This policy explains what personal data opendesk collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and how to have it deleted. We have tried to write it plainly. If anything is unclear, write to [email protected].
Who we are
opendesk is operated by Mindroot Ltd ("opendesk", "we", "us"), a company registered in England and Wales with company number 16543299. Our registered office is at 71-75 Shelton Street, London, England, WC2H 9JQ. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data protection fee payer, registration reference ZB958997.
For the data described in this policy about our own customers and website visitors, we are the controller. For data our customers put into their workspaces, see the next section.
Scope
This policy covers:
- this website, opendesk.sh, and our documentation at docs.opendesk.sh;
- opendesk Cloud: the web app at app.opendesk.sh, the API at api.opendesk.sh, the realtime service, help centers and the chat widget hosted by us (together, "the Service").
Customer data. Our customers (the organizations that create workspaces) use the Service to talk to their own customers. Tickets, messages, contacts, attachments and articles in a workspace are customer data. For customer data we act as a processor on behalf of the workspace owner, who is the controller. If you contacted a company that uses opendesk, that company decides how your data is used; please contact them first. We will help them answer you.
Self-hosted opendesk. opendesk is open-source software. If an organization runs it on its own servers, we do not receive, host or have access to any of that data. The organization running it is responsible for it, and this policy does not apply to it.
What we collect
Account data
When you sign up or are invited: your name, email address, password (stored only as an Argon2id hash), profile picture if you add one, two-factor settings, and the workspaces and roles you belong to. If you sign in with Google, Microsoft, GitHub or another identity provider, we receive your name, email address, profile picture and a stable account identifier from that provider.
Workspace content
What you and your team create or receive in the Service: tickets, email messages and their attachments, chat conversations, internal notes, contacts and companies, tags, saved replies, views, automations, SLA policies, knowledge base articles, webhooks and settings.
Connected mailboxes
When a workspace connects a mailbox, we receive the email sent to that mailbox so it can be shown as tickets, and we send the replies agents write through it. Depending on how the mailbox is connected, that is email forwarded to an opendesk address, email fetched over IMAP, or email accessed through the Gmail API or Microsoft's mail APIs. We store the credentials needed to keep the connection working (an IMAP or SMTP password, or OAuth access and refresh tokens), encrypted. The sections on Google and Microsoft data say more.
Chat widget visitors
When someone uses a workspace's chat widget, we process what they type and send, any name or email address they give, an identifier the website may pass to verify who they are, a visitor token stored in their browser so the conversation continues, and their browser's user agent.
Usage and device data
For security and to run the Service, we record IP addresses and user agents for sign-in sessions, and keep an audit log of security events such as sign-ins, failed sign-ins, password and two-factor changes, role changes, API key and webhook changes, and mailbox connections. Request logs record the route, status and timing of requests; they never include request bodies, query strings, passwords or tokens.
Website analytics
On this website we may use PostHog to count page views. It runs without cookies or other storage in your browser, does not create a profile of you, and does not record your session. In the app, we use PostHog to understand which features are used and to find errors. Analytics events never contain message content, secrets or credentials.
Billing
For paid plans we keep the plan, number of agents, billing contact and invoices. Payments are handled by Stripe, which collects and stores card details; we never see or store full card numbers.
Communications
If you email us, we keep the conversation so we can help you.
How we use it
- To provide the Service: show tickets, deliver replies, sync mailboxes, run automations and SLAs, send notifications and keep everyone's screen up to date.
- To secure the Service: authenticate you, prevent abuse and fraud, rate limit, and investigate incidents.
- To send service email: verification, password resets, invitations, notifications you can control, and important notices about your account.
- To support you when you ask for help.
- To run the AI features you use, as described under AI features.
- To improve the Service, using aggregated usage information.
- To bill paid plans and meet our legal obligations.
We do not sell personal data. We do not use customer data or email content for advertising, and we do not use it to train generalized artificial intelligence or machine learning models.
AI features
opendesk includes optional AI features: reply drafts, rewriting, summaries, a copilot that answers questions about a ticket, auto-triage, translation, an answer bot in the chat widget and semantic search. Workspace admins can turn them off for the whole workspace.
- What is sent. When someone uses an AI feature, or an admin turns on an automatic one such as auto-triage or the answer bot, we send the AI provider only the content that feature needs, for example the messages in a ticket, relevant knowledge base articles and your workspace's tone settings.
- Why. Customer content is sent to the AI provider only to perform the feature that was requested, and the result is returned to your workspace.
- No training. Customer content and AI outputs are not used to train AI models, by us or by our AI providers.
- No logging of content. We do not log prompt or completion text. We record only usage data, such as which feature ran, on which model, how many tokens it used and what it cost.
- Providers. On opendesk Cloud, AI features run on AI providers we contract with, under terms that forbid training on your content and limit them to providing the feature.
- The answer bot replies only from a workspace's published help center articles, is labelled as AI, and offers a way to reach a person.
Self-hosted opendesk uses whichever AI provider its operator configures, or none.
Google user data
opendesk uses Google APIs in two ways, and only when you choose to:
- Sign in with Google. We receive your name, email address, profile picture and Google account identifier, and use them only to create and sign in to your opendesk account.
