Understand · New to this · 3 min
Privacy: where your files and work are kept
What happens to a drawing when you open it: your original, the working copy this browser keeps, what you save yourself, and the few things that do leave.
DatoMark runs in your browser. When you open a drawing, your own computer reads it, and nothing is sent to a server to be read, drawn or measured. It does keep things for you, though, so it is worth being exact about where they are.
The four places
- Your original file stays exactly where it was, on your computer. DatoMark never changes it. Everything you do is kept apart from it.
- A working copy, in this browser. So that your work is still there when you come back, DatoMark keeps a copy of the drawing, with your marks and measurements, in this browser's own storage on this device. This is what Recent work lists, on the home screen and in your account dashboard. It is not on our servers, it does not follow you to another browser or another computer, and signing in does not move it anywhere.
- Files you save. A project file or an export goes where you choose on your computer. That is the copy to keep, send or back up.
- Your settings and your progress are kept in this browser too, under this web address.
So when something says “saved”, it means one of two things: saved in this browser (the working copy), or saved to a file you chose. It never means saved on our servers. We have nowhere to put your drawings.
What can leave your computer
- Signing in. Your email address goes to the sign-in service (Cloudflare Access) so that it can check you are on the list. Your drawings are no part of that.
- Asking for an account. The name, email address and answers you type into the form on our website. The privacy page says what is kept and for how long.
- A feedback report, only when you press Send (and only if a feedback address has been set up for this version). Without a connected service, Open email prepares a draft in your email app; you send it there. Copy and Save remain available. Drawings are never attached.
- A Dato Room, only while you are in one: your marks, chat and (if you choose to share it) the drawing are sealed on your computer and carried by a relay that cannot read them. The status bar says so while you are in a room.
How a Dato Room keeps things private
Taking it out of the browser
The working copy is yours to remove. Remove on a project in Recent work deletes its copy from this browser, and clearing the browser's site data for this web address removes all of it, with your settings. Either way your original file is untouched, and a project file you saved still opens.