Privacy policy

1. Who we are

DriveFlow is a Chrome extension made by Laksh Bagdi, an independent developer in India, who is responsible for this policy. The extension works inside drive.google.com to show folder sizes, find duplicates and big or old files, and tidy them up. This policy covers the DriveFlow extension and this website. It does not cover Google's own services, which have their own policies.

Because DriveFlow has no server, the information it works with stays with you. When this policy says "we", it means the developer; when it says "DriveFlow", it means the extension running in your browser.

2. How DriveFlow is built: on your device only

DriveFlow is software that runs entirely on your own computer, inside Chrome. There is no DriveFlow server: no backend, no database, no cloud service, and no third-party service working for DriveFlow.

• Google user data stays in your browser. Everything DriveFlow gets from Google, including data from the restricted permissions drive.metadata.readonly and drive, is processed only in your browser. It is never stored on, sent to or passed through any server run by DriveFlow or by anyone acting for DriveFlow.
• Straight to Google. Your browser talks directly to Google's APIs over HTTPS, signed in through Chrome's own sign-in. Google's access passes are short-lived and stay in your browser; they are never sent to us.
• Locked to Google. The extension's security policy allows connections only to Google's own addresses, so it cannot send data anywhere else, even by mistake.
• No remote code. Everything the extension runs is inside the package reviewed by the Chrome Web Store. It does not download or run code from anywhere else.
• This website is a set of static pages. It has no sign-in, no forms, no cookies and no analytics, and it never receives Drive data.
• So we, the developer, cannot see, access, copy or hand over your Drive data: it never reaches us.

3. The Google permissions DriveFlow asks for

DriveFlow signs you in with Google. Google's consent screen shows each permission below in its own words. You can see or take back what you allowed at any time (see Your choices).

Why the full Drive permission. DriveFlow's changes act on many files it found itself: every extra copy of a duplicate, all big or old files, a whole folder's contents, a selection of hundreds, and files moved between your own Google accounts. The narrower permission (drive.file) only reaches files you pick again in Google's file window, at most 100 per window, one window per account. That is not workable for tidying a large Drive, so DriveFlow asks for the full permission, once, only when you start your first change. DriveFlow uses no more of it than the changes you confirm.

Google may show these as separate tick boxes. If you untick one, the features that need it stay off and the rest keep working.

4. What DriveFlow reads from your Google account

• Your Drive's file list: each item's name, size, type and extension; when it was created, modified and opened; who owns it (name and email address); which folder it is in; whether it is in the Bin; and the fingerprints Google provides (MD5 and SHA-256) that show when two files are exactly the same.
• Shared drives you open. When you open a shared drive (or one of its folders) in Drive, DriveFlow reads the same file list for that shared drive, its name, and the email addresses of its Managers, so that when it is nearly full (Google allows 500,000 items) you can email them in one click. Shared drives you never open are not read.
• Your storage totals: how much of your Google storage Drive, Drive's Bin and other Google services use.
• Your Google account's id and email address, so the list of one account never mixes with another's.
• DriveFlow never reads the contents of your files: not documents, not photos, not videos.

5. Where it is kept

• Everything above is stored only in your browser on your computer (Chrome's extension storage and IndexedDB), together with your DriveFlow settings and saved views.
• DriveFlow has no server. Nothing about your Drive is sent to us or to anyone else: not file names, not sizes, not file ids. DriveFlow talks only to Google's own servers, directly from your browser, with Google's sign-in.
• Small pictures (thumbnails) and file previews are loaded by your browser straight from Google, inside Drive's page, with your own sign-in.
• Searching in words (for example "big videos from last December") is worked out on your computer.
• Folder watch. If you watch a folder (from DriveFlow's toolbar button), DriveFlow writes down, on your computer, the folder's id and the ids (never the names) of the files already in it, so it can tell which files are new. While a folder is watched, DriveFlow asks Google "anything changed?" about every 5 minutes, even when Drive isn't open (only while Chrome is running), and shows the number of new files on its toolbar button. Stop watching, or delete your DriveFlow data, and it stops.
• Export as CSV saves the list on screen (names, locations, sizes, dates, owners, tags and a link to each item) as a spreadsheet file in your computer's Downloads, like any file you download. DriveFlow makes it on your computer and never sends it anywhere; what happens to the file afterwards is up to you.
• Download. When you press Download, Chrome's own download manager saves the files from Google's usual download addresses into your Downloads folder, signed in as you, like Drive's own Download button. DriveFlow does not look at the files. The list of those files (names, folders, sizes) is kept on this computer until your next download, so a stopped download can carry on.
• Tags you add to files (for example "tax") are kept on your computer and in one small file in your own Google Drive's hidden app data folder, which only DriveFlow can see and which is not shown in your Drive. The file holds the tags you made (name and colour), each tagged item's id, its tags and when they changed. It lets your tags follow you to DriveFlow on your other computers; DriveFlow has no server to keep them on.
• To notice when a Drive tab shows a different Google account from DriveFlow's, DriveFlow reads the email on Google's account button at the top of Drive's page and compares the hidden ids (never the names) of up to 20 rows on Drive's page with its list on your computer. They are never sent anywhere.
• All accounts. With two Google accounts or more, Storage analytics, Big, Old and Temporary files and Filter can list every account's files together. This is worked out on your computer from each account's own copy; nothing new is read from Google for it, and nothing is sent anywhere.
• Other Google accounts. If you press "Use DriveFlow with this account" in a Drive tab that shows another of your Google accounts, Google's own window asks you to allow DriveFlow for that account too (the same permissions as above). DriveFlow then keeps a separate list for that account on your computer, exactly as for your first one, and remembers which accounts you added (their Google id and email). Google's pass for that account lasts about an hour and is renewed by Google without a window; it is kept only in DriveFlow's memory, never saved. "Remove" on DriveFlow's page erases that account's list from this computer. Storage analytics can show your accounts side by side and the files kept in more than one of them: DriveFlow compares each file's content fingerprint (Google's MD5 and the size) on your computer; the accounts' lists stay separate and nothing is sent anywhere.

