ynotPDF Privacy Notice

Version 1.12. Last updated 18 October 2026.

Summary

Who we are: Anthony Baynes, trading as ynot-Apps.com. Contact: support@ynotpdf.com.
Your documents stay on your computer. ynotPDF never uploads them, and we never see them, unless you attach one, or a picture of the window, to a report you send us (section 3.4). The one other exception is Signature Requests: when you send a document for signature, it is uploaded to our server in the EU and the people you name receive a private link to it (section 3.6). If ynotPDF crashes, it keeps a crash dump on your computer; it sends us a crash report only if you choose to send it, and the dump itself is never sent (section 3.7). There is no tracking, no analytics and no advertising.
Update checks run automatically. We receive your IP address and your type of system, to offer you updates. You can turn the check off. ynotPDF also checks your licence when it starts, and about once a day while it is connected.
Your licence: when you activate a computer, we receive your licence key, hashed hardware identifiers and the computer's name, to give you your two seats.
Buying, your account and emails: we receive a name (any name you choose to give), your email address, an optional backup email address and your order, and whatever you write to us. We use them only for your licence, to email you your sign-in PIN, and to answer you.
Other companies see your IP address only when you use certain features: signing with an activated licence, checking signatures, downloading OCR languages, making a PDF from a web page or from an HTML or Markdown file, and opening a link.
The help assistant is optional. The app sends our server your question, interface language, licence check (licence key, computer fingerprint and signed machine file) and IP address (used for rate limiting). Our server sends the question, language and Help passages to Anthropic's Claude service in the USA, our processor, which does not train on them and deletes them within 30 days except for legal or safety cases (up to 2 years if flagged; safety scores up to 7 years); our server keeps no question or answer (section 3.8).
Your rights: you can see, correct or delete your data. You can complain to the Spanish data protection authority, the AEPD (www.aepd.es).

The full details follow.

1. Who is responsible

Anthony Baynes, a self-employed trader in Spain, trading as ynot-Apps.com, decides how your data is used. The law calls this person the controller.

Email: support@ynotpdf.com
Our postal address and tax number (NIF) are in the legal notice at ynotpdf.com.

We have no data protection officer. Contact us directly.

A word used here. A hash is a short fingerprint calculated from some data. Nobody can work the data out from the hash.

2. Your documents

ynotPDF works on your documents on your computer. It never sends their contents, or their form data, to us or to anyone else. The one exception is a file, or a picture of the ynotPDF window, that you choose to attach to a report through Send Feedback (section 3.4).
In a PDF, a Submit Form button never sends anything. ynotPDF tells you to export the data and send it yourself.
ynotPDF never runs a PDF's document scripts, such as scripts that start when a file opens. A form's field scripts run only while you fill in the form, in a sandbox that cannot reach your files or the network.
The private keys of your digital IDs never leave your computer, your smart card or your system's keychain.
No feature sends a document anywhere by itself. Signature Requests is the one feature that uploads a document, and only when you press Send for Signature… (section 3.6). Section 4 lists the few small items that some features send.

3. What we receive, and why

3.1 Update checks

When:

a few seconds after ynotPDF starts, and after each new window opens;
when you choose Help → Check for Updates.
The first check happens only after you have accepted the licence. Only an installed copy checks.

Sent to: our server, ynotpdf.com.
What we receive:

your IP address;
your system (Windows, macOS or Linux) and your update channel (Stable or Beta);
when you download an update: your processor type (x64 or Arm).
Nothing else. In particular, no ID for your copy of ynotPDF is kept or sent.

Why: to offer you updates, including the security fixes we owe you.
Legal basis:

if you have a licence: our contract with you, because we owe you updates;
for everyone: our legitimate interest in keeping ynotPDF secure.

Kept: in server logs for 30 days, then deleted.
To turn it off: in Preferences, open Updates and help and turn off Check for updates when ynotPDF starts. A check you ask for still works.
Nothing downloads unless you choose it. An update you download installs the next time you close ynotPDF.

3.2 Licence activation and your account

When:

when you activate, move or deactivate a computer;
when ynotPDF starts, and about once a day while it is connected, to check your licence;
every few seconds while the "licence in use" screen is open, until a seat is free.

What we receive:

your licence key;
hardware identifiers, such as the TPM key, motherboard ID, disk serial number, network card address or Mac hardware ID. Each one is hashed with a key unique to ynotPDF, so we never receive the identifier itself. A hash still counts as personal data;
your computer's name;
the date the computer was last used;
your IP address.

Your account:

a first and last name. Give any name you like: it is only how we address you;
your email address;
an optional backup email, which you confirm before it counts;
your computers, and when each was last used.

