This Privacy Policy applies to Paratext (all versions), the Paratext Registry, and the paratext.org website.
Paratext is jointly owned by SIL Global (SIL) and the United Bible Societies Association (UBSA). SIL and UBSA are joint data controllers for the Personal Data we collect to operate Paratext, including account registration data and Technical Data. The essence of our joint-controller arrangement is available on request at admin@paratext.org. Where personal data is contained within Project Content, the party managing the Project is the controller of that data and we act as its processor (see Section 3.1).
We process personal data in accordance with the data-protection laws that apply to our users, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and applicable United States federal and state law. The Paratext Terms of Service are governed by the law of the State of Texas (registry.paratext.org/terms, Section 19); our choice of governing law for those Terms does not reduce the data-protection rights you have under the laws of your own country.
For data protection inquiries: admin@paratext.org.
SIL Global, 7500 W Camp Wisdom Rd, Dallas, TX 75236, USA.
United Bible Societies Association, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 7PJ, UK.
SIL and UBSA are “nonprofit organizations” as defined by Chapter 541 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code.
This Privacy Policy covers the Paratext applications, the Paratext APIs and Paratext servers, the Paratext Registry (registry.paratext.org), the paratext.org website, and earlier versions of Paratext. It does not cover other Paratext-related products (such as Paratext Lite or Publishing Assistant).
Paratext is not directed at children. We do not offer Paratext accounts to individuals under 18 and do not knowingly collect personal data directly from any individual under 18, or from any child under 13 (the threshold under the U.S. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act). Where a person under 18 participates in the use of Paratext, they must do so under the supervision and legal responsibility of a registered adult (such as a Project or Organization Administrator), must not hold their own Paratext account or credentials, and their contributions are made under that adult's account. The supervising adult is responsible for ensuring no personal data of a minor is entered into Project Content without appropriate consent. If we become aware that we hold personal data of a person under 18 in breach of this Section, we will act promptly to address it; please contact admin@paratext.org.
Defined terms used in this Privacy Policy (including "Personal Data," "Data Controller," and "Processor") have the meanings given to them in the UK GDPR and the EU GDPR.
Paratext-specific terms (including "us, ours," "you, yours," "Project," "Project Content," "Project Metadata," "Organization," "Organization Administrator," "Independent Translator," and "Third-Party Extension") have the meanings given to them in Section 2 of the Paratext Terms of Service.
Personal Data — yours. When you register, we collect your name and email address. We may also collect other information that identifies you or your device where this is necessary to operate, support, or secure Paratext (for example, the name of the device you use, which is included in automated problem reports together with your username and email address). Where any such information identifies you, we treat it as your Personal Data. This list describes the main categories we collect and is not intended to be exhaustive. Your Personal Data belongs to you. You can exercise the rights described in Section 7, subject to the Limitations on erasure there.
Project Metadata — the managing party’s. When you register a translation project, we store the following Project Metadata and share it through the Paratext Registry with other registered users (unless the Project is marked Confidential): managing Organization(s), language and project type, project description and registration status, and publication and IP information.
Project Content — the rightsholder’s. When you work on a translation project, we store on Paratext servers (when you use Send/Receive) project content that includes, but is not limited to the following: Scripture text, comments, revision history, checking results, Biblical Terms data, project knowledge bases, project settings, project plans, translation progress information, figures, images, and user roles and permissions. Access is controlled by the managing Organization(s). Project Content belongs to the rightsholder specified for the Project in the Registry. The managing Organization(s) can view and update that designation in the Registry.
Technical Data — ours. We automatically collect information such as device and browser information, IP address, usage patterns, analytics about translation progress, and cookies. Additionally, when you submit a problem report, support request, or consent to participate in UX research, which may include a screen recording or screenshot, we also process the information you choose to include so that we can investigate and resolve the issue or conduct the research you have agreed to; this may incidentally include Project Content. Technical Data is collected by SIL and UBSA, who hold all rights in it that may be held in data of that kind. Where any Technical Data also constitutes your Personal Data, it is treated as your Personal Data.
Personal data becomes embedded in Project Content in two ways.
First, the Paratext platform automatically records your username and your machine name against every change you contribute, as a property of the version-control system used to store Project Content. You cannot opt out, edit, or remove this.
Second, it is possible for you to enter personal data into Project Content (e.g. references to identifiable individuals in project comments).
