Privacy policy

Translation for information purposes – the German version is legally binding.

1. Summary

Your files never leave your device. pdfmy processes PDFs, images and scans exclusively in your browser. Documents, recognised text, form entries, passwords and signatures are not transferred to us or to third parties. There are no cookies, no tracking, no advertising networks and no embedded external services. The built-in AI (text recognition, letter analysis) also runs on your device, not with an AI service on the internet.

2. Controller

Mentor GmbH
Am Hoppenhof 30a
33104 Paderborn
Germany
Email: wumertens@mentor-group.de

3. Provision of the website (hosting)

The website is hosted by IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur. When you visit, your browser transmits technically necessary data to the server, which may be stored in log files: IP address, date and time, file accessed, amount of data transferred, referrer URL as well as browser and operating system. The processing serves the secure and stable provision of the website (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The log data is deleted or anonymised after a short time and is not combined with other data. A data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR has been concluded with IONOS.

From these log data, IONOS compiles aggregated access statistics for us (IONOS WebAnalytics) – such as the number of visitors, pages viewed and downloads. Nothing is embedded in the page for this; there are no cookies and no identifier that recognises you (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; legitimate interest: assessing demand for and reach of the service). So that downloads of pdfmy Scan and the browser extension appear in them, PDFMy additionally requests an empty page of this website when downloading (/download/zaehlung/windows.html, mac.html, linux.html or erweiterung.html); this only creates the log data mentioned above.

All program components, fonts and the language data for text recognition are loaded exclusively from pdfmy.de, not from third-party servers.

4. Processing of your documents

Opening, text recognition (OCR), editing, merging, compressing, encrypting and saving take place entirely locally in your browser. Your browser stores saved files wherever you choose. If you grant access to a folder (‘scan folder’, ‘filing folder’), the page only accesses this folder and only while the page is open.

5. Storage on your device

So that pdfmy works quickly and also offline, your browser stores the program files in its cache (service worker). Your settings (e.g. image quality) are stored in your browser’s local storage; your signature, initials and company stamp (drawn, typed or uploaded as an image) only if you activate ‘Remember on this device’; uploaded images are processed only on your device. The handwriting fonts for typed signatures are delivered by pdfmy.de itself – no fonts are loaded from third parties. Depending on the function used, the browser also stores: the post log (local copy) and a full-text index of your filed letters for searching, learned assignments per sender, your own address and a chosen letterhead for reply letters, your company details and the last invoice number for e-invoices, templates for signature requests (names and email addresses of the people, fields, message), team addresses for forwarding, the ‘Recently opened’ list (only the file name and a reference to the file, no content), crash protection (a copy of documents not yet saved, so that they can be restored after a crash or accidental closing; deleted when saving or closing, via ‘Discard’ or after 7 days at the latest) and a signing certificate chosen by you (a certificate file only in its password-protected form, for Windows certificates only the name and fingerprint; password and PIN are never stored). This data stays in your browser and is not transferred to us.

This storage is strictly necessary for the function you requested (§ 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). You can remove it at any time in PDFMy under ‘Settings → Delete all locally stored data’ or via your browser settings (‘Delete site data’). Files in your filing folder are retained.

5a. Device functions

Camera: When scanning with your phone, the camera image is processed only in the browser and is not transferred. You grant access yourself and can revoke it at any time. Notifications: Deadline reminders are generated by your browser itself; there is no push service and no server that knows your deadlines. Read aloud: PDFMy only uses voices that are installed on your device. Online voices that would send the text to an external server are deliberately not used. Sharing and forwarding: If you share a document via email, messenger or Windows Share, it goes via the app you choose to the recipient you choose; PDFMy itself transfers nothing in the process.

6. Browser extension ‘PDFMy – open PDFs directly’

The optional extension for Chrome and Edge loads a PDF that you open in the browser or choose via right-click from the respective website and passes it to pdfmy within your browser. No data is transferred to us or to third parties; there is no history, no statistics and no remote configuration. Only your two settings (open automatically on/off, target) are stored in the browser, and for a few minutes the address of the most recently passed PDF, so that ‘Back’ does not redirect again (only in the browser’s working memory). You expressly grant access to websites when switching it on; when switching it off, access is revoked.

6a. Helper program ‘pdfmy Scan’ (Windows, Mac and Linux)

pdfmy Scan connects your scanner to PDFMy. It runs on your PC and can only be reached from your own computer (127.0.0.1); scans and documents go directly to PDFMy in your browser. When signing with a Windows certificate or a signature card, the key remains in Windows or on the card. To check for updates, pdfmy Scan retrieves a version file from pdfmy.de at start-up and every six hours; this only generates the server log data mentioned in section 3. If you set up the ‘PDFMy’ printer, Windows stores printed documents in a folder that only your user account can access (C:\ProgramData\PDFMy\Druck); pdfmy Scan opens them from there in PDFMy and deletes them after 7 days. None of this is transmitted. If you choose ‘Save to cloud folder’, pdfmy Scan puts the PDF in your sync program’s folder (e.g. Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive) on your computer; whether and where it is transmitted from there is determined solely by your sync program and your contract with its provider – PDFMy and pdfmy Scan themselves transmit nothing.

pdfmy Scan for Mac works the same way: it runs on your Mac, can only be reached from there (127.0.0.1) and communicates with scanners on your local network. If you open a PDF in PDFMy by double-clicking – or choose ‘PDF → In PDFMy öffnen’ in the print dialogue –, the file is passed with a one-time password directly to PDFMy in your browser; it does not leave the Mac. During setup, the PDFMy icon is loaded once from pdfmy.de; there is no automatic update check. pdfmy Scan for Linux works the same way (only 127.0.0.1, set up only for your user, without administrator rights); if you wish, it registers itself as the default for PDFs in the settings file of your desktop environment (mimeapps.list).

6b. Error reports and contact by email

‘Report a bug’, ‘Report a problem’ and ‘Report an issue’ prepare an email in your own email program; it is only sent when you click ‘Send’ yourself. Beforehand you can see exactly what the email contains (versions, browser, log, program errors that occurred and – if pdfmy Scan is running – internal network address and computer name; no documents). File names, senders and email addresses are masked by default. We use your message only to solve the problem and to reply to you (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR), and delete it when it is no longer needed for that purpose, at the latest after statutory retention periods have expired.

6c. Notices about our own offers

The home page shows a notice, labelled as an advertisement, about an offer from Mentor Group: Mentor GmbH (Haus iT, Haus iT Caller ID, mySupermail) or Mertens GmbH (Mentor Consulting). It is a simple link with no embedded content, tracking pixels or cookies. Only your browser remembers which notice appears next; this information is not transmitted. Only when you click it does the relevant website (www.haus-it.de, www.hausit-portal.de, www.mysupermail.app or www.mentor-consulting.de) open in a new tab; no referrer is transmitted. The privacy policy of its operator applies to that website.

6d. AI assistant

Summarising, questions about the document and translating use the AI built into your browser. It works on your device; the text is not transmitted. Your browser downloads the AI model once from the browser manufacturer, not from us. The function can be switched off under ‘… More → AI assistant’. If you wish, you can choose an AI program on your own computer there instead (e.g. Ollama or LM Studio); PDFMy then connects only to this program on the same computer (localhost) – the text does not leave your computer, and addresses on the network or the internet are rejected.

7. Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and to object to processing (Art. 15–21 GDPR). You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), for example with the authority responsible for us, the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia, Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf.

As PDFMy does not receive your documents, we hold no data about them that we could provide information about or delete; you manage the locally stored data yourself.

Last updated: November 2026