QuickRef Privacy Policy

Version: 1.0 Effective Date: 7/19/2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the QuickRef desktop application (“QuickRef” or the “Application”) accesses, uses, stores, and discloses information. QuickRef is provided by the individual developer operating under the m-lab brand (the “Developer”).

This Policy describes QuickRef version 1.0.0 as implemented on its effective date. “Personal Information” means information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be associated with an individual under applicable law.

1. Summary

QuickRef is designed to work locally on your Windows device.

No QuickRef account is required.
QuickRef does not include advertising, analytics, telemetry, or an advertising SDK.
QuickRef does not send your shortcut data, active-application information, settings, or other User Data to the Developer or an external server.
QuickRef does not provide cloud synchronization or cloud backup.
The Application’s current features do not require an internet connection.
Microsoft Store separately handles acquisition, licensing, payment, installation, and Store reporting under Microsoft’s own terms and privacy statement.

2. Information QuickRef accesses or stores

Active application information

When QuickRef needs to select the shortcuts relevant to your foreground application—for example, when you invoke the QuickRef overlay—it uses Windows APIs to identify the process associated with the currently focused window. Windows provides the process identifier and executable path; QuickRef extracts the executable file name, such as Code.exe, and compares it locally with process names registered in QuickRef.

This detection occurs when the feature is invoked. QuickRef does not continuously create a history of the applications you use. The detected process identifier, executable path, and executable file name are used temporarily in memory for matching and are not added to the database merely because an application was detected. They are not transmitted to the Developer or a third party.

Information you create, edit, or import

Depending on how you use QuickRef, you may store the following information locally:

application names, local icon paths, and executable or process names;
shortcut sheets and their display order;
keyboard shortcuts, normalized key combinations, shortcut types, categories, and display order;
shortcut actions, descriptions, tags, and translations;
language and fallback-language preferences;
global-hotkey, overlay-position, always-on-top, onboarding, and related settings; and
preset source, version, generated identifiers, and creation or update timestamps used to manage records.

QuickRef does not require you to enter your real name, email address, postal address, contacts, precise location, financial details, health information, or Microsoft account credentials. However, text fields are user controlled. You should not enter Personal Information or confidential information that is unnecessary for using QuickRef.

Operating-system language

On first use, QuickRef reads the Windows user locale to choose an initial supported interface language. It maps the locale to English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Spanish, or German and stores the resulting preference locally. QuickRef does not transmit the Windows locale to the Developer.

Preset files

QuickRef includes built-in shortcut presets. It can also read preset JSON files placed in the presets directory within the QuickRef application-data directory. The files and imported contents remain on your device. You are responsible for the source and contents of external preset files you place there.

3. How information is used

QuickRef uses locally accessed or stored information only to provide its features, including to:

identify the foreground application’s executable and select the matching shortcut sheet;
display, search, filter, organize, translate, and edit shortcut information;
register and respond to your selected global hotkey;
remember interface, language, overlay, and onboarding preferences;
import, update, restore, and distinguish built-in or user-selected presets; and
maintain the local database and diagnose errors during local operation.

The Developer does not use your locally stored QuickRef data for profiling, advertising, analytics, tracking across applications, or training machine-learning models because the Application does not transmit that data to the Developer.

4. Local storage

QuickRef stores its main data in quickref.db inside the Application’s data directory. This database contains the application, process-name, sheet, shortcut, translation, tag, preset-metadata, timestamp, and settings records described above.

QuickRef stores the selected language, fallback language, and onboarding-completion state in bootstrap.json in the same application-data area so those settings can be read before the database starts. bootstrap.json is not encrypted.

External preset JSON files placed in the local presets directory are also not encrypted by QuickRef. Their protection depends on Windows file permissions, device security, and any safeguards you apply.

The exact physical location of the Application’s data directory may depend on the package and Windows installation context.

5. Security

The quickref.db database is encrypted using SQLCipher. QuickRef checks that SQLCipher is available and refuses to initialize the database as an unencrypted SQLite database.

The database passphrase is bundled with and obfuscated inside the Application rather than being derived from a password known only to you or protected by your individual Windows credentials. Database encryption helps reduce casual inspection of the database file, but it is not designed to protect against every threat. In particular, it may not prevent access by a determined person who can analyze the Application, an administrator, malware, or another person who controls your device.

You are responsible for maintaining reasonable Windows account, device, malware-protection, and backup safeguards. No storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.

