Privacy Policy

As of: 1 October 2026 (version 1.9.1)

Full online version: https://archivalis-ai.com/privacy

1. Controller

The controller responsible for data processing under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Andreas Paul Galinski
Andreas Galinski IT-Dienstleistungen & Softwareentwicklung (Archivalis-AI)
Höher Weg 23
58511 Lüdenscheid
Germany
E-Mail: contact@archivalis-ai.com

2. Principle: Privacy by Design

Archivalis Ai - Files was developed following the principle of “Privacy by Design”. Processing of your files takes place locally on your device wherever possible. The Software does not send any telemetry or usage data of its own accord.

Once you select a cloud AI under “AI provider” in the settings and provide your own API key — or, with the “Automatic” setting, a stored cloud key is used because no local AI is set up —, the content intended for processing (e.g. document text, images or video stills) along with associated metadata is transmitted to the provider you selected — depending on the function, e.g. the file name, names of parent folders, the existing folder structure of the target folder, music tags (artist, title, album, year, genre, track number), examples learned from previous sorting runs (corrections, sender and title names) and, if place name resolution is enabled (section 3a), the place names determined. Images are re-encoded in the process, so that metadata embedded in them (e.g. EXIF capture data with GPS coordinates) is not transmitted; documents are transmitted as text. When an AI summary of individual audio and video files is created, the file itself is transmitted, including any metadata embedded in it. If you use only local models and Chatterbox or Windows voices, no content leaves your device (exceptions: sections 3a to 3c).

3. Optional Third-Party Cloud AI Services

If you configure your own API keys for cloud AI services (e.g. Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude) and select the cloud AI as your AI provider, the content intended for processing is transmitted to the respective provider.

• Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent, given by actively enabling the feature and entering your own API key).
• Recipient: The provider you choose — for users in the EEA and Switzerland OpenAI Ireland Ltd. or Anthropic Ireland, Limited, and for Google the Google company named in the Gemini API terms; for users outside these regions OpenAI, L.L.C., Anthropic, PBC or Google LLC —, potentially involving processing outside the EU/EEA (including the USA). The transfer to the USA is based on the European Commission’s adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, insofar as the provider is certified under it, and otherwise on the provider’s standard contractual clauses.
• Control: The controller has no influence over processing carried out by third-party providers. The privacy policy of the respective provider applies. You should review it before activation.
• Free tiers: With free API tiers, providers may use transmitted content to improve their services. According to the Gemini API terms, for users in the EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Google does not use the content to improve its products, even on the free tier. The current terms of your own account with the provider are decisive.
• Withdrawal: You may switch back to the local AI or delete the stored API key at any time.
• Optional anonymization: Before content is sent to a cloud provider, you can enable individual filters in the settings (IBAN/card numbers, amounts, names, phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, birth data, customer, contract, tax and other identification numbers) as well as a “Maximum anonymization” mode that turns on all filters and additionally replaces every number in the document text with placeholders. For document analysis and podcasts, “What gets sent?” lets you view the exact, already-filtered text before it is sent. These filters improve privacy but do not guarantee complete anonymization. The filters apply to document texts and file names in document analysis, podcasts, and document sorting, and only when content is sent to a cloud AI; images (slideshow), music tags, folder names, and place names are not covered. With local AI, no content leaves your device. The mapping of placeholders to the original values remains exclusively in your device’s working memory. Archivalis re-inserts the original values locally once the response has been received; the mapping is neither stored nor transmitted.

3a. Place names via OpenStreetMap (optional)

The “Resolve place names via OpenStreetMap” option is disabled by default. When it is enabled in the settings, the GPS coordinates stored in your photos are sent to the Nominatim service of the OpenStreetMap Foundation in order to obtain place, region and country names. The photos themselves are not transmitted. If a cloud AI is also selected, the place names determined (down to street or building level) are transmitted to that cloud AI together with the images or documents; raw GPS coordinates are not passed to the AI.

• Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent by enabling the option).
• Recipient: OpenStreetMap Foundation, St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom.
• Data transmitted: geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude), the interface language, the program version, and technically necessary connection data (including IP address).
• Withdrawal: the option can be disabled at any time in the settings under “Privacy”; place names can be entered manually instead.
• Attribution: place data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL).

3b. Speech output with Edge voices (optional)

If you explicitly choose the Edge voices for a slideshow or podcast (the defaults are no speech output or the Windows voices), the text to be spoken (narration text or podcast script) is sent to Microsoft’s online speech service for speech synthesis.

• Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent by actively selecting the Edge voices).
• Recipient: Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, USA; processing outside the EU/EEA is possible; transfer to the USA as described in section 3.
• Data transmitted: the text to be spoken, the selected voice and technically necessary connection data (including IP address).
• The selection remains saved until you change it.
• Alternative: Windows voices and Chatterbox work entirely locally.

3c. Installing Chatterbox (optional)

With the Chatterbox consent, the Software downloads the components it needs from the internet: Python 3.11 via nuget.org (the official package of the Python Software Foundation, only if no Python is present yet), Python packages via the Python Package Index (PyPI) and download.pytorch.org (only with an NVIDIA graphics card), and the speech and watermark models from Hugging Face, and, when the speech model is first loaded, a dictionary for splitting Chinese text (spacy-pkuseg, ~35 MB) from github.com. In the process, technically necessary connection data (including IP address) is transmitted to these providers. The contents of your files or voice recordings are not transmitted. After setup, the Software loads the models only from local storage; a connection to Hugging Face is then only established if a model is incomplete and needs to be downloaded again.

• Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent given via the Chatterbox consent).
• Recipients: Python Software Foundation (USA), Microsoft Corporation (USA, nuget.org), PyTorch Foundation / Linux Foundation (USA), Hugging Face Inc. (USA), GitHub Inc. (USA, Microsoft) and their service providers for delivery (CDN).

3d. Purchase and license check via the Microsoft Store

When you purchase via the Microsoft Store, Microsoft processes the purchase and account data under its own responsibility in accordance with its own privacy policy. To determine whether “Archivalis Pro” has been purchased, the Software queries the license through the Store interface of Windows (at program start, when a Pro feature is opened and when purchasing); this query is answered by Windows or the Microsoft Store based on the signed-in Microsoft account. No files, file contents or usage data are transmitted to the Provider or to Microsoft in the process; the Provider receives no personal data. The start of the trial period and the last known result of the license check are stored only locally on the device. After a successful sorting run, the Software may show the Microsoft Store rating window once; rating is voluntary. The Software itself does not check for updates; updates are distributed by the Microsoft Store.

4. Local Processing & Storage Locations

API keys, settings and examples learned from previous sorting runs (including file names, folder paths, sender and title names, artist-genre assignments) are stored exclusively locally and unencrypted in the app data directory of your user account; your own music library for slideshows is also stored there. The downloaded speech and watermark models are stored in the Hugging Face cache of your user account (%USERPROFILE%\.cache\huggingface). The dictionary for Chinese text is stored in %USERPROFILE%\.pkuseg. Voice samples for voice cloning (bundled templates, your own recordings and imported audio files) are stored in the folder “Music\ArchivalisAI\Stimmen” of your user account. This folder is deliberately kept when uninstalling so that your voices are not lost; you can delete it at any time in the settings under “Local AI & Speech” via “Delete all voices”, or yourself in File Explorer. You remove individual voices in the app via “Remove”. When deleted from the app, the files are moved to the Windows Recycle Bin. This data is not transmitted to the controller.

5. Voice Cloning — Special Notes

The Chatterbox TTS feature may process biometric voice characteristics (voice profiles). These are considered a special category of personal data under Art. 9 GDPR. Processing takes place exclusively on your local device; no transmission to the controller occurs. As the user, you are solely responsible for ensuring a valid legal basis exists (in particular, the explicit consent of the person whose voice is being cloned) — see also § 6 of the Terms of Use. Consent is voluntary and can be withdrawn at any time. The consent also covers the installation of Chatterbox (see section 3c); it may be withdrawn at any time in the settings under “Local AI & Speech”, whereupon Chatterbox is shut down and no longer started automatically.

6. Data collected on this website

When you visit https://archivalis-ai.com, the web server records the technically necessary access data in server log files (IP address, date/time, page requested, browser type). The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure and stable operation). The website is hosted by Netlify, Inc., 101 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA, with whom a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is in place. The transfer to the USA is based on the European Commission’s adequacy decision on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, under which Netlify is certified, and additionally on standard contractual clauses. The log files are deleted by Netlify as soon as they are no longer needed for secure and stable operation and for detecting and preventing attacks. Netlify does not state a fixed retention period; Netlify’s privacy policy applies (https://www.netlify.com/privacy/). No cookies are set for analytics or advertising purposes and no tracking services are used.

7. Contacting us

If you contact us by email (e.g. at contact@archivalis-ai.com), the data you send (email address, name, content of your enquiry) is stored to handle your enquiry and in case of follow-up questions (Art. 6(1)(b) or (f) GDPR). We do not pass this data on without your consent.

8. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights, insofar as personal data is processed by the controller itself (not by third-party providers you have chosen):

• Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR)
• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR)
• Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR)
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
• Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR)
• Right to withdraw consent at any time, with future effect (Art. 7(3) GDPR)
• Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR)

Since processing takes place predominantly on your local device, the controller in most cases has no direct access to your data — the rights listed above therefore primarily concern configuration data, which you can manage or delete directly within the app, and data from contacting us.

9. Storage Period

API keys and settings remain on your device until you delete them or uninstall the app (with the Windows installer only if the question “Also delete your personal data?” (“Ihre persönlichen Daten ebenfalls löschen?”) is answered with “Yes”). Voice samples in the folder “Music\ArchivalisAI\Stimmen”, sorted files, and the Archivalis trash folders are kept even after uninstalling (see section 4). The Chatterbox environment including the Python runtime unpacked for it (%USERPROFILE%\ArchivalisAI_Chatterbox, for older installations %APPDATA%\ArchivalisAI_Chatterbox_VENV) is removed by the Windows installer on request, but not when the Store app is uninstalled. Otherwise it is kept, as are the downloaded models (%USERPROFILE%\.cache\huggingface, %USERPROFILE%\.pkuseg) and any Python version installed by earlier versions; they can be deleted manually. The controller does not store any of this data on its own servers.

10. Contact for Privacy Inquiries

For questions regarding data protection, please contact: contact@archivalis-ai.com