FolderNotes runs entirely on your computer. It has no accounts, no servers, no telemetry and no analytics, and it contains no networking code at all. We never receive your notes, your folder names, or anything else the app writes.

The short version

We are the developer, Nir Nagar. We operate no server for the App and receive no data from it. Because we hold no information about you, there is nothing for us to sell, share, mine, or lose.

Everything the App saves is a file on your own disk. This policy names every one of those files, says where it is, and tells you how to delete all of them. Two points are easy to miss and matter most:

• The App keeps data in %USERPROFILE%\.foldernotes, a hidden folder that deliberately survives uninstalling FolderNotes. Windows does not remove it.
• A note is written inside the folder it describes, as a hidden .foldernote.json file. Those files travel with the folder - into OneDrive, into a git repository, into a copy you send someone - and uninstalling does not remove them.

Where the data lives

There are three separate places, with three different lifetimes.

1. %USERPROFILE%\.foldernotes - durable, survives uninstall

Paste %USERPROFILE%\.foldernotes into the File Explorer address bar to open it. It is marked hidden, so it does not normally appear in your user folder. It holds:

• index.json: one entry for every folder you have made a note on - the full folder path, importance (stars), status, due date, and the "hidden" flag that says the folder is behind the privacy curtain.
• config.json: a salted PBKDF2-SHA256 hash of your privacy-curtain passphrase, with its salt and iteration count. Never the passphrase itself.
• tasks.json: the to-do items you add in the Tasks panel.
• workspace.json: Workspace marks - the colour, status, category, pin and virtual note you put on a file or a folder. Contains folder and file paths.
• workspace-boards.json: saved Workspace boards.
• workspace-backups\workspace-*.json: dated snapshots of workspace.json, written at most every few minutes and pruned to the newest 15.

Why this folder outlives the App. The flag that says a folder is hidden and the passphrase hash that unhides it have to share one lifetime. %APPDATA% is inside the App's Store package container, and Windows wipes it on uninstall and on Settings > Apps > Reset. If the hash were wiped while the flags survived, a reinstall would find folders still marked hidden and no passphrase to check against - and the App stops covering a folder when there is no passphrase, so every folder you had hidden would be listed openly. Keeping both halves in one durable place is what prevents that. The cost is the one stated plainly here: uninstalling FolderNotes does not erase this folder. You have to delete it yourself, and the steps below show how.

2. %APPDATA%\FolderNotes - inside the Store package, removed on uninstall

• settings.json: feature on/off toggles, language, theme, and the folders you most recently visited in the Workspace (full paths).
• time.json: attention time per folder - the folder path, a running total, per-day buckets for the last 30 days, and when you last opened it.
• order.json: your saved ordering of folders in the Important Folders list.
• error.log: written only if the App hits an unhandled error - the exception text and stack trace.
• index.json and config.json: older copies from a version that stored them here. They are read once so your data carries forward, then left alone. The copies in .foldernotes are the ones in use.

Windows removes this folder when you uninstall FolderNotes, or when you use Settings > Apps > FolderNotes > Advanced options > Reset.

Where to find it in File Explorer. %APPDATA%\FolderNotes is the address the App itself uses. Because FolderNotes is installed from the Microsoft Store, Windows redirects that address into the app package, so from File Explorer the folder is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ProNumerology.FolderNotes_h6qysrce8rkw6\LocalCache\Roaming\FolderNotes. Paste that into the address bar to open it. Pasting %APPDATA%\FolderNotes there instead normally finds nothing, because that is not where a Store app's copy ends up.

About time.json. It records the path of each folder you view and how long you looked at it. It is added to as you work and rewritten whole while a folder stays open. Per-day buckets older than 30 days are dropped, but the running totals and the per-folder entries are never removed - they keep accumulating for as long as you use the App. Turning Time tracking off in Settings stops new time being recorded, but it does not delete what is already there, and there is currently no button in the App that clears it. To clear it, quit FolderNotes (right-click the tray icon and choose Exit), open that folder at the File Explorer address given just above, and delete time.json. The App creates a fresh empty one and the "Time spent" figures start again from zero.