In either case, the data becomes part of the Project’s permanent revision history and cannot be removed from existing histories. See Limitations on erasure in Section 7.
Where Project Content contains personal data, we process that data on behalf of the party managing the Project. That party is the controller of the data and is responsible for ensuring lawful collection and processing. Where we process Project Content for our own improvement purposes as described in Section 4, we act as a controller for that processing and not as the managing party's processor.
We use the information we collect:
We also use Technical Data to understand how Paratext is used and to inform future development.
We may use Project Content under the license granted by the party managing the Project (Terms of Service, Section 5) to improve features and develop new Paratext capabilities.
We may share aggregated statistics with funding partners and the translation community (for example, the total number of users is shown on the Paratext website); such statistics never identify individual persons.
In providing and improving Paratext, we use subcontractors and service providers (including but not limited to: cloud hosting, infrastructure, data processing) to process data on our behalf. Each provider that processes Personal Data does so under a Data Processing Agreement. We do not sell, rent, or trade any user data, and do not permit third parties to use Paratext data for advertising or marketing. We do not use your personal data in Paratext’s own communications or marketing without your written consent.
Lawful basis. We process your personal data on the basis of:
Third-Party Extensions. Some Paratext features are provided by Third-Party Extensions that we have reviewed and approved (Terms of Service, Section 8). Where you use such a feature, the data needed for it is processed by the Extension provider. Our lawful basis for that processing is contract performance, because it is necessary to provide the feature you are using. Where an Extension processes Personal Data it does so under a written data-protection agreement with us. We do not currently provide a control to enable or disable individual Extensions; we intend to add one. Until we do, if you do not wish an Extension to process your data, do not use the feature it provides.
Service Continuity Backup. From 15 October 2026, a current copy of Project files is held by the Backup Agent as a Service Continuity Backup (see registry.paratext.org/terms, Section 2 “Definitions” and Section 18).
We do not sell, trade, or rent personal data. We share information:
Participant communications or marketing. If you agree to participate in research related to Paratext use, then we ask you for explicit consent to record and use the data you provide, including participant stories and quotes that may be used in communications about Paratext. We do not use your data for this purpose without written consent.
Service Continuity Backup. Inclusion of your account-level Personal Data — your name and email address — in the Service Continuity Backup is voluntary and requires your explicit opt-in through the Paratext Registry. You may withdraw at any time, and we will then instruct the Backup Agent to delete the account-level Personal Data it holds for you.
Project Data is handled differently: it is included unless the party managing the Project opts out (see Section 4 and Terms of Service, Section 18).
Neither opting out nor declining to opt in affects your access to Paratext or any of its features.
Communications. Service-related messages (account notifications, security alerts) are necessary for Paratext’s operation and cannot be opted out of. Informational messages can be opted out through registry.paratext.org.
Under applicable data protection laws, you have the right: to request access to your Personal Data, corrections to it, deletion of it (subject to the Limitations on erasure below), receipt of it in portable form; to object to processing where we rely on legitimate interest, and request restriction of processing in certain circumstances. To exercise these rights, contact admin@paratext.org; we will respond within one month of receiving your request. Where a request is complex or where we receive a number of requests from you, we may extend that period by up to two further months and will tell you if we do. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act on a request.
Limitations on erasure
The right of erasure applies to the Personal Data we hold about you on your Paratext account (your name and email address as registered). On request, we remove that Personal Data from the active production systems of the Paratext Registry.
Personal data embedded in the historical revisions of Project Content cannot be erased. The dominant case is system-recorded contribution metadata: the Paratext platform records your username and machine name automatically against every change you contribute, as a property of the version-control system used to store Project Content. This metadata becomes part of the permanent revision history of the Project, cannot be disabled or edited, and cannot be removed from the history of existing Projects — copies of which are also held by every collaborator on the Project. The same limitation applies to any personal data a user has entered directly into Project Content.
We recognize that the right to erasure under the UK and EU GDPR is broad. The limitation described here reflects a genuine technical constraint of the version-control system that stores Project Content. Where the law requires, we will work with you and with the party managing the relevant Project to identify what can be done, while being honest that existing project histories held by every collaborator cannot be retrospectively altered.
We are working to change how system-recorded contribution metadata is handled in future versions, so that it aligns better with erasure rights going forward. We cannot commit to a delivery date, and any such change will not extend to histories created in earlier versions, including the current version.
Project Data — controlled by the party managing the Project.
Technical Data.