After you sign in through your confirmed backup email, you must wait 24 hours before deactivating computers or changing your main email address. We tell every email address on the account; the other address receives a link to cancel the recovery.
Keep your licence key private. Anyone who enters it on a third computer sees your computers' names and when they were last used.
Emails from us. These are service emails, never marketing:

sign-in PINs (there is no password);
a notice every time a computer is activated or deactivated;
security alerts, for example when your email address changes or someone uses your backup email to get in;
notices about security updates.

Why:

to give you your two seats and let you move them;
to show your computers in your account;
to stop one licence being used on more computers than were paid for.

Legal basis:

our contract with you;
our legitimate interest in preventing misuse of licences.

Do you have to give this data? Only to activate. Without activation, ynotPDF opens as the Free Reader. You can read, search, print and listen to documents, and browse PDF Portfolios or open and save the files inside. You can also open already signed PDFs, view their signatures and check them. Editing and adding digital or handwritten signatures need an activated licence; every paid licence includes all signing, with no paid "Pro" tier.
Automatic decisions: a computer is checked automatically against your two seats. Ask us, and a person will review the decision.
Kept: see section 7.
Other companies involved:

your computer talks only to our own server, ynotpdf.com, in Spain. It keeps your account: your name, your email addresses and your computers' names;
our server keeps the licence records with Keygen, a licensing service in the USA that works only on our instructions. Keygen receives your licence key, the hashed hardware identifiers and when each computer checks in, never your name, your email address, your computer's name or your IP address; it signs the activation file your computer keeps.
our emails, including your sign-in PINs, go through our email provider, Dynu Systems. It works only on our instructions.

On your computer: a signed activation file, in a folder shared by every user of that computer.

3.3 Buying

Paddle sells ynotPDF for us. It takes your payment and handles VAT. It decides how it uses your data, so its own privacy notice applies. We receive your name, email address, country and order details.
We never see your card details.
Our accountant or tax adviser may see purchase records, to keep our accounts and file taxes. They must keep them confidential.
We give data to public authorities, such as the tax office or a court, only when the law requires it.
Legal basis: our contract with you, and our tax and accounting duties.
Kept: 6 years, as Spanish commercial law requires (Código de Comercio, article 30).

3.4 Support: emails, tickets and Send Feedback

What we receive: what you write, by email, on the support pages at ynotpdf.com or through Send Feedback in ynotPDF, and any files you choose to attach.
What Send Feedback sends, and only when you press Send:

the kind of report (a problem, a suggestion or a question), its summary and your description;
your email address, so we can reply, and a name if you give one. ynotPDF remembers both on your computer for next time;
ynotPDF's version, your system and its version, your processor type and your language setting;
only if you tick Include technical details: the theme, the interface size, whether Night Mode is on, how many documents are open, and the last lines of ynotPDF's log. File and folder names, document names, email addresses and your user name are taken out first, and ynotPDF shows you exactly what will be sent;
only if you add them: a picture of the ynotPDF window, which shows whatever is on the screen, and up to five files. A PDF goes only if you also tick Send this PDF beside it.

If you are offline, the report waits on your computer. ynotPDF tries again about every 15 minutes while it is open, until the report is sent or you cancel it in Reports Waiting to Send on the Help tab.
Check a file before you attach it. A log file can contain file and folder names. Only attach files you are happy for us to read.
Why: to answer you. We use it for nothing else, and never for marketing.
Legal basis: our contract with you, and our legitimate interest in giving support.
Kept: 12 months after the last message in the conversation, then deleted.
Stored: in our own helpdesk on our server, ynotpdf.com, in Spain, where each report or email becomes a support ticket. Send Feedback sends straight to it. Emails reach it, and our replies leave it, through our email provider, Dynu Systems.
We do not send newsletters or marketing email.

3.5 The ynotpdf.com website

Our server logs your IP address, the page you visited, the time, your browser type and your browser's language. The logs are kept for 30 days.
We count visits per language; the counts hold no address and no cookie.
The site uses one cookie, to keep you signed in. There are no analytics cookies and no advertising cookies.
When you open the checkout, it loads from Paddle, and Paddle's own privacy and cookie notice applies to it.

3.6 Signature requests

When: only when you press Send for Signature… in ynotPDF, with an activated licence.
What we receive:

the document you choose to send, and the title, message and signing places you set;
the names and email addresses of the people you ask to sign, and your own name and email address, which they see as the sender;
when a person signs: their name, email address, IP address, the time, exactly what they were asked to agree to, and the marks they placed.

