Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 2, 2026
Our Promise: Papertrail is privacy-first. Your documents are encrypted at rest and in transit. Documents you put in the Private Folder (formerly called the Private Vault) are encrypted on your device with a key we never receive — we store ciphertext and cannot read their contents (see §2.2 for exactly what is and is not encrypted today). Run Papertrail on-prem or self-hosted and it is zero-knowledge — your documents, keys, and Intelligence stay on your own hardware and we can never see them. On our managed cloud, your documents are encrypted at rest; when you use Intelligence features (Ask, field extraction), the relevant text is processed to answer you and every cloud handoff is clearly marked in the app. We never sell your data or use it to train our own models. Ever.
1. Who We Are
Papertrail is operated by The Blue View Group Corporation ("Blue View", "we", "us", "our"). We provide an intelligent document management platform for individuals, families, and small teams.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Account Information
When you create an account, we collect:
- Email address — for authentication (magic links) and account recovery
- Device information — browser type, OS, screen size for app optimization
- Payment information — processed by Stripe; we never store card numbers
2.2 Document Data
Private Folder documents. Documents you place in your Private Folder are encrypted on your device before being transmitted. We store ciphertext only; we cannot read the contents of a Private Folder document, and its encryption keys are derived on your device and never sent to us. That now includes the catalog: a Private Folder document's file contents, extracted text, summary, title, sender, amount, dates, and reference numbers are all sealed with a key we never receive. What stays readable to us is operational only — that the document exists, when it was added, its size, and whether it still needs review — because the app needs those to show you a list at all. We cannot read what a Private Folder document is, who it is from, or what it is worth.
One exception, stated plainly: a Private Folder document created before the sealed-catalog change keeps its readable catalog fields until you next open your Private Folder on any device, which rewrites it in the sealed form.
Documents outside the Private Folder. On the managed cloud, documents outside the Private Folder are encrypted at rest and in transit, but are readable by the service so it can process them (classification, extraction, and answering your questions). See §5 for the third parties involved.
Encrypted cross-device sync is rolling out. When it is available to you, Private Folder documents sync as ciphertext, and the key is derived from your recovery phrase on each device — it never leaves your devices and we never receive it. Documents synced between your devices — including the original files — travel encrypted end to end.
2.3 Local-Only Mode
If you choose local-only storage, your documents never leave your device. No document data is transmitted to our servers.
2.4 Usage Analytics
We do not collect usage analytics. Papertrail ships no analytics SDK, no crash-reporting SDK, and no page-view tracking — not in the web app, and not in the Android app. We do not build usage profiles, and there is nothing to opt out of. Our servers keep ordinary operational logs (for example, request records needed to run and secure the service), which are not used to profile you.
3. How We Use Your Information
- Provide the Service — authentication, sync, billing
- Communicate — transactional emails (magic links, receipts, trial reminders)
- Improve — we act on the feedback you send us; we do not collect analytics (see §2.4)
- Legal compliance — responding to legal requests if required by law
4. What We Do NOT Do
We do NOT: sell your data to third parties, use your documents to train machine learning models, serve advertisements based on your content, share your information with data brokers, or access your encrypted documents.
5. Intelligent Features & Data Processing
Our intelligent features (document extraction, classification, chat, read-aloud) work differently depending on how you run Papertrail:
- Web service (mypapertrail.co): Your documents are encrypted in transit and at rest. To power intelligent features, the text and scanned images of your documents are processed by Google Gemini through our managed Vertex environment under Google Cloud's enterprise terms — Google does not use your content to train its models (per the Google Cloud AI/ML Privacy Commitment), and we do not store your content with Google. We never sell your data, share it with data brokers, or use it for advertising.
- Private Folder (optional): Encrypt selected documents with a key only you hold — not even we can read them. Documents protected this way are stored as ciphertext on our servers and cannot be read or processed by server-side intelligent features.
- On-premises installs: Fully private by default — every intelligent feature runs on your own hardware and nothing leaves your network. Your administrator can explicitly configure a cloud model provider (such as Google Gemini, as described above) or a model endpoint of your own instead.
- Mobile: Your documents are stored in a local database on your device.
6. Third-Party Services
| Service | Purpose | Data Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payment processing | Email, payment method |
| Resend | Transactional email (sign-in links, receipts) | Email address only |
| Google Gemini (via Google Cloud Vertex) | Intelligent-features model provider on the web service; optional on on-premises installs when your administrator enables it | Document/chat text and scanned images of each request, per request; not used to train Google's models; we do not store your content with Google |
The platform also supports OpenAI and Anthropic as model providers for self-hosted installs. They are not used on the web service today; if that ever changes for your workspace, this table will be updated and the change will be clearly shown in the app before any content is sent.
7. Data Retention
- Active accounts: Data retained while your account is active
- Cancelled accounts: Data deleted within 30 days of account closure
- Billing records: Retained for 7 years as required by tax law
- You can request deletion at any time by contacting us
8. Your Rights
You have the right to:
- Access — request a copy of all data we hold about you
- Export — download your documents at any time
- Delete — request permanent deletion of your account and all data
- Correct — update your account information
- Object — object to processing; note we collect no analytics to opt out of (see §2.4)
9. Security
We implement industry-standard security measures:
- AES-256 end-to-end encryption for cloud-synced documents
- TLS 1.3 for all data in transit
- Secure session management with HttpOnly cookies
- WebAuthn/Passkey support for phishing-resistant authentication
- Regular security audits and dependency updates
10. Children's Privacy
Papertrail is not intended for users under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect information from children.
11. International Data Transfers
Our servers are located in the United States. If you are accessing the Service from outside the US, your data will be transferred to and processed in the US. Because your document data is encrypted end-to-end, the geographic location of our servers does not affect the privacy of your documents.
12. Changes to This Policy
We will notify you of material changes via email at least 30 days before they take effect. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision.
13. Contact Us
For privacy concerns or data requests:
- Email: privacy@blueview.ai
- Legal: legal@blueview.ai