How to redact documents

Upload multi-page PDFs, Word, PowerPoint or Excel documents to Secure Redact to automatically detect PII - then review and selectively redact.

  1. Upload PDF/Word/PPT/Excel File(s) and add to any Project. Then click Upload. Secure Redact will detect the PII mentioned below.

The Navigation Bar

Use the Navigation Bar to adjust the view of your documents as you edit/redact:

  • Edit / Preview = flick between editing and redaction preview to see what your final redacted document would look like. (keyboard shortcut B)

  • Redact whole page = redact the entire page that you are on.

  • Undo = undo your most recent action.

  • Zoom = zoom in/out to edit your pages more clearly

How to redact a document with Secure Redact

1) Detected PII

This section is where Secure Redact lists all the PII it has detected in categories, ready for you to choose what to redact.

  • Click a particular tick box to redact one or all instances of it in your document.

  • Select all instances of “Address”, “Date” etc.

  • Choose to redact partial or the full detected PII (e.g. a phone number, leaving the last 3 digits visible).

All selected redactions will be added to the All Redactions Panel, with their respective label (e.g. “Address”, “Date” etc.)

2) Search

Search for specific words, phrases, numbers etc. to highlight or redact. Then click + sign to Add redaction.

This will also be added to the All Redactions Panel, where you’ll have the opportunity to add a label as needed.

3) All Redactions Panel

View all your selected redactions in one place — words, phrases, numbers and more. When you export, you can choose to include labels on the redacted areas. Use this panel to add or edit those labels, or to remove a redaction entirely before exporting.

3) Export Settings

Update your redaction settings here before exporting. Choose to have either:

  • Black Box

  • Labelled (e.g. “Address” on a black box redaction)

  • Annotated (the label is visible on hover in a PDF viewer)

You can also choose to remove the metadata, which means that Document details such as author and date edited will not be accessible to viewers of the file.

Then click Export, top right.

Secure Redact detects the following forms of PII in documents:

  • Address

  • Bank Account Number

  • Clock Time

  • Credit Card Number

  • Credit/Debit Card

  • Criminal Records Office

  • Date

  • Digital Time

  • Driving Licence

  • Driving Licence Number

  • DVLA

  • Email

  • Health Insurance Number

  • Iban

  • Identity Number

  • Medical Condition

  • Money

  • National Firearms Licensing Management System

  • National Insurance Number

  • NHS Number

  • Passport

  • Person

  • Phone Number

  • Police National Computer IDs

  • Prison Number

  • Profanities

  • Social Media Handle

  • Sort Code

  • SWIFT Code

  • UK Postcode

  • Unique Taxpayer Reference

  • URL

  • Username

  • Vehicle Number Plate

  • Vehicle Number

  • Vehicle Registration Number

Go back to Using Secure Redact