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 — AI conversions, arXiv downloads, bibliography lookups, sending a document to Overleaf, and a LaTeX compiler fetching a missing package. Every one of them happens because you asked for it, and this page lists exactly where the data goes.
What we collect
Nothing. We do not receive your documents, your file names, your settings, your usage, or an identifier for your device or installation. The application does not phone home.
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 anywhere. Deleting it deletes your Compfiled data.
What leaves your computer, and only when you ask
- Cloud AI (Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude) — when you run a conversion or a Workspace request with one of these models, the text, pages or images you selected are sent to that provider using your own API key, and are handled under that provider's terms and privacy policy. Nothing is sent unless you start such a request.
- 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 a paper's source or search the bibliography tool, the identifier or query you typed is sent to arxiv.org.
- Bibliography lookups — a DOI you enter is sent to doi.org, which resolves it through Crossref and similar registries.
- Overleaf — only when you choose “open in Overleaf”. Your document is then submitted to overleaf.com so it can create the project, in the browser, under Overleaf's own terms.
- LaTeX compilation — runs locally through Tectonic or MiKTeX. Either compiler may download a package it is missing from its own repository, and then reuses its local cache. The content of your document is not sent; only the name of the package it needs.
- Application updates — handled by the Microsoft Store. Compfiled does not update itself and contacts no update server of its own.
Everything else — the editor, the generators, the PDF and Word tools, projects, vaults and clips — works without any network connection.
API keys
If you add a Gemini or Claude key, it is encrypted for your Windows user account before it is written to disk, using the operating system's own data protection. It is never sent to us, and it leaves your computer only in requests to the provider that issued it. Deleting the key in Settings removes it.
Donations
Compfiled is free and stays free. The donation button in the application opens PayPal in your browser. The payment happens entirely on PayPal's pages, under PayPal's own privacy policy; the application does not see, process or store any payment details, and a donation grants no additional features.
Children
Compfiled is a document tool for general audiences. It is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information from them.
How the app protects itself
Compfiled runs a small local service on your own machine to do the heavy work. It listens only on the loopback address, on a port chosen at start-up, and every request must carry a secret that is generated fresh for that session, so other programs and web pages cannot reach it. Documents you compile are treated as untrusted: the LaTeX engines run with the ability to execute shell commands switched off.
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.
- To remove your data, delete the folder above or uninstall the application.
- Settings › Privacy inside the application shows the same breakdown, feature by feature.
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: REPLACE-WITH-YOUR-CONTACT-EMAIL.