Redaction

Redactions allow you to withhold or remove confidential information from documents. Everlaw's redaction tools allow you to redact the content and metadata of individual files or sets or files. 

Use this article to learn how to:

• Redact information from your documents
• Configure your redactions so they appear exactly as you want when produced
• Save time on redacting confidential or sensitive information

Requirements

Required permissions: Create or Admin permission on Redactions to create redactions

Most documents are redacted from their Image/PDF view. The exception is spreadsheets and media (video and audio) files, which can be redacted from their Native view.

Redact the image view of a document

You can redact document contents while reviewing a document using a highlighter or by text selection.

Redaction highlighter

The redaction highlighter lets you draw a box to cover the information you want to redact. To use the redaction highlighter:

1. Select the redaction button  on the toolbar. The selected highlighter has a darker background once selected.
   You can also use the keyboard shortcut: "r"
   The redaction highlighter also appears in the Native and Text views, but redacting by highlighter is only available in PDF view, as well as native view for spreadsheets and media files.
2. To redact by highlighter, place the cursor anywhere on the document and hold while dragging the cursor. A box of transparent black will appear over your selected area.
   After production, this selected area will not be visible, and the text below the redaction will not be OCR’d.
3. [Optional] Add a redaction stamp and/or note.
4. Continue adding redactions to the document.
5. When you are done, toggle the redaction tool off, either by clicking the button or pressing "r" again on your keyboard.

Delete highlighter redactions

You can delete highlighter redactions individually. To do so:

1. Select the redaction to bring up the panel.
2. Select the trashcan button to delete the redaction.
   

Inverse redactions

To redact most of your document, use inverse redaction mode. Inverse redaction allows you to select what not to redact instead of what to redact. In this mode, Everlaw redacts everything outside of the box you draw instead of redacting the content inside the box. Here are more details about inverse redaction:

• You can create as many inverse redactions on a single page as needed. Inverse redactions can overlap with each other and with regular redactions.
• On production, regular redactions, including persistent hit redactions, take precedence over inverse redactions, so the final produced document will always display the maximum redacted space. This reduces the risk of accidentally exposing parts of the document meant to be redacted.
  

To use inverse redaction mode:

1. Select the dropdown arrow next to the redaction button in the toolbar, then select Inverse redact.
   
   You can also enter inverse redaction mode with the keyboard shortcut “e”.
2. Draw inverse redactions in the same way you draw regular redactions. When you start the process of pressing down-and-dragging to create an inverse redaction, a full-page redaction is automatically applied. You don’t have to create a full-page redaction before drawing an inverse redaction.
   To apply a full-page redaction without creating an inverse redaction, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+r or click on the page while in inverse redaction mode.
   
3. Click anywhere on the redacted space to bring up the redaction stamp dialog. From this dialog, you can add a stamp or a note to the full-page redaction surrounding the inverse redaction.

You can use inverse redaction mode in native spreadsheets, which mirrors the functionality described above. Inverse spreadsheet redactions are applied to full-sheet redactions rather than full-page redactions. You can learn more here about spreadsheet review and redactions.

Delete an inverse redaction

To delete an inverse redaction:

1. Click anywhere inside the inverse redaction. This opens the redaction configuration panel.  
2. Select the Delete button to delete the inverse redaction. 

Full page redaction

To redact many pages of a long document:

1. Select the dropdown arrow next to the redaction button in the toolbar
2. Select Redact page in the redaction dropdown menu.  A box opens.
3. Choose to redact the current page, all pages, or a custom range of pages of the document.
   
4. [Optional] Add a stamp or a note to be applied to the redaction.
5. Select Redact pages.

On production, full-page redactions are burned into the document.

Full-page redactions take precedence over regular redactions, which take precedence over the spaces carved out when doing an inverse reaction. Therefore, regular redactions and their stamps are always obscured by a full-page redaction, as seen in the example below. However, regular redactions still appear over inverse redactions.

Everlaw adds white space at the bottom of the produced document in order to display the Bates number (as well as any other endorsements selected on production). This white space also appears on the top of the document if you choose to put the Bates number or endorsements at the top of your document. This white space is not part of the original image; the original image is always completely obscured by the full-page redaction.

Delete a full-page redaction

To delete a full-page redaction:

1. Click anywhere on the page.  This opens the redaction configuration panel.  
2. Select the Delete button to delete the redaction. 
   Deleting a full-page redaction automatically deletes any inverse redactions cut out of it

Text selection mode

You can redact text in text selection mode, but not images or blank space. To redact text this way:

1. Select the text selection  button.
2. Click and drag over the text you want to redact.
   A pop-up panel appears with six options.
3. To redact, you can choose to Redact the current instance of this text   or Redact all instances
   • If you choose to redact all instances and want to add a redaction stamp to each, select the gear button and choose your stamp before you make the redaction.
   • Redacting all instances creates a redaction everywhere that this text appears within this document
4. If you choose Redact the current instance, an options panel pops up. You can apply a note and/or redaction stamp to your redaction.
   If you redacted all instances and want to apply a note to each instance, you can navigate between instances of this redaction in the Hit highlights panel.

Partial PII redaction

When you redact personally identifying information (PII) using the text selector, you can choose full redaction or from three different partial redaction formats:

• Username
• Username except first character
• Domain

By default, the text is redacted fully. To redact it only partially:

1. Before you select redact , select the gear (just as you would to add a redaction stamp).
2. Click into the PII Redaction Type field.
3. Select your partial redaction type.
4. Select to Redact the current instance of this text or Redact all instances

Delete a text selection redaction

You can delete text selection redactions individually or in bulk. 

