Privacy policy
1. General provisions
This privacy policy describes how, why, and to what extent personal data is processed by Pdftools (PDF Tools AG, Brown-Boveri-Strasse 5, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland). Pdftools complies with the relevant data protection regulations when processing personal data.
All employees of Pdftools are obliged to maintain confidentiality, and signed a corresponding non-disclosure agreement at the beginning of their employment.
2. Processing of personal data
As soon as you contact Pdftools, personal data will be collected from you and processed.
2.1 Evaluation and conclusion of contract
The following personal data will be collected when you enter into a contract with Pdftools or register at MyPDFTools in order to evaluate a trial version of a product: Name, surname, company name, email address, postal address, phone number, town/city, country, language, and (if you are registering for MyPDFTools) IP address. Additionally, the following data will be collected and processed for the purpose of performing the contract: Contract data (date, content, term), interaction data, and data concerning customer requirements.
Pdftools processes this personal data in order to generate quotes, execute a contract, and for marketing purposes as described in section 2.3.
If a business relationship no longer exists between Pdftools and the customer, the personal data will be deleted or anonymized unless Pdftools is subject to a statutory duty to store the data.
Where the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies, the relevant legal grounds are as follows: Article 6 (1b) (performance of a contract when registering for MyPDFTools), Article 6 (1b) (performance of a contract) and Article 6 (1c) (conformance with a legal obligation).
2.2 Contact requests through the website or by email
The following personal data is collected from contact requests by email or the contact form on the website: name, surname, email address.
The data will be used to process the contact request and maintain the business relationship in accordance with section 2.1, as well as for marketing purposes as described in section 2.3.
After the contact request has been handled, the personal data will be deleted or anonymized unless Pdftools is subject to a statutory duty to store data.
Where the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies, the relevant legal grounds are Article 6 (1b) (performance of a contract) and Article 6 (1c) (conformance with a legal obligation).
2.3 Marketing and newsletters
PDF Tools AG processes the data provided to it by customers verbally, in writing, or electronically, including for marketing purposes. This serves the purposes of providing the customer with personalized advice, generating quotes for products and services of PDF Tools AG tailored to the specific requirements of the customer, sending a newsletter, and improving the services of PDF Tools AG.
PDF Tools AG processes the following categories of personal data for marketing purposes: Identification and contact data (name, surname, phone number, postal address, email address, language), contract data (date, content, term), interaction data, and data concerning customer requirements.
Pdftools provides a newsletter to which customers can subscribe by providing a valid email address. Beyond the email address, name, surname, salutation, and language, no other personal data is collected for the purpose of sending the newsletter. If you no longer wish to receive the newsletter, you can unsubscribe from it by clicking on “Unsubscribe from NewsFlash” in the newsletter and then completing the form in order to unsubscribe from the newsletter. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter by sending an email to pdfsales@pdf-tools.com. Once you have unsubscribed, you will no longer be sent the newsletter.
You can object in writing to Your Personal Data being processed for marketing purposes with future effect, either generally or for specific channels. If you provide us with such a declaration, we will no longer contact you in a personal manner for marketing purposes. However, if you utilize one or more valid services, your data will remain in the database of PDF Tools AG in order to render the services and will be used to execute transactions.
You can object to receiving advertisements by sending an email to pdfsales@pdf-tools.com.
Where the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies, the relevant legal ground is Article 6 (1a) (consent provided when subscribing to the newsletter) and Article 6 (1a and f) (consent or legitimate interests in the processing of data for marketing purposes).
3. Disclosure of personal data
All data is stored by Pdftools electronically on internal servers located in Switzerland.
The personal data collected by Google Analytics is stored on Google servers.
