Privacy policy

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes the privacy practices of Lumin PDF, Inc.  When we speak of “Lumin”, “we”, “us” and “our”, we are referring to Lumin PDF, Inc.  This Privacy Policy applies to the Site and Service (as defined below).  

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before using luminpdf.com, app.luminpdf.com, sign.luminpdf.com, help.luminpdf.com and any other associated websites (together, the "Site") operated by Lumin. Lumin is committed to protecting the privacy of its online guests, customers, and members. We believe that maintaining privacy while using the Lumin Service and software (collectively, the "Service" or "Services") and the Site is very important and hope that you will read this Privacy Policy carefully so that you will understand both our commitment to you and your privacy and our method of collecting and using information.  Lumin takes your privacy seriously.  Lumin sees it as our duty of care to keep personal data safe and to ensure that all personal data is used and stored in accordance with applicable data protection laws.  Our culture of respect means we do not misuse personal data in our possession.

This Privacy Policy has been incorporated by reference into the Lumin Terms of Use.  You should also carefully read the Terms of Use prior to using the Site.

This Privacy Policy applies to all of the Services offered by Lumin or its subsidiaries or affiliates. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us through our website or email us at [email protected].

1. What Lumin Collects

1.1. Lumin collects and uses the following information to provide, improve, and protect the Services:

1.1.1. Account Information. We collect, and associate with your account, the information you provide to us when you do things such as signing up for an account or purchasing an upgraded account (which include your name, telephone number, email address, billing address, payment information, country, state or region, company name and, with respect to circles, the account holder’s bank account details).  See Section 5 below regarding circumstances in which your personal data may be disclosed by Lumin to a third party.

1.1.2. Your Content. Our Services are designed for you to upload, share, create, view, edit, annotate, and convert PDF documents (“Your Content”), collaborate with others, and work across multiple devices and services. To do this, we store, process, and transmit your Content as well as information related to it. The related information may include your profile name, the size of the file, your edits and annotations (as well as the time the file was uploaded and/or edited), and usage activity.  See Sections 4, 6, and 13 of the Terms of Use for additional information regarding your Content. 

1.1.3. Cookies. When you visit the Site, we send one or more cookies to your computer or other device. We use cookies to improve the quality of our Service, including for storing user preferences, improving search results and ad selection, and tracking user trends, such as how people search. Lumin also uses cookies in its advertising services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on the Service. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some of the Services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled. Cookies can be issued by us (first-party cookies) or by third-party companies (so-called third-party cookies). Third-party cookies enable the integration of certain services of third-party companies into websites (for example, cookies for handling payment services).

1.1.4. Log Information. When you access the Service via a web browser, application or by other means, our servers automatically record certain information. Depending on the Services you access and use, this information may be associated with your device or browser, your account, or your Content. It includes: your web request, your interaction with the Service, your IP address, your browser type, your browser language, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your account.

1.1.5. Your Communications. When you send emails or other communications to Lumin, we may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests, and improve our Services. When you receive push notifications from one of our Services that provides push notification functionality, we may collect and maintain information associated with those messages, such as the content of the message, whether it was interacted with, and the date and time of the transaction. We may also use your email address to communicate with you about the Service. We may record the delivery status of emails we send to you and whether they have been opened.

1.1.6. Contacts. You may choose to give Lumin access to your contacts to make it easier for you to do things like collaborate on your Content, send messages, and invite others to use the Services. If you do give Lumin access to your contacts, we will store those contacts on our servers for you to use.

1.1.7. Sensitive Personal Data. Where required by law, we will seek any required permissions from you prior to collecting biometric identifiers or information, as those items are defined under U.S. laws (for example, faceprints and voiceprints from your Content), and precise geolocation.  

1.2. Lumin collects and uses the personal data described above in order to provide you with the Service in a reliable and secure manner, and for legitimate business needs. To the extent we process your personal data for other purposes, we will ask for your consent in advance.

1.3. Lumin adheres to a “data minimization” approach with respect to the information we collect from you, such that we restrict the collection and processing of personal information to that which is reasonably necessary and proportionate to achieve the purposes for which the personal information was collected from you or processed. 

2. How Lumin Stores Your Files and Personal Data

2.1. Lumin is dedicated to file security. We use secure encryption techniques to make sure your files and personal data are always safe. We are fully transparent about the way we manage your files and personal data:

2.1.1. Except as set out in Section 5 entitled "Information Lumin Discloses", Lumin will not willfully disclose or sell your files or personal data to anyone. Nor will we willfully allow any third party to access your files or personal data except as set out in Section 5.  