6. Internet transmission, analytics, and advertising

The current Application does not contain a feature that sends User Data to a Developer-operated server. It does not include an external HTTP service for its features, cloud sync, telemetry, behavioral analytics, crash-report upload, advertising, or third-party advertising identifiers.

Communication between the QuickRef user interface and its Rust backend occurs locally through Tauri’s inter-process communication mechanism. This local application communication is not an upload to the Developer.

If a future version introduces external communication or materially different data handling, the Developer will update this Policy and provide any notice or consent required by applicable law before the new practice applies.

7. Microsoft Store

QuickRef is distributed through Microsoft Store. Microsoft, not QuickRef, processes Store accounts, purchases, payment credentials, licensing, downloads, installation, updates, refunds, and related Store services. QuickRef does not receive your payment-card details.

Microsoft may provide the Developer with Partner Center reports concerning matters such as acquisitions, installations, sales, market, device or operating-system categories, usage, health, ratings, and reviews. These reports are generated by Microsoft Store or Windows services rather than by an analytics SDK embedded in QuickRef. They do not include the shortcut records, process names, preset files, or settings stored in QuickRef’s local database.

Microsoft’s processing is governed by the Microsoft Privacy Statement and applicable Microsoft Store terms. Microsoft is not covered by this Policy, and the Developer does not control Microsoft’s privacy practices.

8. Disclosure and sale of information

QuickRef does not transmit or disclose locally accessed or stored User Data to the Developer, advertisers, data brokers, or other third parties. The Developer does not sell or rent that data and does not use it for targeted or cross-context behavioral advertising.

Information you independently provide to Microsoft Store, Windows, a third-party application provider, or another service is governed by that party’s terms and privacy policy.

If you voluntarily contact the Developer for support, the Developer may use the information you choose to provide only to understand and respond to the request, protect legal rights, and comply with applicable law. Do not send the database, preset files, screenshots, or other material containing Personal Information unless it is necessary and you are authorized to do so.

9. Retention and deletion

Because QuickRef stores User Data locally and does not upload it to the Developer, the Developer does not maintain a server-side copy and cannot remotely access, restore, or delete it.

You can edit or delete individual records using features available in the Application. User-created applications and their related records are physically deleted from the database when deleted through the corresponding feature. Some built-in preset applications, sheets, and shortcuts use a logical-deletion marker so they can be restored or updated later; those preset records may remain inside the encrypted database after they disappear from the interface. Other records, such as tags, translations, and process-name mappings, may be physically deleted.

QuickRef 1.0.0 does not provide a guaranteed one-click deletion function for all Application data. Uninstalling QuickRef may not remove every file in every Windows or Microsoft Store installation context. To remove all local data, close QuickRef and use the application-data removal mechanisms available in Windows for your installation. If necessary, remove the QuickRef application-data directory after making any backup you require. Removing quickref.db, bootstrap.json, or the local preset directory is irreversible unless you have made a separate backup.

10. Your choices and controls

You control what applications, process names, shortcuts, descriptions, tags, translations, icon paths, and external presets you add to QuickRef. You can use available editing and deletion functions, change language and hotkey settings, stop invoking the overlay, or stop using and uninstall the Application.

QuickRef has no cloud account through which the Developer can provide a remote data-access or download request. Your locally stored information can be viewed and managed on the device through the Application and, where appropriate, Windows file-management tools. If you have sent information directly to the Developer in a support request, you may use the same support channel to request access, correction, or deletion, subject to applicable law and any information that must be retained for legal purposes.

11. Children

QuickRef is a general productivity application and is not directed specifically to children. The Application does not knowingly transmit children’s Personal Information to the Developer. A minor should use QuickRef with the permission and supervision of a parent or legal guardian where required by applicable law and should not enter unnecessary Personal Information into free-text fields.

12. International use

QuickRef may be offered worldwide, but its locally stored User Data is not transferred internationally by the Application. Microsoft Store and any support or communication service you choose may process information in other countries under their own privacy terms and applicable safeguards.

Nothing in this Policy limits privacy or consumer rights that cannot be waived under the laws applicable to you.

13. Changes to this Policy

The Developer may update this Policy when QuickRef’s features, data practices, distribution, or legal obligations change. The updated Policy will identify a new effective date and will be published through the m-lab support site, Microsoft Store listing, or another reasonable channel. Where required by law, the Developer will provide additional notice or obtain consent before a material change takes effect.

14. Contact

QuickRef is provided by an individual developer under the m-lab brand. Privacy and support inquiries can be submitted through the support contact identified in the QuickRef Microsoft Store listing or the m-lab support site.

Established: July 19, 2026
Last revised: July 19, 2026