Mamash for Google Docs: privacy
Mamash for Google Docs is made by YNS Services (Yisroel Pollock). This page says what the add-on does with your files and your Google account.
In short
- Your DavkaWriter file is converted in your own browser. It is never sent to Mamash, YNS Services or anyone else.
- The converted document goes to your own Google Drive, and only when you choose Open as new Google Doc. With Insert at the cursor it goes only into the document you have open.
- Nothing is logged: no file names, no file contents, no text from your documents.
- There are no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Nothing is sold or shared.
What happens when you import a .dwd file
- You pick or drop the file in the Mamash sidebar. The sidebar reads it in your browser.
- The sidebar hands the file to the Mamash converter page (from
mamash.netlify.app), which runs in a hidden frame in the same browser tab. The converter is a program that runs on your computer (Python in the browser). The page sends nothing over the internet; the only things it downloads are its own program files. - The converter gives back a Word file and a description of the document (its paragraphs, tables and pictures). They stay in the sidebar until you choose what to do:
- Open as new Google Doc: the Word file is sent to the add-on's script, which runs on Google's servers under your account. The script asks Google Drive to turn it into a Google Doc in your Drive. The new document belongs to you, like any document you make.
- Insert at the cursor: the description is sent to the add-on's script, which builds it into the open document.
- A very large file is sent to the script in pieces. The pieces wait in the script's temporary cache, which only your account can read, for at most 10 minutes, and are deleted as soon as they are put together.
The file name is used only as the name of the new Google Doc.
The permissions the add-on asks for, and why
| Permission (what Google shows) | Scope | Why |
|---|---|---|
| View and manage documents that this application has been installed in | documents.currentonly |
To insert text, nikud and imported documents into the document you have open, change paragraph direction, find and replace, remove nikud and change fonts. The add-on can use only the document it is open in, not your other documents. |
| See, edit, create and delete only the specific Google Drive files you use with this app | drive.file |
To create the new Google Doc when you choose Open as new Google Doc. The add-on can see only files it created itself. It cannot see or list the rest of your Drive. |
| Display and run third-party web content in prompts and sidebars inside Google applications | script.container.ui |
To show the Mamash sidebar and the large keyboard window inside Google Docs. |
The add-on does not ask for your email address, your contacts, your Gmail, or access to all of your Drive. It makes no requests to other websites from Google's servers.
What is stored
- In your Google account: only the Google Docs you create with the add-on.
- In your browser: your choices in the sidebar (last tab, keyboard layout, font), so the sidebar opens the way you left it. They never leave your browser.
- Nowhere else. Error reports are turned off (
"exceptionLogging": "NONE"), so not even error messages are kept.
Fonts
The add-on uses free fonts from Google Fonts (for example David Libre and Frank Ruhl Libre) in place of DavkaWriter's fonts. Google Docs loads them from Google. The sidebar's own look uses Google Fonts too. No DavkaWriter fonts, clipart, borders or logos are included or used.
Removing the add-on
In Google Docs: Extensions › Add-ons › Manage add-ons, then remove Mamash for Google Docs. To take back its permissions as well: https://myaccount.google.com/permissions. Documents you created stay in your Drive until you delete them.
Questions
Write to YNS Services through the problem-report form on the Mamash site.