A family tree is not really about ancestors. Most of the people in it are dead, yes, but a lot of them are not. Parents. Cousins. Children. Their birthdates, their mother's maiden name, the towns they were born in. Everything a bank uses as a security question is sitting in that file, for dozens of people who have no idea it exists.

So the worry is a fair one. Before dropping a .ged file into any website, it is worth knowing what happens to it.

What "upload" means

When a website says "upload your GEDCOM," it usually means exactly that. The browser sends the whole file to their server. Their code reads it, stores at least a copy (sometimes for minutes, sometimes forever), builds the display, and sends the result back.

That is not sinister. It is how most of the web works. But once the file is on someone else's computer, it is subject to their retention policy, their security, their breaches, and their business decisions. You cannot see whether they deleted it. If they say they did, you are trusting them.

Some sites are careful and honest about this. Some are vague. Some do not say. From the outside they all look the same: a page with an upload button.

How GED-VIEW is different

GED-VIEW does not have a server that receives your file. The site is a set of static files, the same as a PDF sitting on a web host. When a GEDCOM is opened, the browser reads it from your disk and the code running on your own computer does all the parsing and drawing. Nothing about the tree leaves the machine.

That is not a policy. It is how the thing is built. There is no upload endpoint to be careless with, no database of trees to be breached, no copy anywhere for anyone to delete or forget to delete.

The same is true for photos. When a media folder is connected, the browser reads the images from your disk to show them. They are not sent anywhere.

Place names, too. GED-VIEW has its own geocoder built into the app for the map. Place lookups happen in the browser against data that ships with the site. No place name, or anything else, is sent to a map service.

What the browser stores on your own computer

Web browsers have their own storage, on your device, that a website can use to remember things between visits. Two kinds are relevant here:

localStorage is a small store of simple settings. GED-VIEW uses it for preferences.
IndexedDB is a larger store for structured data. GED-VIEW uses it for things you choose to keep: pinned and hidden items, and anything saved under Saved Data.

Both live inside your browser on your computer. Nothing in them is transmitted. They can be cleared at any time from Saved Data in GED-VIEW, or from the browser's own settings (clear site data). Clearing them removes what GED-VIEW remembered; it does not touch your .ged file, which was never copied there unless you saved it deliberately.

If the browser asked whether to copy files when a media folder was picked, that is the browser caching the images for display, in the same on-device storage. Still not transmitted.

Do not take anyone's word for it

"We don't upload your data" is exactly what everyone says. There is a check anyone can do in a couple of minutes.

Open the browser's developer tools (F12 in Chrome, Edge or Firefox). Click the Network tab. Then open a GEDCOM in GED-VIEW. The Network tab lists every request the page makes. You will see the app's own files loading, including pieces of the app that load as you open new pages. You will not see a request carrying your GEDCOM, your photos, or your place names anywhere. Each request can be clicked to read what it sent.

Any tool that keeps data in the browser should pass this test.

What GED-VIEW does store on a server

Nothing about the tree.

The only things stored server-side are what you type into the support form, the review form, and the updates signup form. Those are kept only as long as needed to reply, publish a review you agreed to make public, or send updates you asked for. Details are in the Terms of Use. Please do not paste family details into the support form.

There is no account, no login, no advertising, and no analytics or tracking of any kind. GED-VIEW does not record that you visited, and does not know how many people use it.

What GED-VIEW cannot protect you from

A browser-only design solves one problem and not every problem.

Your own computer. If the laptop is shared, or someone else can sit at it, then the .ged file on the disk is the exposure. The browser storage described above is also on that machine.
The website the file came from. If the tree lives on Ancestry or MyHeritage, it lives on their servers regardless of what happens to the export.
Browser extensions. An extension you have installed can read what is on any page you visit. That is true of every website. A private window turns most extensions off.
Sending the file to someone else. Email is not private. Whoever runs the recipient's mail server can read an attachment. That is a reason to trim what is sent, which is what the sharing guide is about.

Questions to ask about any genealogy tool

Whether or not you use GED-VIEW:

Does it say, plainly, whether the file leaves your computer? Vague wording ("secure processing," "your privacy matters") is not an answer.
Is there a named person or company behind it, with a way to contact them?
What does the privacy policy say about how long they keep your data, and can you make them delete it?
If it is free, how does it pay for itself? Ads, donations, and a paid tier are all fine answers. "It just is" is a reason to look closer.

The safest way to show a relative a tree today is to send them the .ged file and a link to GED-VIEW. They open it on their own computer, exactly as you did, and nothing is uploaded on their end either.

Before sending, consider cutting it down. Most desktop programs can export a GEDCOM that excludes living people, or only includes one branch. A cousin does not need your children's birthdates to see who your shared great-grandfather was. The sharing guide covers how.

Sharing by link is planned. It will be built with no change to the privacy model: the tree will be encrypted on your computer before anything is stored, and what is and is not kept will be stated exactly.

The short version

A GEDCOM is personal data about living people who did not consent. Treat it that way. Prefer tools that keep it on your machine, and check that they do rather than believing the label. And when sharing, share less than the whole thing.