3. Inside your own folders - .foldernote.json

When you write a note on a folder, the note is saved as a hidden file called .foldernote.json in that folder. It holds the note text, status, stars, deadline, pinned files, and the "hidden" flag. Because it sits in your folder rather than in the App's own storage, it goes wherever the folder goes:

• a folder inside OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive syncs the note file to that service and to your other machines, under the terms of whichever service you use;
• a folder inside a git repository shows .foldernote.json as an untracked file, and it will be committed and pushed if you add it;
• a build output folder carries the note file into anything you copy or package from it;
• sending someone a copy of the folder sends them the note.

Uninstalling FolderNotes does not remove these files. Settings > Delete all notes does, for every folder the App has an index entry for.

Two more files, written only in specific circumstances

• .bad copies. If one of the JSON files above cannot be read because it is damaged, the App copies it alongside the original with .bad added to the name - for example workspace.json.bad, or .foldernote.json.bad inside your own folder - rather than overwriting damaged data with an empty file. A .bad copy holds the same kind of content as the file it came from. Delete all notes does not remove .foldernote.json.bad files; the sweep in the erasure steps below does.
• An exported backup. Settings > Export all notes... writes a single FolderNotes-backup.json to whatever location you choose in the save dialog. It contains your notes, so treat it like the notes themselves. Nothing else writes it, and the App never puts it anywhere you did not pick.

What the app reads (but does not store or send)

To show useful information on a note, FolderNotes reads, on your device only:

• the names and modification dates of files in the folder you are viewing, to display the most recently edited file;
• which folder is open in the active File Explorer window, so it can show the right note;
• file and folder names across your fixed drives, if you use the Workspace's search. That list is built in memory while the App runs, is never written to disk, and is discarded when the App exits. It skips system, program and build-cache directories.

None of this is transmitted anywhere.

Your privacy-curtain passphrase

The passphrase is stored only as a salted PBKDF2-SHA256 hash, in %USERPROFILE%\.foldernotes\config.json. The passphrase itself is never written down and never transmitted, and neither we nor the App can tell you what it was.

If you forget it, use Settings > Forgot it? Reset.... That takes a new passphrase without asking for the old one. It reveals nothing: every folder you had hidden stays hidden, any unlock still standing from this session is withdrawn, and only the new passphrase opens them. To change a passphrase you still know, use Settings > Change passphrase..., which asks for the current one (or a Windows Hello check) first.

Do not try to "reset" it by deleting config.json by hand. With no passphrase on file the App has nothing to check against, so it stops covering folders that are still flagged as hidden and they are simply listed.

Windows Hello

If you turn on Windows Hello unlocking, FolderNotes asks Windows to confirm it is you using the face, fingerprint, or PIN you already set up on this PC. The check is performed entirely by Windows; the app receives only a yes-or-no result. Your biometric data is never seen, stored, or transmitted by FolderNotes, and nothing leaves your device. The passphrase always remains available as the fallback.

The privacy curtain is a privacy screen, not security

The "hide folder" feature draws a window over the File Explorer window that is showing the folder, while FolderNotes is running. That is all it does.

It is not encryption and not access control. Your files are not encrypted, not moved, and their permissions are not changed. The folder's contents are still visible to another file manager, to a command prompt, to any other program, to this same PC with FolderNotes not running, and to anyone who reads the disk from another operating system. Do not rely on it to protect data that would harm you if it were seen; use BitLocker or another encryption tool for that.

One thing worth knowing: Windows keeps its own list of recently opened files and shows it in File Explorer's Quick access. That list is controlled by Windows, not by FolderNotes, so it can still mention files from a folder you have hidden. As a Microsoft Store app, FolderNotes runs in a protected sandbox and cannot change this Windows list for you. To turn it off, open File Explorer, go to ... > Options > General, and under Privacy uncheck "Show recently used files in Quick access" and click "Clear". You can also reach this screen from FolderNotes Settings with the "Open Folder Options" button.

Network use

FolderNotes contains no networking code - no HTTP client, no socket, no web request anywhere in it. It has no accounts, no server, no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting, and no update check of its own.

