Privacy Policy

Last updated September 28, 2026

Who we are

TrestleSuite and TrestleBoards are run by TrestleSuite, based in Norman, Oklahoma, USA (“we”, “us”). This policy covers trestlesuite.com and the TrestleBoards service. When a school uses TrestleBoards with students, the school controls that information and we handle it for the school (see Children and schools).

What we collect

What	Details	Why
Account details	Your name, email address and password (stored scrambled, never in plain text). If you sign in with Google or Microsoft, we receive your name and email address from them. We never see your Google or Microsoft password.	To create your account, sign you in and let you keep your boards.
Guest details	The name a guest shows as (an anonymous animal name, or a name they type) and a random guest code stored in a cookie.	So guests can join without an account and edit their own notes later.
Board content	Notes, shapes, drawings, pictures, files, votes, reports and saved versions of the board, with who added each item.	This is the service itself.
Messages you send us	Your name, email address, school or organization (if you give it) and your message, when you use the Contact form or email us.	To reply to you, and to keep a record of what was asked.
LMS details	When a board is opened from an LMS using LTI 1.3: your name, your role (for example teacher or learner) and the course or placement it was opened from, as sent by the school’s LMS.	To open the right board and give teachers the right controls, with no second login.
Technical details	IP address, browser type and time of each visit, in short-term server logs and safety counters.	To keep the service secure, stop abuse and set fair-use limits (for example how many boards one address can create in an hour).

We don’t sell personal information or use advertising trackers. Boards, and the TrestleSuite pages (home, Try it, TrestleBoards, For your LMS, What’s coming, Contact, Terms, Privacy and Accessibility), don’t load third-party analytics.

How we use it

• To run TrestleBoards: show boards to the people they’re shared with, sync changes live, make file previews, PDFs and spreadsheets, and keep saved versions.
• To keep people safe: hide rude words, hold notes that match a board’s own word list, and review notes people report.
• To answer your questions and fix problems.
• To email you about your account and, if you sign up, to let you know when the full TrestleSuite launches. You can unsubscribe from launch news at any time.

Who we share it with

We don’t sell or rent personal information. We share it only as needed to run the service:

• The people on your board. Anyone you share a board with can see its content and the names shown on it. On a board open to anyone with the link, that includes anyone who has the link.
• Our web host, which stores the service’s data on servers in the United States.
• Google or Microsoft, only if you choose to sign in with them.
• Music services, only if you choose Listen. When a board’s host shares music and you choose Listen, the player loads from YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music. That company then receives your IP address and may set its own cookies, under its own terms and privacy policy: YouTube Terms of Service and Google Privacy Policy, Spotify, Apple and Amazon. YouTube players load from youtube-nocookie.com. Nothing loads until you choose Listen.
• Google Fonts. Our web pages load their lettering from Google Fonts, so your browser connects to Google when you visit.
• Automated moderation (only if we turn it on). Note text may be checked by OpenAI’s moderation service to catch harmful content. This is off by default. If we turn it on, we’ll update this policy.
• Website tools. trestlesuite.com runs on WordPress. Some of its other pages use WordPress plugins for things like site statistics, forms and security. We don’t use them for advertising. If we turn on a tool that shares visitor data with another company, such as Google Analytics, we’ll name it here first.
• The law. We share information if the law requires it, or to protect someone’s safety.

“Edit together” for Office files, where available, runs on a document server we operate ourselves, not on an outside company’s service.

Health information (HIPAA)

TrestleBoards isn’t designed for protected health information (PHI), and we don’t act as a HIPAA business associate or sign business associate agreements. Please don’t put patient names, medical record details or other PHI on a board. For healthcare training, use made-up or fully de-identified examples.

Public agencies and public records

If a government agency or public school uses TrestleBoards, content on its boards may be a public record under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or state open records laws. The agency controls that content and decides how to respond to records requests. If we receive a request for an agency’s board content, we’ll refer it to the agency. Agencies should save boards as PDFs or spreadsheets to meet their own records retention schedules.

How we protect it

Every connection uses HTTPS. Uploaded Office files are checked before they’re accepted, and files with hidden macros, embedded programs or unsafe links are refused. Access to each board follows the sharing setting its owner chose. No system is perfectly secure, so please don’t put highly sensitive information, such as health or financial records, on a board.

How long we keep it

• Your account: until you ask us to delete it.
• Boards: until you delete them. Free boards open to anyone with the link may be deleted after 30 days with no activity.
• Saved versions of a board: 30 days.
• Files and pictures removed from a board: deleted after 30 days.
• Guest cookie: 30 days.
• Safety counters based on IP address: from minutes up to one day.

Cookies and browser storage

• Sign-in cookies keep you signed in to your account.
• The guest cookie (ts_wb_guest) holds a random code so a guest can keep editing their own notes. It lasts 30 days and holds no name or email address. When a board is embedded on another website, this cookie is what lets guests take part there.
• Browser storage remembers small preferences on your own device, such as whether files open in a side panel.

We don’t use cookies for advertising.

Children, students and schools (FERPA and COPPA)

You must be at least 13 to create a TrestleBoards account. Younger students may use boards only through their school or teacher: as a guest on a board their teacher shares, or through their school’s LMS. In those cases, the school is responsible for any permission needed from parents.

When a school uses TrestleBoards, we act as a service provider under the school’s direction, in the role the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) calls a “school official” with a legitimate educational interest. That means:

• We use student information only to provide TrestleBoards to the school, never for advertising, and we don’t sell it or build profiles of students.
• We don’t share student information with anyone else except as described in this policy or as the school directs.
• The school can ask us to see, correct, export or delete its students’ information at any time.
• Schools and districts that need a student data privacy agreement can contact us.

We also support schools’ obligations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). If you’re a parent and think your child has given us information without the right permission, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Your choices and rights

• See, correct or download your information. You can save any board as a PDF, or its notes to Excel.
• Delete any board you own with the Delete board button.
• Ask us to delete your account and everything linked to it.
• Unsubscribe from launch news using the link in any email.

Depending on where you live, you may have more rights, for example under GDPR or California law. Email us and we’ll respond within 30 days.

Accessibility

If you need this policy in another format, or help using TrestleBoards with assistive technology, see our Accessibility and inclusion page or contact us.

Changes to this policy

If we make a significant change, we’ll let account holders know by email or on the site before it takes effect. The date at the top shows the latest version.

Contact

Privacy questions or requests: info@trestlesuite.com
TrestleSuite, Norman, Oklahoma, USA