Privacy Policy

How Your Data is Handled

FillMeIn is a client-side application. The information you enter into a form is never sent to our servers or any external service. We do not collect, transmit, or process your form answers on any server. Application preferences (such as your theme choice) are stored locally in your browser.

This means your form data never leaves your device. There is no server-side database, no cloud storage, and no remote backup of what you type into a form. The data you enter exists only in your browser tab, plus a short-lived draft saved locally in case you're interrupted (see below), and it is never sent anywhere else. (Three separate, entirely optional features do send a small amount of different information to us: the Contact page, the post-download feedback prompt, and the search box on the Forms page. See "Contact Form", "Optional Feedback" and "Form Search" below for exactly what and why.)

No Server-Side Data Collection

FillMeIn does not operate a server that collects or stores what you type into a form. Specifically:

• The information you enter into a form (names, ID numbers, addresses, form answers) is never uploaded to any server
• No user accounts or login credentials are required
• No cookie is used for tracking, advertising, or analytics purposes
• Your form answers are never shared with, sold to, or disclosed to any third-party service, advertiser, or data broker
• Anonymous, cookie-free usage analytics help us understand which forms are most used (see below)

The only information that does reach a server is what you choose to type into the separate Contact page, the optional post-download feedback prompt, or the search box on the Forms page (including the optional "tell us which one" box shown when a search finds nothing). Your form data is never sent. All three are covered in full below.

If you tick 'Let me reopen this PDF to edit it later', a copy of your answers to the fields printed on the PDF is stored inside the PDF file, in full, even where the page had to shorten one, so FillMeIn can reopen it on your device. Anyone you send the PDF to could read that copy. Answers to questions that are not printed on the PDF are not added, signatures are never included, and nothing is sent to us. A PDF can be reopened only on the form it was made for, except that the three Small Claims Court forms (letter of demand, affidavit of delivery and summons) can share names, addresses and claim details between them, on your device only.

Form Search

The search boxes on the home page and the Forms page run entirely in your browser. A search typed on the home page is passed to the Forms page in memory, not in the page address. The list of forms is already on your device, so searching does not fetch anything or send your keystrokes anywhere as you type.

Once you stop typing, we do record the words you searched for along with how many forms matched. We use this for one purpose: finding the forms people look for but cannot find. A search that returns nothing tells us either that we are missing a form or that we have named one badly, which is exactly what we want to know.

What is recorded: the search text and the number of results. Nothing else: it is not linked to you, to your other activity on the site, or to anything you typed into a form.

If a search finds nothing, we ask "Can't find your form? Tell us which one". Answering is optional. The box is free text that you choose to send: if you press Send, we record what you typed there (up to 60 characters) and the search that found nothing (up to 100 characters). Please type only the form's name or number. Only email addresses and long numbers are removed automatically; a name or street address typed into the box would be recorded as written. We use these answers only to decide which forms to add next.

Please don't type personal details into either search box. It is meant for form names and numbers, like "Z83", "UI-2.1", "birth certificate". Unlike the rest of this site, what you type here does reach our analytics server, so treat it like a public search engine rather than like the form itself. As a safety net, anything that looks like an email address is replaced with "[email]", and any run of 10 or more digits (like an ID, phone or account number) is replaced with "[number]", before the search is recorded.

Contact Form

Our Contact page is entirely separate from the forms you fill in. Using it is optional and only happens if you choose to send us a message.

What is sent: The name, email address, and message you type into the Contact page are sent to our contact-handling service so we can read and reply to you.

Feedback on our tools: The free tools under Tools also ask "Was this tool useful?". If you answer, a yes or no, the tool name, the date/time and any optional comment you write are sent to the same automation server and handled in the same way as described here. Nothing you enter into the tool itself is sent.

Where it goes: Messages are handled by our own contact service at contact.lefty23.co.za and read in a mailbox operated by Google, which means the message is stored outside South Africa by a processor bound by its own data protection commitments, as section 72 of POPIA permits.

What we ask: Please don't include your ID number or other sensitive personal details in a message, since we don't need them to answer a general question, and the form itself carries this same reminder.

POPIA Compliance

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013, governs how personal information is collected, processed, and stored in South Africa. FillMeIn is designed with POPIA principles in mind, minimising data collection to the greatest extent possible.

Because FillMeIn does not collect, process, or store your personal information on any server, the traditional data processing requirements under POPIA do not apply in the same way. Your data remains under your control at all times: stored only on your device, accessible only to you, and deletable at any time.

Under POPIA, you have the right to know what data is being processed about you. With FillMeIn, the answer is straightforward: no personal data is processed by us. All processing happens locally in your browser, and we have no access to your information.

Some forms (for example a police clearance application, a notice of death, or a government job application) ask for information POPIA classes as "special personal information": things like criminal behaviour, health information, or race. This is handled exactly the same way as every other field: it stays in your browser tab, is only ever saved to a short-lived local draft on your own device (see "What Data is Stored" above), and is never uploaded anywhere.

If you're not satisfied with how we've handled a privacy concern, you have the right to lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.

Your Rights and Control Over Your Data

You have full control over the data stored on your device:

• Delete your data: Tap "Clear saved data" on any form page to immediately wipe its saved draft, or clear your browser's site data for FillMeIn.co.za to remove everything at once.
• No account required: You are never required to create an account or provide identifying information to use FillMeIn.

Changes to This Policy

If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will update this page. Because FillMeIn is a client-side application with no user accounts, we cannot notify you directly of policy changes, so we encourage you to review this page periodically.