2.1.2. In the course of providing the Service, your files are transferred to and from Lumin’s servers. All Lumin servers are located in the United States and all transfers are SSL encrypted. Lumin takes the security of your files and personal data seriously – please see Section 6 entitled “ “Lumin Security Measures" below for further details.

2.1.3. In addition to displaying your files in the Service, we also interact with your files by processing them for the following purposes:

2.1.3.1. to extract data from scanned documents (i.e., Optical Character Recognition);

2.1.3.2. to compress PDF files to reduce their size for more efficient loading;

2.1.3.3. to automatically populate fillable form fields;

2.1.3.4. to allow for integrations with other Services;

2.1.3.5. to allow for integrations with OpenAI or Google Gemini; and 

2.1.3.6. to parse the content of files to enable tools that directly improve customer workflows (for example, to parse PDF files to determine if they are invoices or contracts, and, if so, to extract data from such invoices or contracts).

2.1.4. When you delete your account, we remove all sensitive and personal data (including files) associated with that account within thirty (30) days of your request to delete your account. To ensure that your circles can continue working after you delete your account, we do not delete files that you have uploaded to a circle.

2.1.5. You can get access to all of your data stored by Lumin by filing a subject access request. Please see Section 7 entitled "Your Data Protection Rights" below for further information.

2.1.6. You can request that all of your personal data, as stored by Lumin, be deleted, forgotten, or removed by submitting a request with Lumin as set forth in Section 7 entitled "Your Data Protection Rights", or by logging into the Service and deleting your account.

2.1.7. We only retain a minimum amount of personal data to ensure Lumin can provide a high-quality service. We do not retain copies of your files unless: (a) you explicitly upload them to the Lumin servers, (b) you use the Service to perform a file conversion, or (c) you use the sharing functionality in the Service to share your files.

2.1.8. Every file opened with the Service is given a unique identifier. We use that identifier to record annotations and edits you perform on the file within the Service.

2.1.9. Your signatures that you generate or create within the Service are encrypted when you upload and store them to the Lumin servers and signatures are SSL encrypted when transmitted.

2.2. By opening an account, you hereby acknowledge and agree that Lumin may transfer your personal data across national borders and to other countries where Lumin and its partners and providers operate, including the United States and New Zealand. The privacy protections and rights of authorities to access your information in these countries may not be equivalent to those in your country. We will only transfer your personal data to these countries if permitted to do so by law and we will attempt to ensure that your personal data continues to receive appropriate protections.

3. How Lumin Uses your Personal Data

3.1. Lumin uses the information we collect about you for the following purposes:

3.1.1. To open accounts and provide the Services. When you create an account (whether paid or free), we will use your personal data in order to: (a) provide you with the Services; (b) verify your identity; (c) process payments; (d) send you necessary communications (for example, related to payments or expiration of your subscription); and (e) provide customer service or support.

3.1.2. As required to conduct our business. In the course of operating our business, we will use your personal data to: (a) analyze your use of the Services to ensure the Services are being delivered effectively and to continually improve the Services and our delivery of them; (b) analyze your use of the Services and your Content to detect and prevent fraudulent or illegal activity or misuse of the Services; (c) diagnose problems with the Services; and (d) investigate and address any comments or complaints from you.

3.1.3. Where required, when you have given Lumin your consent. If you have given Lumin your consent, we will use your personal data to: (a) send you information about Lumin products and services, special offers and similar information; and (b) access information on your computer or other device relating to crash reports. 

3.1.4. For legal reasons. Lumin will disclose your personal data: (a) to respond to lawful requests from government agencies, law enforcement agencies and regulators; and (b) as required by legal process or litigation. 

4. Files stored by Cloud Storage Providers

4.1. Storing your files with a cloud storage provider makes it easier and more secure to use the Service. Your files are even safer if you open files directly from your cloud storage provider. All connections with cloud storage providers are encrypted.

5. Information Lumin Discloses

5.1. Lumin will never sell your personal information data to advertisers or third parties.  Lumin only shares personal data as follows:

5.1.1. If required for payment processing.  If you purchase Services, it may be necessary to provide additional details such as your credit card information or login credentials for your payment service provider. This information, as well as the fact that you have purchased a service from us at the respective amount and time, will be forwarded to the respective payment service providers (e.g., payment solution providers, credit card issuers, or credit card acquirers). In this regard, please always take into account the information provided by the respective company, in particular in the privacy policy and the general terms and conditions. We reserve the right to retain a copy of the credit card information as a security measure. To execute the payment, we use a software application provided by Stripe Payments Europe, Limited (“Stripe”). Therefore, your data may be stored in a database of Stripe, which may allow Stripe to access your data if this is necessary for providing the software and supporting its use. There is a possibility that Stripe may want to use some of this data for its own purposes (e.g., for sending marketing emails or conducting statistical analysis). For these data processing activities, Stripe is the controller and must ensure compliance of these processing activities with data protection laws. Information about data processing by Stripe can be found at https://stripe.com/en-gb-ch/legal/privacy-center.  