4. Rights of access, of rectification, of erasure, and to object
Depending on the specific circumstances of the case and your place of residence, you may have some or all of the following rights:
to withdraw your consent to the processing of Your Personal Data at any time. As a result, we may no longer process Your Personal Data based on the consent. But the withdrawal of your consent has no effect on the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal;
to access the personal data processed by us and/or request copies of this data. In particular, you can obtain information about the purposes of processing, categories of personal data, categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, planned retention period, and origin of your data if it was not collected directly from you;
to request the rectification/correction, erasure, or restriction of processing of Your Personal Data;
to request Your Personal Data, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit this data to another controller. You may also ask us to directly transmit this data to another controller, where technically feasible;
to object to the processing of Your Personal Data on grounds relating to your particular situation, if we process Your Personal Data based on our legitimate interests. You may also object to the processing of Your Personal Data for direct marketing purposes at any time;
to obtain information of the possibility of denying consent to the data processing and the consequences of the denial;
to oppose the processing grounded on a legal basis other than consent;
to request review, by a natural person, of decisions taken solely on the basis of automated processing of personal data that affects their interests, including decisions intended to define their personal, professional, consumer or credit profile or aspects of their personality.
Requests for can be sent to pdfsales@pdf-tools.com.
In addition, every data subject has the right to enforce his/her rights in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority.
5 Technical and organizational security measures
We take appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect Your Personal Data.
6 Cookies
In brief: We may use necessary cookies without your consent, or for functional and analytical or advertising-related purposes, if you consent to this.
A cookie is a small piece of data placed on your computer’s hard drive that permits identifying a specific device or browser. We may place our own cookies (first-party cookies) or third-party services integrated on our website may place cookies on your device (third-party cookies). Cookies may typically process personal data, such as your IP address, device information, date and time of your visit to our website, information on your activities on our website, settings you make when visiting our website, and unique identification numbers. There are different types of cookies, such as session cookies (which expire at the end of your browsing session) or persistent cookies (which are stored on your device for a longer period of time and between sessions and can enable the entity that placed the cookie to recognize your device or browser between sessions).
We use cookies for different purposes:
6.1 Cookies for functional purposes
We use cookies or similar technologies that are technically necessary to operate our website or provide its basic functions, keeping you logged in (if you want that). These cookies allow us to operate our site, maintain its security, and provide its key functions. We process Your Personal Data to provide our website to you (Art. 6 (1) (1) b GDPR) and based on our legitimate interest to ensure its security, a smooth user experience, and smooth access to these key functions (Art. 6 (1) (1) f GDPR).
6.2 Cookies for analytical purposes
We use cookies or similar technologies to better understand your use of our website. For example, they help us track the number of visitors to our website and see how users move around our website. This helps us improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users can find what they are looking for. Some of these cookies may be placed by third-party providers. We only place these cookies with your consent (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR).
6.3 Cookies for personalization and advertising-related purposes
We use cookies or similar technologies to capture your visit to our website, the pages you visit, and the links you follow. We may use this information based on your consent (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and will process it to evaluate your preferences to make our website and the advertisements we display more relevant for you. We may also share this information with third parties. Some of these cookies may track your movements on other websites.
7. Website functionality providers
7.1 Hotjar
We use Hotjar (Hotjar Ltd., Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) to collect user feedback through survey widgets and polls on our website or external survey links. If you complete an external survey, or complete or minimize survey or poll widgets on our website provided by Hotjar, Hotjar will place cookies on your device to ensure that the poll or survey will not be shown to you again. Hotjar uses cookies for data processing. You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Hotjar (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website. These cookies expire after 365 days.
The transfer of Your Personal Data to Hotjar is based on our data processing agreement with this provider (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
7.2 Hubspot
Some of the contact forms on our website are provided by HubSpot (HubSpot, Inc., Dublin (European HQ), Ground Floor, Two Dockland Central Guild Street, Dublin 1). If a user fills out such a contact form, HubSpot will create a contact record. We use this service for efficient contact management based on our legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (1) f GDPR). The data is retained for the duration of the customer relationship.
The transfer of Your Personal Data to HubSpot is based on our data processing agreement (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
7.3 Google reCAPTCHA
We use the reCAPTCHA service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland on our website. This is a security service that helps us distinguish whether data inputs on our website (e.g. into contact forms or when opening a URL) are made by an individual or by automated means. The purpose of reCAPTCHA is to block automated requests, spam, or other malicious traffic to our website. Google will process Your Personal Data (e.g. IP address, input rates, time spent on a specific site, and movements on the site) to evaluate the website traffic as part of this product. Our use of Google reCAPTCHA is to protect our website against spam and malicious traffic in order to ensure its security. We use Google reCAPTCHA to protect our website against spam and malicious traffic based on our legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) (1) f GDPR). The data is retained for the duration of the session, while the verification token lasts only for 2 minutes.
