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Chrome Extension · Part of Clean Gmail

Clean Gmail Privacy

Privacy policy for the Clean Gmail Chrome extension. No data collection, tracking, or developer-operated servers. Email content is never stored or sent.

Effective date: October 29, 2026

Clean Gmail does not collect, sell, or share personal data. It has no developer-operated servers, analytics, telemetry, advertising, or user accounts. The content of your emails is never stored, copied, or sent anywhere.

Overview

Clean Gmail (“the Extension”) changes how Gmail looks and behaves in your browser. It keeps the subject and sender in view while you read, moves Gmail’s smart buttons into the toolbar, hides the Gmail buttons you pick, can recolor Gmail’s blue default star and importance markers, adds an optional Archive+ button, and can open email links in Gmail. This policy explains which settings and permissions it uses and how you can remove its data.

Settings Stored by the Extension

All processing happens locally in your browser. The Extension stores only its own settings, in three Chrome storage areas.

Synced settings (chrome.storage.sync). Chrome can make these available in other Chrome browsers where you are signed in and have sync enabled:

  • extensionEnabled: the master switch for the whole Extension
  • enabled and headerMode: whether the subject and sender stay in view, and the header style (structured)
  • subjectLines, subjectLabels, subjectBackground and stickySender: the Structured header’s options: how many lines the subject may take, where the importance marker and labels sit, the subject’s background, and whether the sender stays on top
  • smartButtons: whether Gmail’s smart buttons are moved into the toolbar
  • hideButtons and hiddenButtons: whether button hiding is on, and the buttons you chose to hide. Each of up to 50 entries holds a CSS selector of up to 300 characters and a label of up to 60 characters. The label is the button’s name, which can be the name of one of your Gmail labels if you hide a navigation entry.
  • markerColors, starColor and importanceColor: whether Star Colors is on, and the color picked for Gmail’s default star and for the importance markers (Gmail’s blue, yellow, orange, red, green, or purple)
  • mailtoTarget, mailtoView and mailtoAccountIndex: how email links open (popup, new tab, background tab, or your existing Gmail tab), whether compose opens on its own or inside full Gmail, and which signed-in Gmail account opens it
  • archivePlus and its options: archivePlusLabelMode (all labels, only these, or all except these), archivePlusLabels (the label names you pick, up to 100), archivePlusSubLabels (whether sub-labels are included), archivePlusMarkRead (whether the conversation is marked read, on by default), archivePlusUnstar (whether the star is removed too, off by default), archivePlusUndo (Gmail’s undo or full undo), archivePlusListLabels (how labels are removed from conversations selected in the list), archivePlusShortcut (whether the keyboard shortcut is on, on by default) and archivePlusShortcutKey (the shortcut keys, W by default)

Local settings (chrome.storage.local). These stay in the current Chrome profile:

  • mailtoHandler: whether Open email links in Gmail is turned on in this Chrome profile
  • archivePlusKnownLabels: up to 500 label names that Gmail showed in your browser, used only to suggest labels in the Archive+ settings
  • archivePlusGmailAutoAdvance: Gmail’s own Auto-advance choice (back to the list, the newer conversation, or the older one) for each signed-in account number, read from Gmail’s settings so Archive+ moves on after archiving the way Gmail would

Session markers (chrome.storage.session). Short-lived values that Chrome clears when the browser closes:

  • handlerPromptTabId and settingsTabRequest: which tab should show the email-links prompt or open the settings, with a 60-second expiry for the settings request

ZAAI does not operate a server for these settings and cannot access them.

Permissions and Website Access

The Extension uses the following Chrome permissions and website access:

  • storage stores the settings listed above.
  • contextMenus adds two right-click menu items: Email this page with Gmail and Email this link with Gmail.
  • activeTab reads the title and URL of the page you right-clicked, and only when you use one of those two menu items, so they can be placed in a Gmail compose window.
  • scripting registers the email-link click handler, and only when you turn on Open email links in Gmail.
  • https://mail.google.com/* lets the Extension rearrange Gmail’s page, hide the buttons you picked, recolor stars and importance markers, and run Archive+ in your Gmail tab. Star Colors runs on mail.google.com from the start of page load (document_start) and only adds a stylesheet to Gmail’s page. Archive+ presses Gmail’s own controls. Neither uses any additional permission.
  • http://*/* and https://*/* are optional. Chrome asks for them only when you turn on Open email links in Gmail, because an email link can appear on any website. The Extension uses this access only to notice clicks on email links, and releases it when you turn the feature off.

Data Not Collected or Shared

The Extension does not:

  • Store, copy, or send the content of your emails
  • Make network requests to developer-operated servers, or any other servers
  • Collect analytics, telemetry, diagnostics, or usage history
  • Include advertising or advertising identifiers
  • Create or require a ZAAI account
  • Sell, rent, disclose, or otherwise share your data
  • Load remote code

The only outbound effect is opening a Gmail compose window, and that happens only when you click an email link or use one of the right-click menu items.

Copy settings as JSON in the settings page puts your current settings on the clipboard, and only when you click it. Archive+ label names are exported as a count only, not as names.

Chrome and Google Infrastructure

Your browser communicates with Gmail as it normally would, and Chrome may synchronize the Extension’s synced settings through your Google account when Chrome sync is enabled. Those interactions are handled by Google under its own terms and privacy policies. ZAAI does not receive data from Chrome sync or from your use of Gmail.

Resetting or Deleting Your Settings

Every feature can be switched off on its own in the settings page, the switch in the Extension popup pauses all of them at once, and Show all brings back every hidden button. Turning off Open email links in Gmail releases the optional website access. Uninstalling Clean Gmail removes the Extension and its local data from that Chrome profile. If Chrome sync is enabled, you can review and delete synchronized browser data through your Google account and Chrome sync controls.

Changes to This Policy

If this privacy policy changes, the revised version will be posted at this URL with an updated effective date. Material changes will also be described in the Extension’s release notes or Chrome Web Store listing where appropriate.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, contact zaai-support@manuelgruber.com.