The short version
Every conversion, edit, and preview on this site runs in your browser's own JavaScript engine. When you paste text, type in the editor, or upload a file to any tool on MarkdownLab, that content is never transmitted to our servers or to any third party — there is no upload endpoint for it to go to. Closing the tab or navigating away discards it, except for the one explicit exception described below (the editor's autosave).
Files and pasted content
Tools like Word to Markdown and Excel to Markdown read files you upload or paste using in-browser APIs (FileReader, ClipboardEvent, and libraries such as SheetJS running entirely client-side). The resulting bytes are parsed and rendered in memory in your tab. None of it is sent over the network by this site. We have no server-side upload handler, no storage bucket, and no logging pipeline that ever sees file contents — there is simply nowhere for that data to go.
localStorage autosave and preferences
The Markdown Editor (and its /markdown-viewer and /markdown-live-preview variants) periodically saves your draft to your browser's localStorage under a per-route key, so that reloading the page or reopening the tab later restores what you were writing. The same editor also remembers your chosen cosmetic color theme (ml-editor-theme) in localStorage, so it stays applied on your next visit. Separately, the site's own light/dark mode toggle (in the header, available on every page) stores that one preference in localStorage as well. All three are local to your browser and device — none of them is a server-side database, none is synced anywhere, and no one at MarkdownLab can read them. Clearing your browser's site data for this domain, or using the editor's own dismiss/clear affordances, removes them. Two more tools save your work the same way: the README Generator and Markdown Resume tools each save the document you're building to this browser's localStorage as you go, so a reload doesn't lose your progress — same local-only guarantee, same clearing method. Beyond these, no tool on this site persists the Markdown content you convert, edit, or preview outside your browser.
Cookies and analytics
This site does not set first-party cookies of its own to operate the tools — theme preference (light/dark) is stored via localStorage, not a cookie. If Google Analytics 4 is enabled for this deployment, it may set its own cookies and use similar technologies to measure aggregate traffic (pages viewed, approximate location, device/browser type) — it does not have access to anything you type, paste, or upload into a tool, since that data never leaves the tool's own in-memory state.
If this site serves ads through Google AdSense, AdSense and its advertising partners may set cookies or use similar technologies (including on Google's own domains) to serve and measure ads, and in some cases to personalize which ads you see based on your browsing activity across sites. Google's own use of advertising cookies is described at policies.google.com/technologies/ads. Non-essential and analytics cookies or similar technologies are only set after you've accepted through this site's consent banner. Ad personalization cookies would need a separate consent mechanism that has not been deployed, and in any case this site does not currently serve any ads.
Legal basis and purposes
The local storage used by this site's tools — your editor drafts, theme and formatting preferences, and the documents you build in tools like the README Generator and Markdown Resume — exists only to provide the specific feature you're actively using: restoring your work, remembering a choice you made. None of it reaches us. Under frameworks like the GDPR, we treat this as necessary to provide the service you've requested (Art. 6(1)(b)), not something that requires a separate legal basis on our part, since we never process, store, or have access to any of it ourselves.
If Google Analytics 4 or Google AdSense is enabled for this deployment (both are optional, off by default, and gated behind a build-time configuration flag — see "Cookies and analytics" above), the applicable legal basis for those specific technologies is your consent, not a claim of "legitimate interest" on our part. As described above, this deployment defaults to denying both analytics and ad-personalization signals. A consent banner now records your choice for analytics specifically: measurement only runs if you accept, and continues to be blocked if you decline or take no action. Ad personalization is a separate matter — it stays denied regardless of your analytics choice, we have not deployed a consent management platform (CMP) for it, and this site does not currently serve any ads.
Data retention
We don't operate a server-side database, so there is no retention period for us to set — there is simply nothing on our end to retain. What's stored in your own browser (the drafts, preferences, and documents described above) stays there until you clear your browser's site data for this domain, or until your browser's own storage limits or clearing behavior removes it; we have no visibility into, or control over, that timing.
If Google Analytics 4 or Google AdSense is enabled for this deployment, retention of any cookies or identifiers those services set is governed by Google's own policies, not by us — see policies.google.com/privacy.
International data transfers
This site itself doesn't transfer any of your content anywhere — see "The short version" above; there's no server for it to pass through in the first place. If Google Analytics 4 or Google AdSense is enabled for this deployment, those services may process data (such as cookies, device identifiers, or approximate location) on Google's own infrastructure, which can be located outside your country, including in the United States.
We have not put any cross-border transfer safeguards of our own (such as standard contractual clauses) in place for this — as an individually-run site, we rely on Google's own safeguards and policies as the processor of that data, which you can review at policies.google.com/privacy.
Your rights, and how they actually apply here
Depending on where you're located, privacy frameworks such as the GDPR, UK GDPR, Brazil's LGPD, Japan's APPI, or California's CCPA/CPRA may give you rights over your personal data — typically some combination of the right to access, correct, delete, restrict, port, or object to how your data is processed. We'd rather explain honestly how these apply to a site built the way this one is than paste in a generic list that doesn't reflect our reality.
For the content you type, paste, or upload into a tool: because it never reaches us (see "The short version" above), we have no copy of it to give you access to, correct, delete, or port — there's nothing on our end to act on. You're already in full control of what's stored in your own browser: clearing your browser's site data for this domain immediately removes all of it (drafts, preferences, and the documents described above).
For data that Google collects if Analytics or AdSense is enabled for this deployment: that data belongs to Google's own systems, not ours, so those rights need to be exercised directly with Google. You can review and manage what Google has on you at myaccount.google.com/data-and-privacy, and opt out of personalized advertising at google.com/settings/ads.
If you have a question about this policy, or want to ask us about data you believe we might hold, reach us through the Contact page — though as explained above, there's very little on our end for a request like that to act on.
Children's privacy
This site is a general-purpose writing and document-conversion tool, not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 13. No account, sign-up, or personal information of any kind is required to use any tool on this site.
If you believe a child has given us personal information — for example, by emailing us through the Contact page — please contact us and we'll delete it.
What we don't collect
- We do not require an account, sign-up, or email address to use any tool.
- We do not store the Markdown, HTML, Word, Excel, CSV, or other file content you process.
- We do not sell personal data, and we do not maintain a marketing mailing list.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes in a way that affects how data is handled, this page will be updated with a new effective date. Questions about this policy can be sent through the channels listed on the Contact page.