Request Deletion of Your Personal Data

What you can request deletion of

Under GDPR Article 17 — the right to erasure, sometimes called the right to be forgotten — you can ask us to delete any of the data categories below. We hold no more data than the product needs to function and bill correctly.

Account profile

Name, email address, password hash, language preference, optional company name. Retained while the account is active; deleted on request.

Uploaded files and processed outputs

Source documents, audio, video and the converted, translated or transcribed outputs. Auto-deleted on the Free tier shortly after processing. Paid plans use the retention window you configured — 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days or longer on Enterprise.

Processing metadata

File names, sizes, language pairs, processing logs and job timestamps. Kept for 90 days to support troubleshooting and billing audits, then auto-purged.

Support communications

Emails, chat transcripts and tickets you exchanged with our support team. Retained for two years for service-quality review unless you ask us to delete them sooner.

Billing history

Invoices, payment receipts and subscription records. Retained for seven years to comply with EU and US tax law — see the exceptions section below.

How to submit a data deletion request

Follow these four steps. The whole process usually takes under five business days, with 30 days as the legal maximum.

1. 1. Email the privacy team Send an email from your registered account address to [email protected] with the subject "Data Deletion Request".
2. 2. Identify what to delete List the categories above — account, uploaded files, processing metadata, support history — or write "all personal data" to request full erasure.
3. 3. Verify your identity We reply with a verification link or a one-time code. Confirm within seven days so we can be sure the request really comes from the account holder.
4. 4. Receive written confirmation Once deletion is complete, we email you a confirmation listing what was removed and what was retained under a legal exception.

How long it takes

Verified deletion requests are completed within 30 days, the maximum response window set by GDPR Article 12. In practice most requests finish within five business days. Uploaded files on the Free tier are auto-deleted within hours of processing without any request from you. If a request is unusually complex we may extend the deadline by up to 60 additional days and will write to you explaining why.

Exceptions and limitations

A few records cannot be deleted on request because the law requires us to keep them. We narrow this list as much as possible.

• Billing records, invoices and tax documents are kept for seven years to comply with EU VAT rules and US IRS guidance.
• Anonymized aggregate analytics — counts, durations, error rates — are retained because they contain no personal identifiers and so do not qualify as personal data under GDPR Article 4(1).
• Records subject to an active legal hold, regulatory order or unresolved abuse investigation are retained until the matter closes.
• Backup snapshots roll off on a 30-day cycle; data deleted from production stops being restorable after that window even though the snapshot encryption keys are rotated immediately.

Related rights and policies

The right to erasure is one of several data rights you hold. You can also access, correct, restrict or export your data. The full list, including how we handle cookies and what the contract covers, is documented here:

• Privacy Policy — what we collect and why
• Cookie Policy — cookies and consent management
• Terms of Service — the contract between you and ForgeFile

Frequently asked questions

Contact the privacy team

For deletion requests, escalations or any other privacy question, write to [email protected]. EU residents can also lodge a complaint with their national Data Protection Authority if they believe their rights have not been respected.