This Privacy Policy describes how Tenslor Inc. ("Tenslor", "we", "us" or "our") handles information in connection with the Monstera PDF Editor desktop application ("Monstera"), the website at monsterapdf.com (the "Website"), and related communications and voluntary financial support. We distinguish information processed on your computer from information received by Tenslor, and information handled independently by third-party services you choose to use.
1Who is responsible for your information
Tenslor Inc. is a corporation incorporated in Delaware, United States, and is the controller of the personal information that it processes for the Website, correspondence, support, and administration of the Monstera project, where applicable.
Privacy contact: support@monsterapdf.com
When you independently connect to an AI provider, cloud-storage account, signature provider, or another external service from Monstera, that provider handles information under its own policies and may act as an independent controller or processor, depending on the service and your arrangements with it. Tenslor is not the operator of those providers' systems.
2Our privacy approach
Monstera does not require a Tenslor account, registration, subscription, or advertising identifier.
The application is designed to process ordinary document operations locally and does not operate a Tenslor-hosted document service, AI gateway, or application-telemetry collection service. We do not receive your PDFs simply because you install, open, edit, convert, or save them with Monstera.
Some optional functions connect to third-party services when you choose to use them. The content those services receive depends on the feature and your selection, as described in Section 5. The Website, support correspondence, donation service, and the Microsoft Store are separate channels with their own limited processing, as set out below. In particular, an absence of application telemetry does not mean that website access logs, website analytics that you accept, emails, donated-payment information, or Microsoft-operated diagnostics do not exist.
We do not sell personal information collected by Tenslor in connection with Monstera or use it for cross-context behavioural advertising.
3Information Monstera keeps on your computer
Depending on the features and settings you use, Monstera can retain locally:
- Documents, work in progress, and local conversion or processing files.
- Application settings, recent-file entries, and optional recent-file page previews.
- Rotating local application logs and retained crash reports.
- Working copies of files opened through Google Drive or OneDrive.
- Earlier saved file versions in Monstera's backup folder (one by default, configurable up to ten). File > Restore a previous version lists retained versions; Settings > Privacy > Clear backups removes them.
- Saved AI chat history only if you turn chat saving on. Saved chats are encrypted and can be cleared in Settings > Privacy.
- Locally stored caches and sign-in information needed for optional integrations.
Monstera uses Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI) to encrypt the API keys and Google Drive, OneDrive, and DocuSign sign-in tokens it saves. Keys and tokens are tied to your Windows account, stored separately from ordinary application settings, and are not exposed through the application's key fields or exported with settings. If the required Windows encryption is unavailable, Monstera does not fall back to storing API keys in plaintext. Keys are not written to Monstera's application log.
Settings > Privacy includes controls to clear recent files, chats and backups, control recent-file previews, and manage crash-report retention. Windows uninstall behaviour and cleanup of application storage may also depend on the installation method and Windows settings; review any documents or exported files you saved outside the app's storage separately.
4Crash reports and information you voluntarily send us
Monstera retains crash reports locally by default. You can turn this off in Settings > Privacy > Keep crash reports. Turning it off deletes retained reports at the next application start, as described in the app.
After a crash, Monstera offers you a choice to share a report. Choosing Share… opens the Windows Share interface, with a crash report and diagnostic log prepared for your chosen email application. Nothing is automatically emailed or uploaded by Monstera to Tenslor. You must send the message yourself.
Review crash reports before sending them
A crash report captures part of the application's memory and may contain text or images from open documents, filenames, and other confidential material. Inspect reports and attachments before sending them, and do not send sensitive documents unless strictly necessary and appropriately redacted.
If you send a crash report, support request, security disclosure, feature suggestion, or other email, we may receive your email address, name or signature, message contents, technical details, and any attachments you include. We use that material to respond, troubleshoot, investigate, protect the project, or comply with applicable law. Our mail provider will necessarily process the message to deliver and store it. Please do not send confidential files when a harmless sample or a description will suffice.
