BASALT · JOURNAL
Before you upload a document to a PDF website
Most documents can go through a web tool without anyone caring. Some cannot, and the difference is not always obvious in the moment. This is a short test.
Four questions
Does the document name a person who has not agreed to this? Medical records, employee files, client documents and anything with someone's financial detail all belong to somebody who did not choose your workflow.
Is it covered by an agreement that lists who may hold it? NDAs, protective orders and engagement letters frequently enumerate permitted recipients. A processing service is not usually among them, and uploading is then a breach independent of whether anything goes wrong.
Would its existence be sensitive even if the contents were not? In journalism, litigation and corporate transactions, the fact that a document is being worked on can matter as much as its text.
Would you be comfortable explaining the choice afterwards? This is the practical version of all three above, and it is usually the fastest to answer honestly.
Any yes means keep it local.
What people get wrong
Assuming deletion policies cover them. A provider deleting after two hours is doing the right thing and does not change whether you were permitted to transmit the file at all.
Assuming small documents are safe. Sensitivity has nothing to do with size. A one page letter can be the most confidential thing you handle this year.
Assuming it is fine because a colleague does it. Widespread practice and permitted practice are different, and the person who gets asked about it is the one who uploaded the file.
When the answer is keep it local
Use a desktop application that processes files on your machine. On macOS you can go further than trusting the claim: an application's network access is declared in its code signature, so a processing engine with no network entitlement is refused by the operating system regardless of what it tries.
Check it yourself:
codesign -d --entitlements :- /Applications/YourApp.appA note on convenience
None of this is an argument against web tools generally. They are fast, free and good at what they do, and for the majority of documents there is no reason to avoid them.
The point is that the decision should be made per document rather than by habit, and the four questions above take about ten seconds.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to upload a PDF to an online converter?
For documents that are not confidential, generally yes. It is unsuitable when the document names someone who has not agreed, is covered by an agreement listing permitted holders, or where the fact of the work is itself sensitive.
Does it matter if the site deletes files after an hour?
Prompt deletion is good practice and does not answer the prior question of whether you were permitted to transmit the document at all. Under an NDA or protective order the breach occurs on transmission, not on retention.
Are small PDFs safer to upload?
No. Sensitivity is unrelated to file size. A single page letter can be far more confidential than a large scanned production.
What should I use for documents that cannot be uploaded?
A desktop application that processes files locally. On macOS you can verify rather than trust: run codesign -d --entitlements :- against the app and confirm it declares no network entitlement.
Doing it in Basalt
Basalt is a native macOS PDF toolkit: eighteen tools in one window covering merge, split, page organisation, compression, OCR, passwords, Bates numbering, forms, signing, watermarks and comparison. Every file is processed on your Mac, and the engine that opens documents holds no network entitlement at all, which macOS enforces at the code-signature level, so nothing is uploaded. Redaction destroys content rather than covering it and an independent verifier proves the material is gone before a file is written. A one time $29 licence covers up to three Macs, and it is free for the first 24 hours. Download it at basaltformac.com, or install it with brew install --cask chipmunk1101/tap/basalt.
Redaction that proves itself
Basalt destroys the content you mark, then re-opens the file it wrote and proves the content is gone before it saves anything. Your documents never leave your Mac.