To delete one individually:

1. Select it in the document to open the options panel.
2. Select the trashcan button.

To delete  in bulk:

1. Select the string in the Hit highlights panel.
2. Choose remove all instances of this redaction .

Apply redaction stamps

Redaction stamps are labels applied to a redacted portion of a document to indicate why the information was hidden. These stamps help provide context for anyone when reviewing documents with redacted materials.

By default, the list of redaction stamps available to you as a reviewer are defined at the project level by a Project Admin. However, Admins may also choose to allow you to create your own stamps during review. Custom stamps can be seen and applied by other reviewers on the project.

Required permissions: You must have Admin or Create redaction permissions on redaction stamps to apply this review work. To request this permission, contact a Project Admin.

To apply a redaction stamp to an existing redaction:

1. Select the redaction.
   This opens the redaction dialog.
2. In the Redaction stamps field, select the stamp(s) you want to apply.
   If custom stamps are enabled on the project, you may also select (New custom stamp), and enter a new stamp value.
   
   The applied stamp is overlaid on the redaction.
   Multiple stamps appear over redactions as a comma separated list.
   

Default redaction settings

Redactions have no stamp by default, but you can set a default stamp for redactions made in the review window. Batch redactions always default to no stamp. To set the default redaction settings:

1. Press the caret next to the redaction tool.
2. Select Default redaction stamp settings.
   
3. Choose the default setting. 
4. Select Submit.

There are three options:

• No stamp: This is the current default. New redactions have no stamp applied by default.
• Redaction stamp: Choose a specific redaction stamp to apply to new redactions created on the review window using the redaction tool.
• Last applied redaction stamp: The last applied stamp is applied. For example, if you make a redaction with stamp A, then make a new redaction, this new redaction will have stamp A as well. If you then change any redaction to stamp B, the next new redaction will have stamp B. The last applied stamp is reset on every new review window session to no stamp, so closing and re-opening the review window resets the last applied redaction stamp to the default of no stamp.
  

  Note

  Changing the hit redaction stamp from the Hit redaction settings does not update the last applied stamp for any other redaction. Subsequent redactions (from redaction mode, text selection mode, or from the Hit Highlights tab) will still apply the previous most recently applied stamp.

The default redaction stamp settings:

• Are saved for every user on a per-project basis, so you can have a different default redaction stamp setting for every project if needed
• On hit highlights, as well as batch redactions, stay as No stamp regardless of default redaction stamp settings.
• Only support one stamp applied to a redaction. if your most recent redaction included multiple stamps and you select Last applied redaction stamp, the next redaction will have the last redaction stamp you selected applied to it.

Redact from the Hit Highlights tab

You can learn how to redact from the Hit Highlights tab in our article on using Hit Highlights.

Redact metadata

Documents that you produce often include a load file with metadata from the documents. If there are specific values that you don't want to include for a given metadata field, you can redact them. The redacted values will not be present in the load file. To redact metadata from the review window:

1. Select the redaction highlighter   in the toolbar.
2. Navigate to the Metadata panel. The redaction button is beside all metadata fields with a value.
3. Select the button to redact the corresponding field.
   
4. To assign a stamp or add a note to the redaction, select the redaction to make the redaction panel appear. 

To delete a metadata redaction, select the trash can in the lower right corner of the popup.

If you delete a metadata value that has a metadata redaction, the metadata redaction is also removed. You cannot have a metadata redaction over an empty metadata field.

Metadata redaction suggestions

During review, you may redact a value from the body of a document, but forget to redact that same value in the metadata. To prevent this, Everlaw offers metadata redaction suggestions for both highlight and text-selection redactions. 

When you redact the body of a document, Everlaw checks if any values in the document’s metadata match the text of you redaction. If the text is found, Everlaw may suggest that you redact it in the metadata as well.

Here are some additional details about metadata redaction suggestions:

• If you include a stamp on your content redaction, and you choose to redact the identical metadata from the redaction suggestion, the stamp is applied to your metadata redactions as well.
• Redaction suggestions are usually supported for Text, AddressFrom, AddressList, and Number fields. This means that you can expect to see redaction suggestions for metadata such as email parties, email subjects, document custodians, Bates numbers on previously produced documents, and more.
• Redaction suggestions are only supported if the redacted area includes text embedded in the image, which is the standard for data processed on Everlaw. 
• Redaction suggestions are based on exact text matches between the content and metadata redactions. This means that if you have redacted “John Smith” on an email document, but the email is from “John Smith and Jane Doe,” then the From metadata field will not be suggested for redaction. 
• Similarly, because dates appear in so many formats, DateTime fields are never suggested for redaction.

Export redaction information

You can export redaction information of a document. You can include metadata fields of redaction information in a production load file and export redaction stamp information on a document through CSV exports. 

Add metadata about redactions in production

On the load file step of the production protocol wizard:

1. Search for the "Redacted" calculated field and include it in your load file.
   If a document in your production has redactions applied, the field is populated with a yes value; if not, the field is populated with a no value.
2. [Optional] Search for the "Redaction Stamps" and "Redaction Stamp Details" calculated fields to include redaction stamp information in your load file. Learn more about productions here. 

Export redaction stamp information to CSV

From results table:

Select Export to CSV and add the Redaction Stamps and Redaction Stamp Details fields to include in your CSV export.

The Redaction Stamps filed includes all unique redaction stamps applied on the document and its metadata.

The Redaction Stamps Details column includes the page locations of redaction stamps. Learn more about Export to CSV.