5Optional connections from Monstera
The following list describes the connections documented for the application. No Tenslor server intermediates the document-content connections shown below.
| Your action | External recipient or service | Information transmitted |
|---|---|---|
| Ask the AI assistant about selected text, a page, or a document | Your selected provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral, xAI, Azure OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, Perplexity, or DeepSeek | Your question and the selected or relevant document content identified by the app's Asking about indicator; a page image when necessary for the request |
| Use Document + web | Your AI provider and the web-search capability offered by that provider | Your question and content supplied to the provider; search queries or document information may reach the provider's search service |
| Add or validate an AI key or list models | The provider selected, or your configured Azure endpoint | Credential validation and model-list requests; no document content for this action |
| Translate a page or summarise comments | Your chosen AI provider | Relevant page text or document comments |
| Extract or interpret information from a page image using AI | Your chosen AI provider | The relevant page or region image |
| Use optional cloud handwriting, OCR or table reading | Your Azure Document Intelligence resource or Anthropic account | A page image or selected image region, not the entire PDF file |
| Request a trusted timestamp | Your chosen timestamp authority, such as DigiCert, GlobalSign, or Sectigo | A cryptographic hash and associated protocol data; not the document itself |
| Use DocuSign | DocuSign | Information and documents required by the specific action you initiate |
| Open or save a file with Google Drive or OneDrive | Google or Microsoft, following sign-in | The selected file or information needed for the requested file action |
| Open a PDF from a web address | The destination server you enter | A network request to that server, including network metadata |
| Press a form's Submit button | The web address or email address written in the form | The form's data (FDF, XFDF or web-form format) or the whole PDF, only after Monstera shows where it is going and you agree. For an email address, your mail app or the Windows Share sheet opens and you send it yourself. |
| Email a file using Windows Share | The sharing application you select | The file and related information you choose to give that application |
| Open an external hyperlink, help page, donation page, or Store listing | The website or application opened by your browser or Windows | Normal network requests controlled by that destination and your browser or operating system |
Monstera's built-in Tesseract OCR and the bundled offline document conversion engine process files on your computer. Routine PDF editing, redaction, document management, and other local tools do not require sending your document to Tenslor. Microsoft Store installation and updating are handled by Microsoft, not by a Tenslor update endpoint.
6AI providers and confidential documents
Monstera uses a bring-your-own-key model. AI features require you to configure the relevant provider credentials; Tenslor does not supply an AI subscription or proxy your prompts through a Tenslor AI server. You choose the provider and initiate the request. For Azure services, requests go to the Azure resource endpoint that you configure.
Once sent, the provider's own agreement and privacy practices govern its handling of the information. Retention, model-training controls, geography, and security practices can differ by provider and account type. Do not send confidential, regulated, or third-party personal information to an external service unless you have the required permission and have assessed that provider's terms and safeguards. Tenslor cannot delete information held independently by your selected provider.
7Cloud storage and electronic signatures
Google Drive: The integration described by Monstera uses the Google Drive drive.file scope and Google's own file picker. It is designed to access files you explicitly select and files saved by the application, rather than search your entire Drive.
Monstera's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy (opens in a new tab), including the Limited Use requirements.
OneDrive: The integration requests access to your OneDrive files and basic Microsoft profile information and allows you to remain signed in. Files you choose to open are used as working copies on your computer. Uploading or saving back is initiated by your action; Monstera checks for changes before overwriting a previously opened cloud file.
DocuSign and timestamping: These functions contact their respective providers for the signature or timestamp transaction that you initiate. The applicable provider's own privacy notice and service terms apply.
You can revoke a provider's access through its account security settings and remove credentials stored by Monstera.
