Hidden text and file safety
Files can hide things, by accident or on purpose. STYD checks every file before it reads it, and leaves out text a person could not see.
Hidden text is left out
In PDF and Word files, STYD ignores text that a reader cannot see on the page:
- text with the same colour as the background, such as white on white;
- text that is invisible or fully transparent;
- text smaller than 2 points;
- text placed outside the page or outside the area that is shown;
- text in a PDF layer that is switched off;
- text marked as hidden in Word.
This text is removed before the file is indexed, so it can never appear in an answer. STYD keeps only a count. The file's details show it, for example “3 hidden passages ignored”. The thresholds are cautious on purpose, so that real small print is kept.
Orders hidden in a file
A file can contain sentences written to give orders to an AI assistant, such as “ignore your instructions”. STYD flags such passages, never follows them, and uses the text only as content. The file's details show a notice, and you do not need to do anything.
Files are read in a closed process
Each file is opened in a separate process that has no network access and strict limits on time and memory. A file that tries to use too much is stopped. STYD refuses files with macros, files with a password, nested archives and files built to expand into something huge. For these, and for files STYD cannot read, you see a plain message that does not say why.
Text from a file never becomes a link
An address that appears in an answer is shown as plain text. STYD does not turn text from your files into links or images, so a file cannot send a reader to another site from inside an answer.