In providing Google reCAPTCHA, Google acts as a data controller for Google Ads and may process Your Personal Data for other purposes. We have no control over the data that Google collects or the extent of the data collected by Google. We also have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Google. For details about Google’s data processing, please refer to https://policies.google.com/privacy.
8. Analytics providers
8.1 Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics on our website, provided by Google (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). Its purpose is to analyze user behavior and, based on the results, help us make decisions relating to product and marketing optimization. Google will process Your Personal Data (IP address, online identifiers, device identifiers, and device information, e.g. browser type, version, device type, user behavior, e.g. pages visited, session duration, use of specific website functions, e-commerce activity) to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity, and provide us with other services related to website activity and internet usage.
Google Analytics uses cookies for data processing. You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Google Analytics (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website. Google will anonymize Your Personal Data 14 months after your last activity, provided there is no legal obligation to store it for a longer period.
The transfer of Your Personal Data to Google is based on our data processing agreement (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
8.2 Hotjar
We use Hotjar (Hotjar Ltd., Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) on our website. Hotjar processes a unique user identifier number, user country, device-related information (such as browser type, operating system, and session time), information on the visited pages, and interactions with the website, including time and date, and purchased services or products. Hotjar stores this information on our behalf in pseudonymized user profiles. We use the information and profiles to analyze user behavior on our website in order to improve its navigation and marketing.
Hotjar uses cookies for data processing (see Section 6 above for further information). You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Hotjar (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website. In case you consent, Hotjar will place a cookie which assigns you a unique user ID in order to recognize you when you revisit our website. It expires after 365 days. Hotjar will also place session cookies (which expire when you close your browser session after visiting our website) to track you across the pages of our website, to identify new users and/or changes in user attributes and to capture information about your viewport (size and dimension). Furthermore, Hotjar will place cookies that expire after 30 minutes to detect when you first visit a page of our website and to detect whether you are included in data sampling based on our website’s pageview limit.
The transfer of Your Personal Data to Hotjar is based on our data processing agreement (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
8.3 Hubspot Analytics
We use HubSpot Analytics, a service provided by HubSpot (HubSpot, Inc., European HQ, Two Dockland Central Guild Street, Dublin 1) to analyze how visitors use our website. Hubspot processes Your Personal Data, such as your IP address, your location, information on your device and browser, and information on the pages you visited including date and time of each visit. We use this information to improve our services, our website and its functionalities, and for targeted marketing.
For data collection, Hubspot places a cookie on your device (see Section 6 above for further information). You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Hubspot (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any given time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website. Hubspot uses this data to provide us aggregated reports on the use of the pages of our website. Most of the cookies used for this purpose expire when a session is closed; however, one of them remains and expires within two years.
Please note that if you consent to data processing for HubSpot Analytics, HubSpot may associate information from your previous page visits with your contact record that has been created based on contact forms provided by HubSpot on our website (see Section 8.2 above) with the help of the cookies that have been placed on your device. This will enable us to see information on past visits to our site within your contact record. Your consent is the legal basis for our use of HubSpot Analytics (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR).
The transfer of Your Personal Data to HubSpot is governed by our data processing agreement (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
9. Advertising-related providers
9.1 Google Ads
a) Conversion Tracking
We use Google Ads Conversion Tracking offered by Google (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) on our website. We use this service to determine how successful our advertisements through the Google marketing network are (so-called Google Ads) based on the display of the advertisements and clicks by users. This service makes our advertisements more interesting for you and improves our marketing campaigns.
To enable this service, Google places a conversion tracking cookie on your computer (for further information on cookies see Section 6 above). You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Google (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any given time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website.
