Privacy and retention
SheetsDB keeps operational records for dashboards, service health, and support. Detailed request collection can be disabled without turning off the API or aggregate counters.
Sheet contents stay out
SheetsDB never stores returned Sheet rows, response bodies or full request bodies in observability records. The submitted Sheet reference can be encrypted separately for support tracing.
How API keys are stored
New API keys are stored as one-way hashes. Rotate any legacy key to move it to the current storage format. Support diagnostics use a separate secret-keyed fingerprint created in memory.
Sensitive details expire automatically
Encrypted Sheet references expire within 30 days. Encrypted IP addresses and user agents expire within 14 days.
What operational records contain
A request record can include an opaque request ID, timestamp, result, safe error category, timing, row and byte counts, limit state, and execution region. It can also include masked references to the user, API key, Sheet, and network, plus country and a reduced browser and operating-system summary.
Automatic retention
- Operational request events
- Up to 91 days
- Encrypted Sheet reference
- Up to 30 days
- Encrypted IP and User-Agent
- Up to 14 days
- Rate-limit windows
- About two minutes
- Aggregate usage counters
- Hourly counters up to 90 days; daily counters up to two years
- Account/key summaries
- Stored while the account exists and removed when the account is erased
How exact-value access works
Ordinary dashboards receive masked values only. Exact fields require the owner account, a recent Google sign-in, a dedicated no-store request and a successful audit entry. Each revealed field remasks after a short interval.