6. What DriveFlow changes in your Drive

• Nothing by itself. Files and folders go to the Bin or to another folder only when you tick them, check the preview and confirm. The first time you change something, Google asks you once to allow it: "See, edit, create, and delete all of your Google Drive files". DriveFlow uses this permission only for the changes you confirm, checks each item with Google again right before changing it, and never reads what is inside your files. If you only look (sizes, lists, duplicates), it is never asked for.
• Shortcuts, only if you ask. When you move extra copies of a duplicate to the Bin, you can tick "Leave a shortcut where each extra copy was". DriveFlow then makes a Drive shortcut with the same name in the same folder, opening the copy you keep. Undo moves them to the Bin.
• New folder and Rename, only when you ask. From DriveFlow's list (its "New folder" button or the right-click menu) you can make a folder in the folder you are looking at, or give a file or folder a new name. DriveFlow makes no other files in your Drive, apart from the tags file described above.
• In a shared drive, if your role there allows it (Manager or Content manager), you can move its files to the shared drive's Bin or to its other folders, the same way. Such a change is for everyone in that shared drive; DriveFlow says so before you confirm.
• Send to my other account, only if you ask. When you choose "Copy there" or "Move there", Google first asks you to allow DriveFlow for both accounts (only the first time). Then, one file at a time, DriveFlow shares the file read-only with that one Google account of yours (without Google's email), that account makes its own copy in its My Drive with the same name (a sent folder keeps its name and subfolders), and the share is taken away again. For "Move there", your originals then go to your Bin. Undo takes the copies back and brings yours back. DriveFlow never shares anything with anyone else on its own.
• Share, only when you do it. In DriveFlow's Share box you can add people by email (as Viewer, Commenter or Editor), change or remove who has access, and turn "Anyone with the link" on or off, as in Drive's own Share. The email addresses you type go only to Google (Google sends them its usual email if you tick that box); DriveFlow does not keep them.
• DriveFlow never deletes anything permanently and never empties your Bin. Undo puts items back.
• So that Undo works, a record of each change (which items, their names and where they came from) is kept in your browser for 30 days. It never leaves your computer.

7. Google user data and Limited Use

DriveFlow's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

• Use. Data from Google is used only to provide and improve the features you see in DriveFlow: showing you your own Drive and making the changes you ask for. It is not used for anything else.
• Transfer. It is not transferred to anyone, except as needed to carry out a request you make in DriveFlow (for example, a Share you confirm goes to Google), or where required by law. DriveFlow has no server that could receive it.
• No advertising. It is not used for advertising, retargeting or interest-based ads, and it is not sold.
• No human reading. No person reads it. The data is on your computer, not ours, and we cannot see it.
• No AI training. It is not used to develop, improve or train AI or machine-learning models.
• No credit decisions. It is not used to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.

8. Sharing and disclosure

We do not sell your data and we do not share it with third parties. DriveFlow contains no advertising, analytics or tracking code and no third-party services. Its only network traffic goes from your browser to Google (www.googleapis.com and openidconnect.googleapis.com, plus Google's usual download and thumbnail addresses inside Drive's own page). Because we hold none of your Drive data, we have none to hand over if asked.

9. Chrome permissions

10. Security

• All traffic goes directly to Google over HTTPS. DriveFlow's security policy blocks it from connecting anywhere else, and it runs scripts only from its own package.
• Chrome's sign-in manages the access pass for your main account. For other accounts, the pass is kept only in DriveFlow's memory and never saved.
• Before it changes an item, DriveFlow checks it with Google again, and a record is written first so that Undo works even if something is interrupted.
• Your data lives in your browser profile, so it is as safe as your computer and your Chrome profile. Lock your computer, and use Chrome's own sign-in protections.

11. Your choices and rights

• Delete my DriveFlow data on DriveFlow's page erases everything DriveFlow saved on this computer, for every account. Your tags stay in your Drive's hidden folder, so they come back if you connect again.
• Delete my tags from Google Drive on DriveFlow's page erases your tags from your Drive and from this computer; your other computers clear theirs the next time DriveFlow opens there. The files themselves are not touched.
• Removing DriveFlow from Chrome erases what it saved on this computer too.
• Taking back Google's permission: Google Account, Security, "Third-party apps and services" (myaccount.google.com/connections).

Laws such as the GDPR, the UK GDPR and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act give you rights to access, correct and erase your personal data and to withdraw consent. DriveFlow keeps your data only on your own computer, so you can use those rights yourself with the controls above, and withdrawing Google's permission stops DriveFlow reading anything at once. If you want to ask or object to something, write to us (see Contact).

12. Accounts, payments and analytics

DriveFlow is free at launch. It has no DriveFlow account, no payments and no analytics or tracking of any kind. This website sets no cookies, loads nothing from other websites and uses no analytics. If that ever changes (for example paid plans), this policy will be updated first and will say exactly what is kept and where.

13. Children

DriveFlow is meant for people old enough to have their own Google Account and is not directed at children.

14. Changes to this policy

When DriveFlow changes what it reads, keeps or changes, this page is updated and the date at the top changes. If a change needs a new Google permission, Google asks you again before DriveFlow can use it.

15. Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: driveflowcloud@gmail.com.