involved and kept as needed to answer or address the request. Do not email documents or API keys unless they are needed for support.
Donations
Compfiled is provided free of charge and without restrictions. A donation is optional and unlocks no features. The donation button opens PayPal in your browser; PayPal handles the payment under its own privacy policy, and the application does not see, process or store payment details.
How the app protects itself
Compfiled runs a local service for document processing. It listens only on the loopback address, uses a port chosen at start-up, restricts browser origins and host names, and requires a new secret for every session on protected requests. These controls reject unauthorised requests from ordinary web pages and unrelated local programs; they cannot protect against malware or an administrator already running as your Windows user. LaTeX documents are treated as untrusted and compile with shell-command execution disabled.
Your control
- There is no account to delete and no profile to request.
- To send nothing to any AI provider, use the local or no-AI modes, or simply add no key.
- Uninstalling may leave user-created data behind. To remove app-managed data, close Compfiled and delete
%APPDATA%\Compfiled. Delete exports, folder-backed projects and backups separately from the locations you chose. - Settings › Privacy inside the application shows a shorter feature-by-feature summary.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the date at the top of this page changes with it, and the current version always lives at this address.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or anything else: [email protected].