Where: on our own server, ynotpdf.com, in the EU. Each signer receives an email with a private link. No account is needed, and a link works for that one person only.
Why: to carry out the request and to keep the evidence of who signed what, and when.
Legal basis: our contract with you.
Kept: the request, the document and the signers' details are deleted 90 days after the request ends — signed, declined or cancelled. A lasting audit record then keeps only the times, the states and the hashes of the documents, without the signers' names, addresses or the document itself.
Emails: the signing emails go through our email provider, Dynu Systems, like our other service emails (section 3.4).
Stopping it: a signer can decline, and you can cancel a request at any time; cancelling ends the signing links.
On your computer: the requests you sent are listed in ynotPDF's Signature Requests panel, with their state.

3.7 Crash reports

When: only when you choose to send one. If ynotPDF stops unexpectedly, the operating system writes a crash dump on your computer. When ynotPDF next starts it may offer to send us a crash report; nothing is sent unless you press Send, and the dump itself is never sent.
What we receive, only when you press Send:

the exception and where it happened, as a program module and an offset;
the return addresses of the part that stopped, as module-and-offset pairs, and the names, versions and debug ids of the loaded program modules;
the last lines of ynotPDF's log, with file names, folder paths, email addresses and anything inside quotes removed, and your user name and computer name removed too;
ynotPDF's version, build and channel; your system and its version and processor type; your interface language; which part of ynotPDF stopped; the crash time and how long ynotPDF had been running;
your comment, if you write one, and your email address, only if you give one so we can reply.

Shown first: the Send Crash Report window shows the whole of it before you decide, including the exact report behind Show the details.
Why: to find the cause and fix it. We use crash reports for nothing else.
Legal basis: our legitimate interest in keeping ynotPDF working correctly.
Kept: 90 days on our server, then deleted. The crash dump is deleted from your computer as soon as the report is sent.
On your computer: at most the ten newest crash dumps are kept, and none older than thirty days. A crash you are never shown is deleted by those rules like any other.

3.8 The help assistant

Optional. The help assistant is optional: ynotPDF works without it, and nothing is sent unless you ask a question. It is available on licensed computers; a Free Reader does not show it.
What is sent: the app sends our server your question, the interface language, the licence check (your licence key, a fingerprint of this computer and the signed machine file) and your IP address. Our server uses the IP address only to apply the rate limits; the assistant log does not keep it. Your document, its name, its contents and your other activity are never sent.
Who answers: our server in Spain sends the question, the language and the Help passages needed to answer to Anthropic's Claude service in the USA. Anthropic acts as our processor under its Data Processing Addendum, and receives only those — not your licence check, your IP address, your name, your email address or your document.
No training: Anthropic does not use your questions or the answers to train its models. Its Commercial Terms (section B, Customer Content) say: "Anthropic may not train models on Customer Content from Services." (https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms)
Kept by us: our server does not keep your questions or the answers. It keeps counts for the rate limits, which expire with the limits; one line for each kind of error in its logs, kept for 30 days; and a monthly record of the assistant's input and output token counts, estimated cost, reserved amount, budget and the time it was updated. None of these contains the question text, an answer or your address. The monthly record is replaced when the UTC month turns (section 7).
Kept by Anthropic: Anthropic deletes the question and the answer within 30 days of receiving or generating them. It may keep them longer only if the law requires it, if it needs them to enforce its Usage Policy, if we agree a longer period with it, or if a service with longer retention under our control is used — we do not use the Files API. If its safety systems flag a question under its Usage Policy, it may keep the question and answer for up to 2 years and its trust-and-safety scores for up to 7 years (https://privacy.anthropic.com/en/articles/7996866-how-long-do-you-store-my-data).
To stop it: do not ask a question. There is no background use and no setting to turn on: the assistant runs only when you press Ask.

4. When you use a feature, other companies may see some data

These requests go straight from your computer to another company, and only when you use the feature.
We receive none of this data. Each company's own privacy notice applies.
Each one sees your IP address. Some are outside the EU.

4.1 Timestamps when signing

Sent to: DigiCert (timestamp.digicert.com). If DigiCert does not answer, Sectigo (timestamp.sectigo.com). You can change this list.
When:

when you sign with timestamps on;
when you choose Add Document Timestamp.

What is sent: a hash of the signature (or, for a document timestamp, of the document), and a random number. The document itself is never sent.
Note: these servers use plain http, not https. Someone watching your network could see that you asked for a timestamp. They could not see the document.
To turn it off: in Preferences, open Timestamps and revocation and turn off Add a timestamp when signing. It is on at first.

4.2 Revocation checks

These ask a certificate authority whether a certificate has been cancelled (revoked).

