Privacy and security when converting documents: questions to ask any service

An invoice carries a name, an address and a VAT number. A payslip carries an ID number, a salary and a bank account. A photo of an ID card is exactly what an impersonator needs. When you upload documents like these to a conversion service, they pass into someone else's hands, and it is worth knowing whose and for how long. Here are seven questions to ask any service, including us, and how we answer them.

1. Is the file stored on the server, and for how long?

Some services keep every uploaded file, sometimes indefinitely, to show a history or improve the product. Look for an explicit answer in the privacy policy, not just the word "secure".

With us: the file opens in your browser, and only the page image is sent to be read. The server does not keep the file, the image or the text, not even in system logs.

2. Is the content used to train models?

Many AI-based services send documents to a model provider. Under some terms, mainly for free services, the provider may use the content to improve its models.

With us: the reading engine runs on a paid service whose terms prohibit using the content for training. The provider may keep requests for a limited time to detect abuse.

3. Who else processes the document?

Even a small service relies on providers: hosting, a reading engine, payments, email delivery. Ask which providers receive the document's content itself, not just which providers exist.

With us: apart from our own server, which passes the page on without keeping it, only the reading engine receives the page content. The other providers receive operational information, such as an email for a receipt, not documents. The full list is in the privacy policy.

4. Where are the results kept?

The result, meaning the text and the fields, is exactly as sensitive as the document. If it is kept in an account on a server, it is exposed to anyone who can reach the account or the server.

With us: results are kept only in the browser you worked in. There is no copy on the server, so there is nothing there to leak. The downside: another computer will not see your history.

5. What do the site's measurement tools see?

This is the question people ask least. Many sites run third-party measurement and marketing tools, and some of them record clicks together with the text on the button, or even text the visitor copied. On a site that displays the content of your documents, a tool like that can collect exactly the information you most wanted to protect.

With us: the measurement tools see which pages were viewed, not the content of documents, the extracted text or file names. We checked the tools before switching them on, and left out a component that would have sent copied text. You can turn the measurement tools off on the cookie page.

6. How do you delete?

"You can request deletion" is an answer, but not a great one. Better is a service where what is not needed is simply not kept, and what is kept with you is deleted with one click.

With us: the history in your browser is deleted with one click. An account, which exists only after a purchase, is deleted on request through the contact form.

7. What happens when you pay?

Ask who processes the payment, and whether card details pass through the service's servers.

With us: payment happens on Stripe's page, and card details never reach us. We keep the email entered at checkout and your page balance.

A few more things worth doing

• Upload only what is needed. If you only need the total from a payslip, you can cover the account number before photographing it.
• On a shared computer, delete the history when you finish.
• Read the privacy policy, not only the marketing page. In Israel, the Privacy Protection Law, significantly revised by its Amendment 13, requires services to state why they collect information and to whom it is passed.

All the details of how a document travels through our service, step by step, are on the security page.