Privacy Policy

Files you preview

When you preview a file in Finder or open one in SpacePane, it's read on your Mac, read-only. SpacePane never changes, uploads or copies your files, and it doesn't keep their contents after a preview closes. Likely secrets such as passwords, tokens and keys are concealed before content is shown, selected or copied.

Thumbnails are created on request and stored by macOS in its own Quick Look cache, as with any thumbnail provider. For many file types, SpacePane can draw a small excerpt of the file in its thumbnail, using only text that has passed the privacy filter. A file in which SpacePane concealed any secret keeps a plain icon instead, and some types never show content. “Show file contents in thumbnails” on the General page turns excerpts off. Turning it off, or turning a file type off, affects new thumbnails only; thumbnails macOS has already stored may stay until it replaces them. The privacy filter finds secrets by pattern and can miss an unusual one, so turn the setting off if you preview files you consider highly sensitive.

SpacePane's Safety Lens checks, such as hidden characters, archive risks, notebook health and whether a file with secrets sits in a cloud-synced folder, also run on your Mac while a preview is made. The hidden-character scan reads the already-concealed text, and the sync-folder check looks only at the file's location. Findings report counts and positions, not your file's values. The one exception is text hidden inside invisible characters, which is shown as plain text after the same privacy filter has concealed likely secrets.

Copying and the clipboard

SpacePane writes to the clipboard only when you choose a copy command, such as Copy, Copy All or Copy Concealed Text. What it copies is the concealed text, so likely secrets are replaced by dots. Copy Concealed Text is there so you can share a file's contents without its secrets.

Keeping previews up to date

While a preview stays open, SpacePane can watch the file or folder it shows and read it again when it changes, so the preview stays current. The watch only listens for change events: it gives SpacePane no permission to read or write the file by itself, it watches nothing else on your Mac, and it ends when the preview is closed or replaced. Turn it off with “Reload previews when the file changes” on the General page.

Other Quick Look extensions

On the General page you can ask SpacePane to look for other apps whose Quick Look extensions handle the same file types. The scan runs only when you choose it, on your Mac. It reads the property lists of apps in the Applications folders to see which file types their extensions declare. It doesn't open, run or change those apps, and nothing it finds is sent anywhere.

Data stored on your Mac

SpacePane saves your settings, such as which file types are turned on, your theme, color scheme and font choices, and options like live reload, content thumbnails and folder depth, on your Mac. They are kept in the app's container and in a group container shared with its own extensions. They are never sent anywhere.

When you export a theme, SpacePane writes only the file you choose, where you choose. To remove all settings, delete the app; macOS may keep its containers in your Library folder until you remove them.

No network access

The app and its extensions run in Apple's App Sandbox without permission to use the network. Links in the app, such as this policy, open in your web browser.

Purchases

The Mac App Store handles purchases. We don't receive your name, Apple Account or payment details. Apple's privacy policy applies to the App Store.

Crash reports and analytics

If you choose to share analytics with app developers in macOS (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements), Apple may give us crash reports and aggregated usage statistics. Apple de-identifies this data, and we use it only to fix problems. You can turn this off at any time in the same place.

Contacting us

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include in the message. We use it only to reply to you, we don't share it, and we delete it on request. Please don't send private files or secrets.

This website

This website uses no analytics, advertising, tracking cookies, third-party scripts or third-party fonts. If you choose a language, one first-party cookie remembers that choice for a year; nothing else is stored. The live preview on the home page runs entirely in your browser: a file you drop there stays in your browser tab and isn't uploaded. Like any website, our hosting provider may briefly record standard request details, such as IP address, browser type and the page requested, to deliver pages and keep the site secure.

Children

SpacePane doesn't collect personal data from anyone, including children.

Your choices and rights

Because the app stores nothing about you outside your Mac, there is nothing for us to access, export or delete there. For support email we hold, you can ask us to show it to you or delete it at any time.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, we'll update this page and its effective date. If SpacePane ever begins to collect data, the policy and the App Store privacy details will say so before that version is released.

Contact

Questions about privacy: [email protected]. See also the support page.