The cookie expires within 90 days after visiting our website. It enables Google to recognize your internet browser and captures the unique cookie ID, the number of ad impressions per placement (frequency), last impression (relevant for post-view conversions), and opt-out information (ads that the user no longer wishes to be addressed with). If you visit our website before the cookie expires, we and Google can recognize you, for example, if you click on an ad for our services and are redirected to our website. We only receive statistical evaluations from Google. Based on these evaluations, we can see which of the advertising measures are particularly effective. We do not receive any further data from the use of the advertising tools; in particular, we cannot identify users on the basis of this information.
b) Google Ads Remarketing
We also use the online marketing service Google Ads Remarketing offered by Google on our website. We use this function to present you with advertisements on our website based on your interests in Google Ads on other websites within the Google marketing network. For this purpose, Google analyzes your interaction with our website, e.g. which offers you were interested in, in order to be able to display relevant advertisements on other sites even after you have finished visiting our website.
To enable this service, Google places a cookie on your computer (for further information on cookies see section 6 above). You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Google (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any given time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website.
This cookie expires 180 days after visiting our website. Google uses this cookie to analyze how you interact with Google Ads on our website and on other websites to present you relevant advertisements.
c) General information on Google Ads
Google acts as a data controller for Google Ads and may process Your Personal Data for other purposes. We have no control over the data that Google collects or the extent of the data collected by Google. We also have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Google. For details about Google’s data processing, please refer to: https://policies.google.com/privacy.
9.2 LinkedIn (LinkedIn Insights Tag)
We use the LinkedIn Insight Tag (provided by LinkedIn, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland) on our website. We use this function to capture visits of LinkedIn users to our website in order to track conversions from LinkedIn (i.e. if users came to our website based on our LinkedIn advertisements or articles) to track retargeting of our website visitors to LinkedIn. For this purpose, LinkedIn collects Your Personal Data (IP address, URL referrer, device and browser characteristics, timestamp, and events, such as page views).
LinkedIn places a cookie to capture Your Personal Data (see Section 6 above for further information). You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by LinkedIn (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) or prevent it or withdraw your consent at any given time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website.
The cookie expires within 6 months from the last visit to our website. We will receive aggregated reports about our audience and LinkedIn advertisement performance from LinkedIn. We use this information to evaluate the quality of interaction of our audience on LinkedIn with our website and services.
The transfer of Your Personal Data to LinkedIn for the aforementioned purposes is based on our data processing agreement (in connection with Art. 28 GDPR).
9.3 Microsoft Advertising
a) Conversion Tracking
We use Microsoft Advertising Conversion Tracking (offered by One Microsoft Way, Redmond Washington, USA) on our website. We use this service to determine how successful our advertisements through the Microsoft marketing network are (so-called Microsoft Ads and formerly known as Bing Ads) based on the display of the advertisements and clicks by users. This service makes our advertisements more interesting for you and improves our marketing campaigns.
To enable this service, Microsoft places a conversion tracking cookie on your computer. You can consent to the processing of Your Personal Data by Google (Art. 6 (1) (1) a GDPR) and/or prevent it/withdraw your consent at any given time through our cookie banner. To withdraw your consent, go to the cookie settings at the bottom of our website.
The cookie expires within 90 days after visiting our website. It enables Microsoft to recognize your internet browser and captures the unique cookie ID, the number of ad impressions per placement (frequency), last impression (relevant for post-view conversions), and opt-out information (ads that the user no longer wishes to be addressed with). If you visit our website before the cookie expires, we and Microsoft can recognize you, for example, if you click on an ad for our services and are redirected to our website. We only receive statistical evaluations from Microsoft. Based on these evaluations, we can see which of the advertising measures are particularly effective. We do not receive any further data from the use of the advertising tools; in particular, we cannot identify users on the basis of this information.
b) General information on Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft acts as a data controller for Microsoft Ads and may process Your Personal Data for other purposes. We have no control over the data that Microsoft collects or the extent of the data collected by Microsoft. We also have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Microsoft. For details about Microsoft’s data processing, please refer to: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement. Microsoft may process personal data outside the EU/EEA. We safeguarded the transfer of personal data via standard contractual clauses.
10. Contact
If you have any questions, you can contact us at the following address:
Postal address: PDF Tools AG, Brown-Boveri-Strasse 5, 8050 Zurich
Phone: +41 43 411 44 51