Privacy Policy

Open in Google Docs is a free, open-source macOS tool made by Oleksandr Shpirko. It runs on your Mac and talks directly to Google. There is no server of mine in between, and the tool never sends anything to me.

What the tool does with your files

When you run one of its Quick Actions, the tool reads the files you selected in Finder and uploads them to your own Google Drive through the Google Drive API. Google converts them to Google Docs or Google Sheets, and the tool opens the new document in your default browser.

Each upload contains the file’s name and contents, the ID of the “From Mac” folder in your Drive and a random tag. The tag lets the tool find its own upload if Google stops responding halfway through, so the same file isn’t uploaded twice.

The tool never changes or deletes the files on your Mac.

Google user data

You sign in through your own Google Cloud OAuth client, so Google’s sign-in screen shows your own project. I have no access to that project, your tokens or your files.

The tool asks for one permission, the drive.file scope. With it, the tool can only see and change files it created itself, such as the converted documents and the “From Mac” folder. It can’t see the rest of your Drive or anything else in your Google account.

It uses this access only to create the converted files, find the “From Mac” folder and look up its own uploads after a timeout. The use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Your Google data is not sold, not used for advertising, not shared with anyone and not read by people.

What stays on your Mac

• Your Google sign-in (client ID, client secret and refresh token) is stored by rclone in its config file, usually ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf. The tool only reads it.
• A short-lived access token, valid for about an hour, is cached in ~/Library/Caches/to_gdocs/token.json. Only your macOS user account can read it.
• Each run is logged to ~/Library/Logs/to_gdocs.log: file names, links to the new documents and any error messages from Google.

The tokens are sent only to Google, to authorize requests. Nothing else in this list leaves your Mac.

No analytics or tracking

The tool has no analytics, telemetry, crash reporting, ads or update checks. It connects only to Google: oauth2.googleapis.com to refresh the access token and www.googleapis.com for Google Drive. When you need to sign in again, it starts rclone, which opens Google’s sign-in page in your browser.

Other services

• Google stores and processes the files you upload under the Google Privacy Policy.
• rclone handles the Google sign-in. It is separate open-source software that you install yourself.

Removing your data

• Run ./uninstall.sh to remove the Quick Actions and the cached token. Delete ~/Library/Logs/to_gdocs.log if you want the log gone too.
• Converted files stay in your Google Drive until you delete them.
• To revoke access, remove your app under Third-party apps & services in your Google Account and delete the rclone remote with rclone config delete gdrive.

This website

This site is hosted on GitHub Pages and has no cookies or analytics. GitHub may log visitors’ IP addresses for security, as described in the GitHub General Privacy Statement. The fonts come from Google Fonts, so your browser also contacts Google when a page loads. If you switch between light and dark mode, the choice is saved in your browser and stays on your device.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version will appear on this page with a new date at the top.

Contact

Questions about privacy: open an issue on GitHub or email shpirko27@gmail.com.