Language Tool and Data Privacy for First Time Users

Grindelfein

Hello there!
First of all, I really like Zettlr! However, what is very important for me is data security and privacy.

When I first started Zettlr and looked through the options, I stumbled upon the Language Tool which is activated by default. I then learned that, with this tool beeing activated, my texts are send to a server for spell checking, which surprised me in a bad way, to be honest (because Zettlr is emphasizing data privacy on its website).

So my suggestion would be to turn off this service by default, so that new users have to actively think about using it (switching it on by themselves) or not. Of course, there is a good documentation about the Language tool and how to run it offline, but honestly, I think the majority of people just use programs or consult youtube tutorials on how to use these.

So I would like to hear what others think about this, and if I am to picky about this topic?

hendrik

Hi, LanguageTool is not enabled by default. We do present the option to enable it in the onboarding dialog, however. If LanguageTool was on, this means that you have enabled it during onboarding.

I just double-checked it, and this is what this page looks like:

Image description

As you can clearly see, the button itself says Activate LanguageTool (uses online service). If you do not click this button, LanguageTool will not be enabled, and you can enable it later in the settings (where you can also specify a local instance). If you click it, it will turn green to indicate that you have pressed the button.

To prevent sending any data to a remote server, but still benefit from LT spellchecking, check out the documentation guide: https://docs.zettlr.com/en/guides/languagetool-local/

Grindelfein

Hi hendrik,

it seems that I am an idiot. I checked again using a linux live system and the appimage Zettlr-4.3.1-x86_64 (the same way I use it at home) and you are right. It is deactivated by default.

EDIT: so I guess I clicked on it during the dialogues after first start up, thats the only way I can think of. Anyhow, I - as a user - made a mistake, obviously.

My honest apologies!