PDF privacy and local processing

PDF privacy and local processing

The privacy of your documents is a major issue. A PDF can contain sensitive information: contracts, bank statements, medical records, identity documents. Sending these documents to a remote server for processing exposes your data to risks: interception, storage, leaks, or commercial use.

Risks of cloud processing

Online PDF processing services generally require you to upload your files. This raises several questions:

• Storage: does the service keep a copy? For how long?
• Access: who can see your documents? Service employees? Subcontractors?
• Leaks: what happens in case of a data breach?
• Transparency: are privacy policies clear?

The local processing alternative

Local processing performs all operations in your browser. Your files never leave your device. No copy is sent over the internet. You can verify this by opening developer tools (Network tab): no request contains the content of your documents.

Document Flare adopts this approach: merge, extract, annotate, sign, watermark — everything is done locally via Web Workers and JavaScript libraries (pdf-lib, pdfjs).

Advantages of local processing

• Absolute privacy: your documents stay on your device.
• Speed: no upload or queue.
• Offline: works without connection after loading.
• Verifiable: you can inspect network traffic.

When local is not enough

Some heavy operations (high-quality OCR, complex Office conversion) may require remote computation. Document Flare offers optional computation, explicitly consented for each task, with isolation and verifiable deletion. But for common operations (merge, extract, annotate, sign), local is sufficient and preferable.

How to verify local processing

1. Open a Document Flare tool in your browser.
2. Open developer tools (F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I).
3. Go to the Network tab.
4. Load a PDF and perform an operation.
5. Verify that no request contains your file content.