Last updated: June 22, 2026 · Folkbase is in early-access beta. · Terms of Service
Where your data lives
Everything you put into Folkbase — contacts, notes, touchpoints, tasks, lists, and trackers — is written to a single Google Sheet called Folkbase - [Your Name] in your own Google Drive. There is no Folkbase database and no company server storing your contacts. The app reads and writes that one sheet; that's the whole storage model.
Because it's a normal file in your Drive, you can open it directly, make a copy, or delete it whenever you like. Deleting the sheet deletes your data.
This shapes who's responsible for what. For the contacts and records you enter, you decide what to collect and why — in data-protection terms, you act as the controller of that information, and Folkbase simply provides the tool that reads and writes your own sheet. The only data Folkbase itself holds centrally is the small set described below: an early-access email if you submit one, and any bug report you choose to send. We treat that data as our own responsibility and explain your rights over it in Your rights & requests.
What Folkbase can access
Folkbase asks for the narrowest Google permissions it can. It does not request broad access to your Google Sheets or to your Drive as a whole.
- Your basic profile (
userinfo.email,userinfo.profile) — name, email, and profile picture, so the app knows who you are. No password is created or stored. - Google Drive — file-level access (
drive.file) — this scope lets an app see only the files it creates or that you explicitly open with it. Folkbase uses it to create and read the single Folkbase - [Your Name] sheet it makes for you, plus any file you deliberately choose through the Google file picker. It cannot see anything else in your Drive. Both loading and saving your data happen through this one file — there is no separate Google Sheets permission. - Google Apps Script (
script.projects,script.deployments) — requested separately, only the first time you set up secure saving. It lets Folkbase deploy a small script into your own sheet so saves are written safely through that script rather than directly from the browser. This is the one-time "Connect Apps Script" step during setup. - Google Calendar (
calendar.events) — optional, approved as a separate step, and described below.
Calendar
Folkbase requests Google Calendar access only if you turn on calendar features, and you approve that as a separate step. The access is read and write (the calendar.events scope), so Folkbase can both pull in past meetings you choose to import and add events to your calendar — for example, sending calendar invites for an event you create in Folkbase. Folkbase only touches events you ask it to, and it tags the ones it creates so they're easy to identify. You can revoke this access at any time from your Google Account.
How we use Google data (Limited Use)
Folkbase's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use Google user data only to provide and improve Folkbase's features for you. We do not sell it, we do not transfer it to third parties except as needed to operate the app for you, and we never use it for advertising or to build profiles for purposes unrelated to Folkbase.
Early-access requests
If you submit your email address through the early-access form on our homepage, we store that email solely to contact you about a Folkbase invitation and beta updates. We don't sell it, share it, or use it for advertising, and you can ask us to delete it any time by emailing elliottzelenak@gmail.com.
Beta bug reports
If you send a bug report from the in-app user menu, the message you write — along with the page you were on and basic browser information — is sent to the project owner so the issue can be reproduced. Bug reports do not include your contacts or the contents of your sheet.
Analytics & error reporting
Folkbase does not run third-party analytics and does not track your activity. The current beta build also does not send automated error or crash reports — there is no error-reporting service wired into the version you use. If that ever changes, we would only send technical diagnostics (such as a stack trace and the page where an error occurred), never your contact data, and we would update this page first.
Taking your data with you
You're never locked in. Use Data → Export inside the app for clean CSV files of your contacts, notes, touchpoints, and tasks, or simply open the underlying Google Sheet. To remove everything, delete that sheet from your Drive.
Your rights & requests
Depending on where you live, privacy laws such as the GDPR and CCPA give you rights to access, correct, or delete personal data, and to know that it isn't sold. Folkbase is built so most of this stays in your hands. How a request works depends on which kind of data it concerns:
- Your own contacts and records. These live entirely in the Folkbase - [Your Name] sheet in your Google Drive — we hold no copy. You can view, edit, or export everything from inside the app at any time, and you delete it all by deleting that sheet. No request to us is needed.
- If you're someone a Folkbase user added as a contact. Your details were entered by an individual user into their own private sheet, which we cannot see or search across users. The person who controls that information is the user who added you, so a request to access or delete it should go to them. Folkbase has no central database of contacts to search on your behalf, and we have no technical way to reach into a user's private Drive.
- The data we do hold (early-access email, bug reports). If you submitted your email for early access, or sent us a bug report, you can ask us to show you what we have or delete it. Email elliottzelenak@gmail.com and we'll respond within 30 days. We never sell this data or use it for advertising.