The one exception is a link you click yourself. Five buttons open a page on hearth-software.com in your default browser: Read the FAQ in the welcome guide, and Report a bug or suggest a feature..., Privacy policy, Terms and Support in Settings. The report link appends the App's version number to the URL so a report arrives with the version attached; the other four are fixed addresses with nothing added. Nothing about you goes into any of them - no note text, no folder names. Once your browser has the address, the visit is an ordinary web request made by your browser, and the web host sees what any web host sees, including your IP address. If you never click those buttons, the App never causes a network request.

Start with Windows

If you enable "Start with Windows," FolderNotes registers a standard Windows startup task so it can launch at login. Turning the option off removes it, and you can also manage it from the Startup tab in Task Manager. No data is involved.

Deleting everything FolderNotes has saved

Do these in order. The first steps use the App, so do them before you uninstall.

1. Remove the notes inside your own folders. Open FolderNotes Settings and click Delete all notes.... This deletes the .foldernote.json file from every folder the App has indexed and empties index.json and order.json. (If you have set a privacy-curtain passphrase, opening Settings asks for it, and this button asks again before deleting.) It can only visit folders the index knows about, so a note file left behind by a folder you copied, moved, or made a note on from another PC will not be found - and it never removes .foldernote.json.bad recovery copies. To catch both, open a Command Prompt and run dir /s /b /a:h C:\.foldernote.json* (repeat for each drive), then delete what it lists.
2. Clear the Workspace marks, if you used the Workspace: Settings > Reset Workspace marks....
3. Quit the App - right-click the tray icon and choose Exit - so nothing is rewritten underneath you. If a passphrase is set, exiting asks for it.
4. Delete the durable folder. Paste %USERPROFILE%\.foldernotes into the File Explorer address bar, go up one level, and delete the .foldernotes folder. This is what removes the passphrase hash, the index of every folder you have noted, your task list, and everything the Workspace stored, including the dated snapshots in workspace-backups. Nothing else removes it - an uninstall does not.
5. Delete the app-data folder. Paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ProNumerology.FolderNotes_h6qysrce8rkw6\LocalCache\Roaming into the address bar and delete the FolderNotes folder inside it. This removes your settings, the attention times in time.json, the error log, and the legacy copies of the index and config. Uninstalling in the next step removes the same folder, as does Settings > Apps > FolderNotes > Advanced options > Reset.
6. Uninstall FolderNotes from Settings > Apps > Installed apps, if you want it gone.

If you only want to stop the attention-time record and keep everything else, do step 3 and then delete the time.json described above.

Smaller, everyday controls:

• Delete one folder's note by emptying it - the .foldernote.json file is removed once nothing at all is set on it, so clear the text and the stars, status, due date, pinned files and the hidden flag. Deleting that folder's .foldernote.json by hand does the same.
• Turn individual features off in Settings, including the privacy curtain and the Workspace. With the privacy curtain switched off, nothing is hidden anywhere.

Children's privacy

FolderNotes does not collect any personal information from anyone, including children, and is not directed at children.

GDPR, UK GDPR, and other privacy laws

The App is designed for data minimization: it processes data only locally on your device, under your control, and we (the developer) act as neither a controller nor a processor of any personal data on your behalf, because no personal data ever reaches us. As we hold no data about you, requests to access, correct, port, restrict, object to, or erase data held by us have nothing to act on; you can exercise full control by editing or deleting the local files described above. Where local data you create happens to contain personal information - a folder path or a note's text can - you remain in control of it on your own device.

Governing law and jurisdiction for this policy: the State of Israel, with the competent courts of Tel Aviv-Yafo having exclusive jurisdiction - the same as the Terms of Use.

California (CCPA/CPRA)

We do not collect, sell, or share personal information, and we have no personal information to disclose. "Sell" and "share" are used here as defined by California law. There is nothing to opt out of because no data is collected.

If you contact us

If you choose to email us (for support, feedback, or a bug report), we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message. We use them only to respond to you and to fix the issue, we do not add you to any mailing list, and we do not share them with anyone. You may ask us to delete the correspondence at any time.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted at this address with a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: support@hearth-software.com
Developer: Nir Nagar