8Microsoft Store and Windows diagnostics
Monstera is distributed through the Microsoft Store. Microsoft may independently process account, device, installation, licensing, update, diagnostic, review, and crash information under Microsoft's own privacy terms and Windows diagnostic settings. Tenslor may receive aggregated installation statistics, reviews, and crash or hang reports made available to publishers through Microsoft Partner Center. Those reports may contain technical information; their availability is determined by Microsoft's systems, not by an application telemetry service operated by Tenslor.
See the Microsoft Privacy Statement (opens in a new tab).
9Website access, cookies and analytics
The Website has no user account system, no registration or contact form, no advertising pixels, and no third-party fonts. Website images and fonts are served from the Website itself.
Analytics
The Website uses Tess Console Analytics, a private analytics service built by Tenslor Inc., to measure how the Website is used, so that we can see which pages are read and improve them. It measures visits and the pages viewed, the page or link you came from (including any campaign tags in it), your browser and device type, your approximate location worked out from your IP address, how long pages take to load, and errors in the page's own scripts. It sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device. Analytics data is kept for six months.
Analytics runs only if you accept it in the banner. Until you choose, and if you reject, the analytics script is not loaded and none of this is collected. A browser that sends a Global Privacy Control signal is treated as having rejected. You can change your choice at any time by clearing this site's data in your browser. The banner then asks again on your next visit.
Your choice is stored in your browser
The banner stores your choice (accepted or rejected, the date, and which analytics service it applies to) in your browser's local storage, on your own device. It is not sent to us and it is not used to identify you. The choice is kept for 180 days and you are then asked again. You are also asked again if the analytics service changes. Clearing your browser's site data removes the stored choice.
Hosting and server logs
Like other websites, the production hosting infrastructure may process IP addresses, dates and times, URLs requested, response codes, and browser or device identifiers in security and access logs. This information can be needed to deliver pages, maintain availability, detect attacks, and investigate misuse. The host, CDN, or security service used in production may also implement strictly necessary technical cookies or similar measures.
We do not use advertising technology or embedded third-party widgets on the Website. If that changes, we will update this notice and provide any consent controls required by applicable law before those technologies operate.
10Donations and external websites
The Website links to a payment page run by Stripe for voluntary contributions. Payment details are submitted to Stripe, not to a Monstera checkout form. Depending on what the payment page collects and the information Stripe makes available to us, Tenslor may receive your name, email address, billing details, payment amount, payment or subscription status, and transaction reference. We use information we receive to administer support, answer donation-related questions, and meet accounting or legal obligations. We do not receive your full payment-card number through the Monstera Website. Stripe handles your payment information under its own privacy policy (opens in a new tab).
Links to GitHub, Microsoft Store, Stripe, social-sharing services, and external help sources take you to third-party sites governed by their own privacy notices. Merely displaying a link does not mean those services receive your information before you follow it.
11Why we process personal information and the legal basis
Where EU or UK data protection law applies, the following bases generally describe Tenslor's processing:
| Processing | Purpose | Applicable basis |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and security logs | Serve and secure the Website, diagnose faults and resist abuse | Legitimate interests in operating and securing the Website, or legal obligation where applicable |
| Website analytics | Understand how the Website is used and improve it | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time by clearing this site's data in your browser |
| Support, bug, vulnerability and privacy correspondence | Reply to inquiries, fix defects, investigate reports and maintain records of resolution | Legitimate interests in supporting and securing the project; steps requested before entering a contract or performance of a contract where applicable |
| Donation administration | Answer supporter requests and reconcile payments or recurring support made through the payment provider | Legitimate interests, or performance of a transaction-related contract where applicable |
| Tax, accounting, compliance and legal records | Meet applicable financial and legal obligations and protect legal claims | Legal obligation; legitimate interests in establishing, exercising or defending legal claims |
We do not make decisions about individuals that have legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated profiling of Website visitors or Monstera users. No information is required to create a Monstera account because there is no such account. If you do not provide information needed to answer your email or resolve a voluntary donation inquiry, we may be unable to complete that request.
