Cookie Policy

Our approach in one paragraph

We set no cookies before you make a choice in the consent banner. Until you answer it, nothing is written to your device and no third-party script is loaded. After you answer, the only cookies that can appear are those listed below, and only for the categories you allowed. The one exception is a single local-storage entry that records your decision, so that we do not ask again on every page.

Cookies and storage we may set

The table below covers all cookies and local-storage entries used by this site. Names beginning with an underscore are set by Google. The exact set can vary with your country and with whether Google is running an experiment, but the purpose and lifetime of each item stays within what is described here.

Strictly necessary

The only entry here is toolforforever.consent.v1, which we write to local storage rather than as a cookie. It records two booleans, one for analytics and one for advertising, plus the time of your decision and a version number. It carries no identifier and is never sent to us. We treat it as strictly necessary because without it we could not remember a refusal.

Analytics

If you allow analytics, we load Google Analytics 4, which sets the two _ga cookies above. They let us count visits and see which tools are used, in aggregate. We never send filenames, file contents or anything you type into a tool to Analytics. If you decline, the Analytics script is never loaded and neither cookie is set.

Advertising

If you allow advertising, Google AdSense may set the advertising cookies above and use device identifiers to show ads, including personalised ads based on your activity on other sites. Google and its partners act as independent controllers for that activity. If you decline, we never load the AdSense script and none of those cookies appear.

Before you make a choice, nothing is set

Before you touch the consent banner, this site sets no cookies at all, writes no local-storage entry, and loads no Analytics or AdSense script. The banner is rendered by our own code, which is why it can appear without any tracking behind it. We also avoid the common trick of dropping a region-detection cookie.

Refusing cookies does not break the tools

Every tool is JavaScript and WebAssembly that runs locally. None of them depends on a cookie, on Analytics or on advertising. If you reject both optional categories, or block cookies in your browser, conversion, compression, image editing, OCR, background removal and every calculator keep working. The only thing you lose is the scripts you did not want.

Your files are never uploaded, whatever you choose

Your cookie choice has no bearing on how files are handled. Files are read into your browser, processed on your device and saved back to your device. They are never uploaded, with or without consent. Cookies are used only to remember your choices and, if you allow it, to measure visits and serve ads.

How to manage or withdraw consent

You can change your mind at any time, as often as you like, in three ways.

1. Our own control. Every page has a “Change cookie settings” button in the footer. It reopens the consent panel, where you can switch analytics or advertising on or off, or withdraw both. Withdrawing takes effect immediately: the scripts stop loading and we ask Google to delete the cookies it set, though a cookie already written may remain until it expires or you delete it.
2. Your browser. All major browsers let you view, block and delete cookies and site data, and private modes discard them at the end of a session. Clearing site data for this domain also removes the local-storage entry recording your choice, so the banner will appear again.
3. Advertising industry controls. Google Ads Settings turns off personalised advertising across Google properties. The opt-out pages run by the Digital Advertising Alliance and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance cover many ad vendors at once. These affect advertising generally, not this site alone.

Cookies we deliberately do not use

• No fingerprinting. We do not read canvas, WebGL, audio, font or device characteristics to build an identifier for you.
• No cross-site tracking pixels beyond the Google ad stack. There are no Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, X or other social pixels, and no marketing tags of any other kind.
• No session recording or heatmaps. We do not replay your clicks, scrolls or keystrokes.
• No social media trackers, and no embedded social widgets that would send data about your visit to a social network.
• No first-party analytics of our own. We run no self-hosted analytics package and keep no visitor logs of our own.

Consent records and version changes

Your decision is stored with a version number. If we materially change what we set or why, we increase that number, which invalidates the stored choice and shows the banner again so that you can decide afresh. We do not silently widen what we collect. The stored record contains no identifier, so we cannot connect it to a person or look up your individual choice.

Where to read more

This page covers cookies and local storage only. The wider picture - what little data we hold, the lawful bases for holding it, retention and your rights - is in our Privacy Policy. Your use of the site is also governed by our Terms of Service, and the limits on what the tools can tell you are in our Disclaimer. If anything here is unclear or inaccurate, let us know via our contact page and we will correct it.