Privacy policy for the ViewCSV browser extension

What this policy covers

This policy applies to the ViewCSV browser extension, version 1.0.0 and later versions until it is updated. The viewcsv.app website is separate and has its own privacy policy, which covers the website's cookies and optional analytics. Nothing in the extension uses them.

Data the extension handles

• Files you open and text you paste: read and processed in the ViewCSV tab on your device. They are not uploaded and are gone when you close the tab.
• Tables on a web page: read once from that tab, only after you click Find tables and choose a table. The page is not changed.
• The address of a CSV link you choose: kept briefly in the browser's session memory until the ViewCSV tab reads it, then deleted. It is not added to the ViewCSV tab's address.
• The file behind that link: downloaded only after you choose Allow and open, then processed like any opened file.

What is stored

Only two preferences are saved, in this browser's extension storage: your interface language and your appearance (light, dark or system). Text and links passed from the toolbar popup or the context menu to a ViewCSV tab go through the browser's session storage, which is kept in memory, deleted as soon as the tab reads it and cleared when the browser quits. Table data is never written to storage.

Network requests

The extension has no server and sends no data to ViewCSV or anyone else. There is no analytics, telemetry, advertising or remote configuration, and no code or WebAssembly is loaded from the internet.

When you open a CSV link and choose Allow and open, your browser connects to the website that hosts the file, as with any download. That website receives the usual connection details, such as your IP address and browser type. ViewCSV sends the request without your cookies or sign-in, without the address of the page you came from, and does not follow redirects to another address. Unless you choose to keep it, access to that site is removed after the download.

Links that contain a user name or password, and links to your own computer or local network addresses, are refused before any request is made. This check uses the address as written; it cannot detect a public name that points to a private address.

Permissions and why they are needed

• activeTab and scripting: to read the tables of the current tab after you click the toolbar button and choose Find tables.
• contextMenus: the Open link in ViewCSV menu item.
• storage: your two preferences and the temporary handoff described above.
• Optional access to http and https sites: requested for a single site when you choose Allow and open.

What the extension never does

• Upload your files, pasted text or tables to ViewCSV or a third party.
• Read your browsing history, other tabs or pages you didn't ask it to read.
• Sell or share data, show ads, or use data for credit or lending decisions.
• Run code downloaded from the internet.

Your choices

• Close the ViewCSV tab to discard open data; export first to keep your changes.
• Leave Keep access to this site for next time unticked when you open a CSV link, or remove site access later in your browser's extension settings.
• Uninstall the extension to delete its saved preferences.

Links to the website

The extension's links to viewcsv.app open the website in a new tab when you click them. No data, file name or address is attached. From then on the website's own privacy policy applies.

Changes to this policy

Changes will be published on this page with a new date. A change that would send data off your device would need a new extension version and would be disclosed before it applies.