12Service providers, security and international transfers
We may disclose information that we actually receive to providers carrying out hosting, security, email, operational, or payment-administration services on our behalf, and to legal or regulatory authorities where the law requires. We may also disclose information where reasonably necessary to investigate fraud, security incidents, or legal claims. We do not receive files that you send directly to independent AI, cloud, or signature providers merely because you use Monstera.
Tenslor is incorporated in the United States. Personal information sent to our support addresses, stored by our hosting or email services, or made available to us through donation platforms may be processed in the United States or other countries. Where EU/UK transfer rules apply to a transfer for which Tenslor is responsible, we will use an applicable recognised transfer mechanism, such as an adequacy decision or appropriate contractual safeguards, where required. You may contact us for information about safeguards relevant to your data.
We apply reasonable organisational and technical controls to information under our control. No internet-connected service or email system is completely risk-free.
13How long we retain information
- Files and ordinary Monstera application data: remain on your computer subject to your settings, local backups and Windows storage behaviour. Tenslor does not impose a cloud-retention period on files we never receive.
- Local crash reports: remain on your computer until removed by application settings, deletion, or relevant Windows processes; an emailed copy becomes correspondence received by Tenslor.
- Website analytics: kept for six months.
- Website security/access logs: retained under our host's own log-retention and deletion schedule. The Website is hosted by Hostinger, which keeps these logs for as long as it needs them to run and secure its service, as described in Hostinger's privacy policy.
- Support and security correspondence: retained only for the period reasonably necessary to handle the request, investigate incidents, maintain operational records and address legal claims, then deleted or archived under the applicable retention schedule. We keep support and security emails for up to one year after the matter is closed, then delete them.
- Donation and financial records: retained for the applicable accounting, tax and legal retention periods and removed or de-identified when no longer required. [FINANCIAL_RETENTION]
- Microsoft and independent third-party providers: retain information under their own arrangements, outside Tenslor's direct control.
We may retain particular records longer if needed to comply with a legal requirement, resolve a dispute, or investigate a significant security incident.
14Your privacy rights
Depending on where you live and which laws apply, you may have rights to request access to personal information we hold, correction, deletion, restriction, portability, or objection to processing. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting earlier lawful processing. You may object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests, subject to the conditions and exceptions in applicable law.
For requests concerning data held by Tenslor, email support@monsterapdf.com. We may need limited information to verify a request and will respond in accordance with applicable law. If your request concerns a provider to which you sent a document directly, you should also contact that provider.
Individuals in the EEA may complain to a competent data protection supervisory authority. Individuals in the UK may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (opens in a new tab). Depending on the circumstances, your rights may include:
- access to personal information
- correction of inaccurate information
- deletion
- restriction of processing
- objection to processing
- data portability
- withdrawal of consent
California and other US state privacy laws may grant additional rights where those laws apply to Tenslor, including:
- the right to know
- the right to delete
- the right to correct
- the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information (Tenslor does not sell or share personal information)
- the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights
If you are in Brazil, the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD) may give you the right to:
- confirm that we process your personal data, and access it
- correct incomplete or inaccurate data
- have unnecessary or excessive data anonymised, blocked or deleted
- portability
- information about who your data is shared with
- withdraw consent
You may complain to the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD).
We honour rights to the extent required by the relevant law. Their application may depend on statutory thresholds and exemptions.
- Privacy requests may be sent to
- support@monsterapdf.com
- The data controller is
- Tenslor Inc.
A Delaware corporation
15Children
Monstera and the Website are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly solicit personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has supplied personal information to us through correspondence, contact us so we can assess and take appropriate action.
16Changes to this Policy
We may update this Policy when our practices, features, vendors, or legal obligations change. We will update the effective date and make the revised version available on the Website. Material application-related changes may also be described in the release notes. A policy revision does not by itself change how an installed copy of Monstera technically operates.
17Contact and related documents
For privacy questions and requests, email support@monsterapdf.com. See our Terms of Use and Disclaimer, Third-Party Notices and Source, and Support pages for related information.