5.1.2. If we have your consent. We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal data. If you are less than 18 years of age, opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal data must be obtained from your parent or guardian. We provide such information to our employees, subsidiaries, affiliated companies or other trusted businesses or persons for the purpose of processing personal data on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures. 

5.1.3. If it is permitted by law. We will only share your personal data if we have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce the Terms of Use, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, and (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of the Service and Lumin, its users, or the public, as required or permitted by law.

5.1.4. In the context of a merger. If Lumin becomes involved in a merger, acquisition, or any form of sale of some or all of its assets or ownership interests, we will ensure the confidentiality of any personal data involved in such transactions and provide you notice before personal data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

5.1.5. To other users. Our Service displays your name, profile picture, email address, and usage information to other users with whom you collaborate or share information.  Further, if you have explicitly chosen to share documents with another person via the Service, we will share those documents accordingly.  

5.1.6. To administrators of circles. If you are a user of a circle, your administrator may have the ability to access and control your use of the account. Please refer to your organisation’s internal policies if you have questions about this. If you are not a circle user, but interact with a circle user, members of that organization may be able to view the name, profile picture, email address, and usage information associated with your account at the time of that interaction, and the circle administrator may have the ability to access and edit what you share.

6. Lumin Security Measures

6.1. Lumin takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access to, or unauthorized alteration, disclosure, or destruction of, data. Lumin takes the security of your data seriously and undergoes security auditing with third-party security firms to ensure the security of the Service. This includes internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, including appropriate encryption and physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store personal data. We restrict access to personal data to Lumin employees, contractors, professional advisors, and agents who need to know that information to process it on our behalf or advise us. These individuals, advisors and third-party security firms are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution, if they fail to meet these obligations.

6.2. If you use the Service via your organization’s circle and you believe that there has been a breach of the Privacy Policy, you must first notify your account administrator.

7. Your Data Protection Rights

7.1 Lumin would like to ensure you are fully aware of all your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following when provided for by applicable law:

7.1.1. The right to access. You have the right to request copies of your personal data. We kindly ask that you identify yourself and the information requested to be accessed before we process the request. We will fulfil this request free of charge, except if doing so would require a disproportionate effort.

7.1.2. The right to correct. You have the right to edit, correct or complete your personal data if you believe it is inaccurate or incomplete. We kindly ask for you to identify yourself and the information requested to be corrected or completed before we process the request. We will fulfill this request free of charge, except if doing so would require a disproportionate effort.

7.1.3. The right to delete. You have the right to request we delete and erase your personal data, subject to the conditions set forth below in “Deleting Your Information”.

7.1.4. The right to restrict processing. You have the right to request we restrict the processing of your personal data, subject to Lumin’s legitimate business needs.

7.1.5. The right to object to processing. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, subject to Lumin’s legitimate business needs.

7.1.6. The right to data portability. You have the right to request that we transfer your personal data that we have collected directly to you so that it may be transferred by you to another organisation.

7.2. Whenever feasible, we will match the identifying information provided by you in your request to your personal information that we already maintain, or use a third-party identity verification service.

7.3. You may be entitled to additional rights based on applicable data privacy laws in your jurisdiction.

7.4. If you make a request regarding your personal data, we will endeavor to respond to you within thirty (30) days. If you would like to access any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected].  If we have not responded to your request within thirty (30) days, please contact [email protected].

7.5. If we deny a request from you, please contact us at [email protected], as the denial may have resulted from our inability to confirm your identity. If you are a resident of California, and we have not responded to your denial inquiry within thirty (30) days, you can file a complaint with the California Privacy Protection Agency (https://cppa.ca.gov/webapplications/complaint) and the California Attorney General (https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company). 

8. Deleting Your Information

8.1. When you register for an account to use the Services, we retain your provided personal data so long as you have an open account. We delete certain personal information we collect about you when we no longer have a business reason to retain it. Additionally, there is certain personal information we need to retain even after you close your account to comply with business and legal requirements, such as personal information related to our contract and business transactions with you, which we retain for ten (10) years after your last interaction with us.  

8.2. To avoid unintentional data loss, your data is not deleted immediately upon account closure. Your account will remain deactivated for up to thirty (30) days after the time you request to delete your account. After this time, we will permanently remove any personal data from our Service, including your Content, any circle membership, payment details, and personal data.

