Privacy policy · Collections

What is stored

When you save something, Collections writes it to Chrome's extension storage for the browser profile you are using: the name of each collection, the items in it (a link's address and title, a selected passage of text with the address of the page it came from, or an image's address), any note you add, and the order you put things in. Your preferences, such as whether rich link previews are on, are stored the same way.

Nothing is saved unless you drag it in, right-click and choose Save to Collections, or press "Save this page". Collections does not read pages you visit, does not keep a history, and does not look at page content beyond the item you explicitly saved.

In short: nothing leaves this computer while sync is off.

Sync with Google

Sync is optional and off until you turn it on in Settings. When you do, you sign in with your Google account through Chrome, and your collections are copied to a Cloud Firestore database in a Firebase project (a Google Cloud service) that I operate, so that the Chromes where you sign in stay in step. The account record holds your Google account's email address, display name and user id; the collection records hold the same data described above.

Uploaded: collection names, saved items, notes, order.
Never uploaded: browsing history, page contents, form data, anything you did not save.

Access to the database is restricted by rules so that each account can read and write only its own records. The data is stored on Google Cloud infrastructure in the United States, is used only to provide sync, and is never sold, shared with anyone else, or used for advertising. Signing out stops syncing and keeps your local copy. "Delete account and synced copy" in Settings removes the account record and every synced collection and deletes the sign-in; the local copy stays on your computer. Deleted collections are kept as empty markers for 30 days so that the deletion reaches your other devices, then removed.

Shared collection pages

Nothing is shared unless you choose to share it. When you pick "Share as a page" for a collection, a copy of that collection is published at an address on this site of the form /c/ followed by a random identifier, and anyone who has the address can read it without signing in. Sharing requires you to be signed in, so that the page belongs to your account and only you can change or remove it.

Published: the collection name, and each item's title, address, quoted text, note, image and tick state.
Not published: your name, email address, account id, other collections, or anything you did not save into that collection.

The address is long and random, so the page is unlisted rather than private: it is not linked from anywhere on this site, search engines are asked not to index it, and it does not appear in any directory, but anyone you send it to can pass it on. Treat it the way you would treat any link. While a collection is shared, edits you make in the panel are copied to the page, so it keeps up with what you changed. "Stop sharing" removes the published copy immediately, as does deleting the collection or deleting your account. The collection itself stays on your computer either way.

Analytics

To see which features are used, the extension sends a small number of anonymous events to PostHog, an analytics service: that it was installed or updated (with the version), that the panel was opened, that an item was added (its kind, such as link or image, and how it was added), that a collection was created, and that a collection was exported. Events carry a random identifier stored in the extension so repeat use can be counted, the operating system, and the extension version. They never include page addresses, titles, saved text, notes, collection names or your Google account.

If you uninstall, Chrome opens a short page on this site that records that the extension was removed, together with the extension version and how long it was installed, and lets you tell me why if you want to. The optional answer goes to the same analytics service and to nobody else.

Permissions

permissionwhy

sidePanel

Show the panel beside the page. The whole interface lives there.

storage

Keep your collections and settings in this browser profile.

tabs

Read the title and address of the current tab when you press "Save this page", and open a saved item in a new tab. Chrome describes this as "read your browsing history"; nothing is recorded.

tabGroups

Group the tabs that "Open all in a tab group" opens under the collection's name. Only touches tabs the extension itself just opened.

contextMenus

Add the "Save to Collections" entry to the right-click menu.

favicon

Show the small site icon next to each saved link, using Chrome's own favicon cache.

identity

Only in builds with sync: sign you in with your Google account when you choose Sync with Google.

alarms

Only in builds with sync: check for changes from your other devices every few minutes while the panel is closed.

<all_urls> (optional)

Off by default. Requested only if you turn on "Rich link previews", to fetch the title and preview image of pages you save.

Your choices

You can copy any collection, or all of them, as Markdown at any time and keep it wherever you like. You can turn sync off by signing out, and remove the synced copy with "Delete account and synced copy". You can take a shared page down at any time with "Stop sharing". Uninstalling the extension removes the local data with it, so export first if you want to keep it. Chrome's own extension controls let you review or withdraw the optional page-access permission.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about your data go to r44j.dev@gmail.com. I answer them myself. If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it.