Your Personal Data on your Paratext account is retained for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period, as determined by Paratext, thereafter to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our Terms. Your username and the name of the machine used to make changes are also recorded automatically into the revision history of every Project you contribute to (see Section 3.1). That metadata is retained for the life of the Project and cannot be removed from it (see Limitations on erasure in Section 7).
Project Metadata is retained for as long as the Project is registered. Project Content is retained for as long as the Project is in use and is not purged automatically; a managing party may delete a Project at any time, after which retention follows the deletion and backup-retention rules below. The revision history of an active Project is retained in full for the life of the Project.
When the party managing a Project deletes that Project, the data is removed from active production systems as soon as reasonably practicable. Copies may persist in system backups in line with the backup retention configuration in force at the time.
Because Project Data belongs to the party managing the Project, individual user account deletion does not delete data contributed to Projects managed by another party, including contribution metadata. Technical Data is retained in aggregated, de-identified form for as long as it remains useful for analytical and service improvement purposes.
If Paratext ceases to operate, your Personal Data on the account is returned or destroyed in accordance with applicable data protection law (Terms of Service, Section 17). Personal data already embedded in Project revision histories is not erasable on cessation and continues to exist in any preserved copies of those histories (see Limitations on erasure in Section 7).
Service Continuity Backup. The Backup Agent holds a single copy of the backup, updated at least monthly: each run replaces the data from the previous run, so the Backup Agent does not accumulate historical snapshots. Superseded data may be retained for up to 60 days solely to safeguard the integrity of the backup, after which it is permanently deleted.
Security. We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures (encryption in transit, access controls, regular security reviews) to protect your data against accidental or unlawful loss, destruction, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or unauthorized access. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority without undue delay and, where the UK or EU GDPR applies, not later than 72 hours after becoming aware of it where feasible, and we will inform affected users without undue delay. Where US state law applies to a breach (including Texas Business & Commerce Code § 521.053), we will also comply with its notification requirements.
Internal access. Access to user and project data within systems we operate is restricted to authorized personnel who need it for operational duties (such as user support, system maintenance, software development, security monitoring, diagnosing and resolving reported problems, and approved user-experience research), under formal access agreements imposing confidentiality, minimum-necessary access, a prohibition on using production data for experimentation except as expressly authorized for diagnostics or approved research, and immediate breach reporting.
International transfers. Paratext is operated by organizations in the United States and Europe, with servers and service providers located in a number of countries, which currently include Australia. Where data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses, adequacy decisions, or other legally recognized transfer mechanisms). Details of the safeguards applying to a specific transfer are available on request at admin@paratext.org.
Cookies. The Paratext Registry and paratext.org websites may use cookies to maintain your session, remember your preferences, and understand usage. We do not use cookies for third-party advertising. You can control cookies through your browser; disabling them may affect functionality.
Third-Party Extensions. Some Paratext features are provided by Third-Party Extensions we have reviewed and approved. Where such an Extension processes personal data it does so under a written data-protection agreement with us appropriate to the provider's role. Each Extension may have its own terms and privacy policy. You can ask us at admin@paratext.org which Paratext features involve a Third-Party Extension, and where that Extension processes data (see Section 4).
AI-assisted features. Where we introduce features that send Project Data to a third-party provider of artificial-intelligence services to return an analysis or suggestion to you, each such provider processes data only on our instructions and is contractually prohibited from using it to train or improve its own models.
User Plugins. Paratext 9 and some earlier versions support plugins and scripts created by users and shared user-to-user. These are not created, reviewed or controlled by us; we cannot account for how they handle data and you use them at your own risk. Do not install one from an untrusted source, and do not share Project Data or another person's Personal Data through one without the authorization required by Section 7 of the Terms of Service.
Hold Harmless. You agree to hold Paratext and its owners harmless from claims of personal data shared with third-party User Plugins.
We may update this Policy from time to time. We post the current version at registry.paratext.org/privacy-policy and update the effective date.
For material changes, we notify registered users by email at least 30 days before they take effect; continued use after that date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, you must stop using Paratext. Previous versions of this Policy are available on request at admin@paratext.org.
Questions about this Privacy Policy, requests to exercise your data rights, or concerns about how your data is handled: admin@paratext.org. SIL Global, 7500 W Camp Wisdom Rd, Dallas, TX 75236, United States. United Bible Societies Association, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 7PJ, England, United Kingdom.
Last updated: 11th September, 2026.