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Privacy

Last updated 8 October 2026

The short version

• Your PDF file never leaves your device. It is opened and rendered in your browser.
• Your highlights, notes and categories are saved in your browser’s local storage, on this device only. We have no copy of them.
• AI features are off until you allow them. When they are on, the text of the document (not the file) is sent to our server and passed to our AI provider to produce the result you asked for.

What is sent when AI is on

Topics, Find, Explain, Simplify and Ask send the text needed for that request: the document’s extracted page text for Topics and Find, or the selected passage and its page for Explain, Simplify and Ask. Our server forwards it to Groq (groq.com), which runs the language model, and returns the answer to your browser.

HighlightMaster does not store or log document text or answers. Groq processes requests under its own privacy policy and terms. Don’t use AI features on documents you are not permitted to share with a third-party processor.

You can turn AI off at any time in the Details tab. Highlighting, notes and export keep working without it.

What our server does keep

To prevent abuse, the server counts requests per IP address for up to 24 hours (rate limiting). Our hosting provider keeps standard request logs (time, path, status, IP address) under its own policy. These logs never contain document text.

Browser extension

The HighlightMaster extension does one thing: when you click it on a tab showing a PDF, it reads that PDF and opens it in a HighlightMaster tab in your browser. The file is passed directly between your tabs. The extension does not upload it, keep a copy, track your browsing, or run on pages until you click it.

• activeTab and scripting: read the PDF in the tab you clicked on, and hand it to the HighlightMaster tab.
• storage: remember the HighlightMaster address you set.
• Optional site access: only if a site blocks the read, the extension asks your permission for that one site.

Recent documents

The “Continue reading” list stores only a file name, a fingerprint of the file’s contents, the number of highlights and the last opened date, in your browser. To reopen a document you choose the same file again from your device.

Deleting your data

Use “Delete all highlights” in Details for one document, or clear this site’s data in your browser settings to remove everything. Export a backup first if you want to keep a copy.

Advice

AI output is reading assistance, not legal, financial or medical advice. The original passage in your document stays the source of truth.

Contact

Questions about privacy: privacy@highlightmaster.app