Privacy and your data
What Nixt PDF keeps on your computer, what it never keeps, the one time it uses the network, and where copies of your documents are made while you work.
Nixt PDF works on your own computer. It needs no account, has no sync, and sends no telemetry. The documents you open aren’t sent anywhere.
What is kept on this computer
| What | Where it comes from | How to remove it |
|---|---|---|
| The list of recently opened files — each file’s name, location and when you opened it | Opening a document | Files that are moved or deleted drop off the list on their own. |
| Your details: name, initials, job title, organisation, email, date format and clock | Your details… | Clear the fields in Your details… and click Save. |
| Your saved signatures and initials — up to 24 of each | Ticking Keep it on this computer to use again | Forget this one in the list of your signatures. |
| Your stamps and picture stamps, and stamps from sets you added | Design a stamp…, New picture stamp…, Add stamps from a file… | The bin on a stamp’s tile, or Remove this set. |
| The last eight stamps you used, and which stamp, signature and initials are chosen | Using the Stamp and Sign tools | Replaced as you use other stamps. |
| The certificates you trust | Trusted certificates…, Trust it, or making a digital ID | Stop trusting. |
| The reason, place, contact details and timestamp server from your last digital signature | Signing with a digital ID | Clear the fields and untick the timestamp the next time you sign. |
These are kept in the app’s own settings on this computer and aren’t shared with other apps.
What is never kept
- Your digital ID file. You choose it each time you sign, and it’s forgotten when the signing dialog closes.
- The password of a digital ID. Typed each time, and forgotten the same way.
- Document passwords. Used while the document is open, and forgotten when you close it.
- Your documents’ contents, beyond the working copy described below.
Working copies
When you open a document, Nixt PDF works on a copy of it in the app’s temporary folder. Printing, recognising text, improving a scan, saving pages as pictures and shrinking pictures also write a short-lived copy of the document, and delete it when they finish.
When Nixt PDF uses the network
Only in these cases, and only when you act:
| When | What is sent | Where |
|---|---|---|
| You sign with a digital ID and tick Add a trusted timestamp | A fingerprint of the signature and a random number — nothing of the document | The timestamp server you typed |
| You click Open in the Open this link? dialog | Nothing from Nixt PDF: the address opens in your browser or mail app | The link’s address |
Nixt PDF never:
- asks a certificate’s issuer whether it has been revoked, because that would tell the issuer which documents you open;
- fetches anything a document asks for;
- runs a document’s scripts or opens its attached files.
Text recognition and scans
Recognising text, improving a scan, shrinking pictures and saving pages as pictures use services built into macOS, which run on your computer. Nothing is sent to an online service.
Related pages
- Digital IDs
- Passwords and security
- Hidden content — what a document you send might be carrying.
Something unclear or out of date on this page? Tell us.