Privacy Policy
Last updated: 22 October 2026
The short version
- We collect only what SlideBySide needs to work: your slides, your drawings, and your email address if you create an account.
- Your data is stored securely with Cloudflare, a leading cloud provider with independently certified security.
- No ads, no analytics, no tracking cookies. We never sell your data.
- You can delete a deck or your whole account yourself at any time.
Who we are
SlideBySide (“we”, “us”) runs slidebyside.com. For anything about your data, whether questions, requests or complaints, write to support@slidebyside.com.
What we collect, and why
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Guest identity | Everyone who uploads or joins a deck gets a random username (which you can change), so others can see who's pointing and drawing. No name, email or other details are needed. |
| Account details | If you create an account, we store your email address and your password. The password is stored only in a protected form that can't be turned back into the password. If you sign in with Google or Microsoft, we store the account ID they give us and your email address. When that sign-in creates your account, your first and last name are joined into your username (for example JohnDoe, with a word added if that is taken). You can change it in your profile. |
| Google / Microsoft access | If you sign in with Google or Microsoft, we keep the access they grant us. We use it only when you import a deck. From Google Drive, you choose the file in Google's own file picker, and we can open only the files you pick there. From OneDrive, we list your presentations and fetch the one you pick, with read-only access. File access is asked for separately, the first time you import. |
| Your decks | The slides you upload or import (stored as PDF), their names, and a preview image for your deck list. Presentation files such as PowerPoint are converted to PDF; we don't keep the original file. |
| Drawings | Ink you keep on slides, and who drew it, so you can undo your own drawings and so they can be removed with your account. |
| Sharing | Who a deck is shared with, invitations sent to email addresses, and which shared decks you've opened (for your “Shared with me” list). |
| Live activity | Cursors, fading ink, the current slide and reactions are passed between the people in a session while it's happening. They aren't saved. |
We use this data only to run SlideBySide for you. We don't build profiles, we don't use your content for advertising or to train AI, and we don't send marketing email. The only emails we send are account confirmations and “someone shared slides with you” notifications.
Google user data
Signing in with Google and importing from Google Drive are optional. This is exactly what SlideBySide does with data it receives from Google:
- What we access. When you sign in with Google: your name, email address and Google account ID. Only if you choose to import from Google Drive, and only after you separately allow it: the individual files you select in Google's file picker. Google describes this permission as “See, edit, create, and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use with this app”. SlideBySide only reads the file you pick: its name, type, size and contents. It never changes, creates or deletes anything in your Drive. The rest of your Drive stays invisible to us. The picker is run by Google, which shows you your files and shares only the one you choose.
- How we use it. Your email address and account ID sign you in and let people share decks with you. When signing in with Google creates your account, your first and last name are joined into your username (for example JohnDoe), which others see and which you can change in your profile. Drive access is used only to download the file you just picked, at the moment you pick it; Google Slides are converted to PDF by Google on the way. The file you import becomes a deck in your account, treated like any upload.
- What we store. Your email address, your Google account ID and the access Google grants us, so you don't have to reconnect every time you import. When you open the picker, your browser receives a short-lived access key from us that it passes only to Google, so the picker can show your files. Apart from that username, we don't store your name, and we don't store any list of your Drive files. Imported decks are stored as PDFs, like uploads.
- Sharing. We don't sell Google user data or share or transfer it to anyone. That includes advertisers, data brokers and AI developers. The exceptions are our hosting provider Cloudflare, which stores it for us, and cases where the law requires it. An imported deck is visible only as your sharing settings for that deck allow.
- No advertising, profiling or AI training. Google user data is never used for advertising, to build profiles or to decide anyone's creditworthiness. We do not use Google user data, including data from Google Workspace APIs, to develop, improve or train generalised or non-personalised AI or machine-learning models.
- Protection. Google user data is sent over encrypted connections, stored encrypted on Cloudflare's certified infrastructure, and used only for your own account. (People who share a deck with you see your email address, as described below.)
- Retention and deletion. We keep it until you delete your SlideBySide account, which deletes your email address, Google account ID and the access Google granted. Imported decks are deleted when you delete them or your account. You can revoke SlideBySide's access at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions; after that we can't open any of your Drive files, including ones you picked before. To also have the stored access removed without deleting your account, write to support@slidebyside.com.
SlideBySide'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.
How your data is protected
SlideBySide runs on Cloudflare, whose infrastructure is independently certified to international security standards such as ISO/IEC 27001 and SOC 2. Those certifications cover Cloudflare's platform; SlideBySide itself is a small service and isn't separately certified.
- Every connection to SlideBySide is encrypted, and stored data is encrypted at rest.
- Passwords are never stored in readable form.
- Sign-in sessions are protected and expire after a period without use.
- Every request is checked against the deck's sharing setting and permissions.
- We protect accounts and the service against abuse such as password guessing and flooding. For this we briefly use network information such as your IP address.
Cookies and browser storage
SlideBySide doesn't use tracking or advertising cookies. It keeps your sign-in and a few preferences (like your pen color) in your browser's storage, so that it remembers you. Our hosting provider's security protection may set a cookie that is used only to tell people from automated traffic.
Logs
We don't run analytics. Like most websites, our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs of requests and errors, which may include your IP address. We use them only to keep SlideBySide working and secure. They are deleted automatically after a short time.
Services we work with
- Cloudflare: hosting and storage for everything above.
- An email delivery service: sends our account and sharing emails. It receives the recipient's address and the message.
- Google and Microsoft: only if you choose to sign in with them or import from Google Drive or OneDrive. Their own privacy policies apply to your accounts there.
- Google Fonts: our pages load their typefaces from Google's servers, so your browser connects to Google, which sees your IP address. No account information is shared with Google.
We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with anyone else unless the law requires us to.
Who can see your things
- Public decks (the default for a new upload): anyone who has the link. Links are random and can't be guessed, but anyone you give a link to can pass it on. Use Shared or Private for anything sensitive.
- Shared decks: you and the people you add. Private decks: only you.
- People in a live session see your username, your cursor and what you draw. The owner of a deck also sees the email address of each person they've shared it with.
- Us: we don't look at your decks. We only access stored data when that's needed to keep SlideBySide running, to fix a problem you've reported, to investigate abuse, or when the law requires it.
Deleting your data
- Delete a deck from its ⋯ menu. It's deleted for everyone, together with its versions, drawings and sharing.
- Delete your account from your profile (“Delete my guest data” for guests). Your decks, your drawings, your account details and any Google or Microsoft access are deleted. This can't be undone.
- Lost a guest identity, for example by clearing your browser? Guest decks aren't deleted automatically. Send us the deck links and we'll delete them.
- Deleted data may stay in our provider's backups for a short time before it is permanently erased. During that time it is used only to recover from failures.
Your rights
You can ask us at any time to see the data we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, or for a copy of it. You can also download your own decks as PDF from each deck's menu. Write to support@slidebyside.com from the email address on your account. For guest decks, include the deck links. If you are in the EU or UK, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your data, we'll update this page and the date at the top. We'll point out significant changes on the site before they take effect.