Sent to: the authority that issued a certificate, at the address written inside that certificate.
When:

after you sign: for your certificate and for the timestamp server's;
when you choose Add Validation Data: for every signer in the document, trusted or not;
when you check signatures, press Check again, or trust or stop trusting a signer: only for signers you have chosen to trust.

Never automatically when a document opens.
What is sent: the certificate's serial number, and hashes of its issuer's name and key. Sometimes it is instead a download of the authority's public list or certificate. The document is never sent.
What the authority learns: that your IP address is checking that certificate. This may show that you are dealing with a document signed by that person.
Note: these addresses almost always use plain http. Someone watching your network could see which certificate is being checked.
To turn it off: in Timestamps and revocation, turn off Check revocation online. It is on at first.

4.3 OCR languages

Sent to: GitHub, a US company.
When: only when you press Download in the OCR window. English is built in.
What is sent: a normal download request.
Recognising text (OCR) itself works offline.

4.4 Web pages, HTML files and Markdown files

Making a PDF from a web page contacts:

the website you enter;
pages it links to, if you ask ynotPDF to follow links.

What is sent: a normal browser visit.

The site's own scripts run.
ynotPDF sends no name or version of its own: the site sees an ordinary request from your computer.

Converting an HTML or Markdown file: ynotPDF also fetches anything on the web that the file uses: pictures, style sheets, fonts and embedded pages. Scripts in embedded pages run.
Making a PDF from the clipboard sends nothing.
Protection:

The visits use a separate browser session, held only in memory.
Its cookies are shared between these visits, and deleted when you close ynotPDF. Nothing is cached.
Permission requests are refused.
Downloads and pop-ups are blocked.

4.5 Links

ynotPDF opens web links in your usual browser, and your browser's privacy terms then apply.
What stays on your computer says when ynotPDF asks first.

5. What stays on your computer

ynotPDF keeps settings, recent files, recovery copies, logs and crash dumps on your computer. None of it is sent to us or to anyone else, except a crash report you choose to send (section 3.7) — and that report never contains the dump itself. What stays on your computer lists everything, says where it is kept, and says how to remove it.

6. Data outside the EU

Our server is in Spain.
Paddle, which sells ynotPDF, is in the United Kingdom. The EU recognises the United Kingdom as protecting personal data adequately.
Keygen, which keeps the licence records (section 3.2), is in the USA. It protects the data it receives with the EU's Standard Contractual Clauses, which are part of its terms.
Anthropic, which answers the help assistant (section 3.8), is in the USA. It receives the question, language and Help passages only when you ask, as our processor under its Data Processing Addendum; it does not receive your licence check, IP address, name or email.
Our email provider, Dynu Systems, is in the USA, so emails between you and us pass through the USA. Dynu's privacy policy says it complies with the GDPR.
OCR language downloads come from GitHub, in the USA. Your computer contacts it only when you ask.
The companies in section 4 may be outside the EU. Your computer contacts them only when you use the feature.

7. How long we keep data

Data	How long
Server logs	30 days
Help assistant questions and answers on our server	Not kept
Help assistant monthly usage and budget record	The current UTC month; replaced when the month turns
Help assistant questions and answers at Anthropic	Deleted within 30 days; up to 2 years if flagged under its Usage Policy; longer if the law requires
Anthropic trust-and-safety scores	Up to 7 years if a question is flagged
Help assistant rate counts and error lines in our logs	30 days, with no question text or address
Account data	Until you ask us to close your account
Other data about a deactivated computer	90 days
Backups of the licence records	Overwritten within 30 days
Purchase records	6 years
Support emails and tickets	12 months after the last message
Signature requests (the document and the signers' details)	90 days after the request ends

You can reopen a closed account later with your order number. A signature request's audit record keeps the times, the states and the hashes of the documents, without the signers' names, addresses or the documents themselves.

8. Your rights

You can ask us to:

show you your data;
correct it;
delete it;
limit how we use it;
stop using it;
send it to you in a common format;
have a person review an automatic decision.

If we ever ask for your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
How to ask: email support@ynotpdf.com, preferably from the address on your account.

It is free.
We reply within one month.

To complain: contact the AEPD at www.aepd.es, or the data protection authority where you live in the EU.

9. Changes to this notice

We update this notice whenever ynotPDF changes what it sends. The date at the top shows the latest version.
Before an important change takes effect, we tell you: ynotPDF shows you the new version to read, or we email you.

10. Keeping your data safe

Our server and ynotPDF talk only over encrypted connections (https).
Sign-in uses a PIN we email you, never a stored password.
The licence records hold hashes of your hardware identifiers, never the identifiers themselves.
Only we can open account and support records, and we keep our server up to date with security fixes.
If a breach ever puts your data at risk, we tell you, and the AEPD, as the law requires.