8.3. During the thirty (30)-day period referenced above in clause b., you can sign in to reactivate your account and you will not lose your data; otherwise, your account (including your Content, any circle membership, payment details, and personal data) will be completely deleted from our database after this thirty (30)-day period.

8.4. If you are currently paying for an individual or circle subscription, you can request a refund by contacting our support team here: https://www.luminpdf.com/contact-support. If you are a member of any circle within the Service, you will be automatically removed from the circle, but the documents you uploaded to that circle are still available.

8.5. Circle administrators cannot delete their account before they transfer circle ownership or delete the circle.

8.6. Files that are opened from a cloud storage provider are not copied to our servers unless a file conversion is performed, or you have shared the file.  All connections with cloud storage providers are encrypted.

9. Marketing

9.1. Lumin would like to send you information about products and services of ours that we think you may like. If you agreed to opt-in to receive our marketing during the signup process, you are always free to opt out at a later date by going to the settings page in your account. You also have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes.  

10. Third Party Use of Information and Advertising

10.1. We share your information with third-party service providers for the purpose of providing the Service to you, to facilitate Lumin’s legitimate interests, or if you consent. These service providers are vetted by us and will only be provided with access to your information as is reasonably necessary for the purpose that Lumin has engaged the service provider. We require that such third parties comply with applicable laws, and have security, privacy, and data retention policies consistent with our policies to the extent necessary for them to perform a business or technology support function for us. Some of the third parties with whom Lumin may share your personal information are service providers who assist us with functions such as:

• billing;
• customer support and customer management;
• email services;
• hosting and storage;
• data analytics and predictive analytics;
• data labelling and machine learning;
• security;
• advertising and marketing services; and
• other service providers.

10.2. We partner with third party ad servers, ad networks and social media platforms to deliver personalized advertisements on the Service and other sites that may be of interest to you and/or to measure their effectiveness, and/or to identify potential new users of the Service. Lumin may share certain information with our third party advertising partners, such as your email address, location, cookie information and information relating to your use of the Service, and allow partners to perform a match of your information against information from other third party networks or sites to serve advertisements either on the Service or on third party sites and to measure the effectiveness of these ads. We also share certain information with social media platforms to display advertising to potential new users whose demographics and behaviour look like those of our existing users. You can opt out of having your email matched by emailing [email protected]. In addition, these third-party ad servers or ad networks may use technology to send, directly to your browser or mobile device, these personalized ads and ad links directly to your browser or mobile device and will automatically receive your IP address when they do so. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, device identifiers, location data, and clear gifs) to compile information about your browser’s or device’s visits and usage patterns on the Service, and to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize the advertising content. Please see our Cookies Policy for more information about how we and our third-party partners use cookies and other technologies to deliver ads to you. 

10.3. If you would like to review a list of third-party service providers with whom we share your information and a list of third party ad servers, ad networks, and social media platforms with which we partner, please email us at [email protected] to request the list.

10.4. Lumin does not sell or rent the information we collect directly from you or about you from third parties with these third-party ad servers or ad networks for such parties’ own marketing purposes. Please note that an advertiser may ask Lumin to show an ad on the Service to a certain audience of users (e.g., based on demographics or other interests). In that situation, we determine the target audience and we serve the advertising to that audience and only provide anonymous aggregated data to the advertiser. If you respond to such an ad, the advertiser or ad server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach.

11. Privacy Policies of Other Websites

11.1. By opening an account, you hereby acknowledge and agree that Lumin works with third party advertisers as described above in Section 10. The Site may contain hyperlinks to these advertisers and other websites of interest.  However, once you have used these links to leave the Site, you should note that Lumin does not have any control over the other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide while visiting such websites and such websites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question, and you hereby waive any claim against Lumin for any damage or liability you may incur as a result of visiting any such website.

12. Personal Data Incorporated into Content

12.1. If in your Content you use templates created by Lumin that collect or record personal data, by opening an account you hereby acknowledge and agree that Lumin is not responsible or liable for that collected or recorded personal data (other than Lumin’s general file security relating to Content) or the manner in which it is collected.  You hereby indemnify Lumin for any and all costs, losses or damages incurred by Lumin resulting from such collection or recording.

13. Changes to this Privacy Policy

13.1. Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time. We will not reduce your rights under this Privacy Policy without your explicit consent. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (including, in some cases, email notification of Privacy Policy changes). We will also keep prior versions of this Privacy Policy in an archive for your review.

14. Contact Us

14.1. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or your personal data that we hold, or if you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Last updated October, 2024.