Frequently asked questions
How links, private documents, pasted text, citations, credits, and deletion work.
Sources
- What can I add to Shortsmark?
- You can add a public link, paste text, or upload a PDF, DOCX, TXT, or Markdown file. Files must be 10 MB or smaller; PDFs may have up to 100 pages; and extracted or pasted text may have up to 100,000 characters. Password-protected, corrupt, macro-enabled, scanned or image-only PDFs are not supported.
- What am I allowed to submit?
- Only submit material you own, are licensed or authorized to use, or are otherwise legally permitted to have Shortsmark process. Public availability alone does not give you permission.
- Does Shortsmark keep my original file?
- No. Document bytes are parsed in memory and discarded immediately. Extracted text is retained only in an expiring processing record while generation or an allowed retry is pending, then deleted after success, terminal failure, or expiry.
Privacy and notes
- Are uploaded documents and pasted text private?
- Yes. They and their generated notes are scoped to your account, are not reused across accounts, and cannot be published through Shortsmark. The generated note keeps only short exact citation quotes and a PDF page number when available.
- Can two people upload the same document?
- Each account receives an isolated private artifact. Within one account, uploading identical normalized content in the same output language reuses that account’s existing note without another credit.
- What happens when I remove a private note?
- The private note, entries, tags, source metadata, content hash, and any processing payload are permanently deleted. The already-used period credit remains counted in a content-free usage event, so deletion does not refund allowance.
- Can I share a note publicly?
- No. Shortsmark does not provide public note links. Notes remain available only through an authenticated account.
Links, processing, and credits
- How are public links different?
- Existing public-link processing remains available. A generated URL artifact may be reused when another account submits the same public source, while each account’s saved time, categories, and feed visibility remain separate. This does not make the note publicly shareable.
- Does a failed note use a credit?
- No. A private note uses one credit while processing or ready. A generation that reaches terminal failure is excluded, as with link-derived notes.
- Where does source material go for AI generation?
- Shortsmark sends the source material and requested output language, without your Firebase user ID or email, to the AI providers described in the Privacy Policy. Do not submit confidential information or another person’s personal information unless you have authority and a lawful basis to do so.