- Connect a Gmail or Google Workspace mailbox. An admin of a workspace can connect a mailbox so its email appears in opendesk. With your permission, opendesk reads the email in that mailbox to create and update tickets, and sends replies that agents write, from that mailbox. We access only the mailbox you connect, and only to provide these features.
How we store it. Email we fetch is stored as tickets and messages in the workspace that connected the mailbox. OAuth tokens are encrypted with AES-GCM before they are stored, and are used only by the opendesk service to talk to Google on behalf of that mailbox.
Who sees it. Email from a connected mailbox is visible only to members of the workspace that connected it. We do not share Google user data with anyone except the service providers that host the Service, under contracts that limit them to providing it to us. We do not transfer it to advertising platforms, data brokers or information resellers.
People at opendesk. Nobody at opendesk reads your Google user data unless you ask us to for support and give us permission, it is needed for security purposes such as investigating abuse, it is required to comply with the law, or the data is aggregated and anonymized for internal operations.
Limited Use. opendesk's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use Google user data only to provide and improve the user-facing features described above, never to serve advertisements, and never to train generalized AI or machine learning models.
Revoking access. Disconnect the mailbox in opendesk under Settings, Mailboxes, which deletes the stored tokens. You can also remove opendesk's access at any time from your Google account at myaccount.google.com/permissions. Email already imported stays in the workspace until it is deleted as described under Deleting your data.
Microsoft user data
The same rules apply when you sign in with Microsoft or connect a Microsoft 365 or Outlook mailbox: we receive your name, email address and account identifier to sign you in, and access only the mailbox you connect, only to show its email as tickets and send the replies your team writes. Tokens are encrypted, data is not used for advertising or to train AI models, and you can disconnect at any time in opendesk or from your Microsoft account.
Legal bases
Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we rely on:
- Contract: to provide the Service you signed up for.
- Legitimate interests: to secure the Service, prevent abuse, understand aggregate usage and improve it, and answer your messages. We balance these against your rights.
- Consent: where we ask for it, for example to connect a mailbox through Google or Microsoft. You can withdraw it at any time.
- Legal obligation: to keep billing records and respond to lawful requests.
Sharing
We share personal data only:
- with service providers who host and run parts of the Service for us, under contracts that limit them to doing so;
- within your workspace, as you and your workspace's admins configure it, including with integrations and webhooks your workspace sets up;
- when the law requires it, after checking the request is valid, and telling the affected customer when we are allowed to;
- to protect the rights, safety and security of our users, the public or us;
- with a successor if opendesk is involved in a merger or acquisition, under this policy, with notice to you.
International transfers
Our providers may process data outside your country, including in the United States. Where data from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland is transferred, we rely on the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK addendum, or another lawful transfer mechanism.
Retention
- Account data is kept while your account exists.
- Workspace content, including imported email, is kept until it is deleted in the workspace or the workspace is deleted.
- Mailbox credentials and OAuth tokens are deleted when the mailbox is disconnected or deleted.
- The realtime event log, used to replay updates to clients that reconnect, keeps entries for 7 days.
- Request logs are kept for up to 30 days. Audit logs are kept for the life of the workspace so admins can review them.
- Backups are kept for up to 30 days, after which deleted data is gone from them too.
- Billing records are kept as long as tax and accounting law requires.
Deleting your data
- Your account: delete it in the app under your profile settings. If you are the only owner of a workspace with other members, transfer ownership or delete the workspace first.
- A workspace: its owner can delete it under workspace settings. Everything in it is removed: tickets, messages, attachments, contacts, articles, mailbox connections and settings.
- A mailbox connection: an admin can disconnect it at any time, which deletes its stored credentials.
- Individual records: agents can delete tickets, contacts and articles in the app, subject to their role.
Deleted data is removed, not hidden. It disappears from backups when they expire. You can also ask us to delete your data by writing to [email protected]. If your data is in someone else's workspace, we will pass your request to them.
Security
We encrypt data in transit with TLS, rely on our providers' encryption at rest, and additionally encrypt credentials and secrets with AES-GCM. Passwords are hashed with Argon2id. Access inside a workspace is controlled by roles, and every request is limited to the caller's workspace. Our controls are described on the security page, and the code is public at github.com/useopendesk/opendesk.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, receive a copy in a portable format, and withdraw consent. California residents have the right to know, delete and correct, and not to be discriminated against for using these rights; we do not sell or share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.
To use any of these rights, write to [email protected]. We will answer within one month, and may need to confirm your identity first. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.
Cookies
This website sets no cookies. The app sets one essential cookie when you sign in, an HttpOnly refresh token scoped to the sign-in path, which keeps you signed in and is removed when you sign out. The chat widget stores a visitor token in the visitor's browser so conversations continue between visits. Cloudflare Turnstile, which protects sign-in and sign-up, may process device signals to tell people from bots. We use no advertising cookies.
Children
The Service is for businesses and is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
Changes
We will post any change to this policy on this page and update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we will tell account owners by email before it takes effect.
Contact
Mindroot Ltd
71-75 Shelton Street, London, England, WC2H 9JQ
Company number 16543299, registered in England and Wales
ICO registration reference ZB958997
Email: [email protected]
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
For security reports, write to [email protected].
