Redaction

Redaction is the permanent obscuring of sensitive content in a document so it can be safely shared. Typical redaction targets: ID numbers, KRA PINs, bank details, medical conditions, personal addresses, third-party PII not relevant to the recipient.

Papyrus supports two redaction modes:

1. View-only redaction: applied as an overlay; the original document is preserved; users with sufficient permissions can see the unredacted content. Used internally to mask data from junior staff.
2. Permanent redaction: produces a new document with the redacted regions actually removed; the original remains accessible to permitted users. Used for external sharing or DSAR fulfilment.

The redaction tool can detect PII automatically and propose redaction regions. A user reviews and confirms before the redaction is permanent.

Redacted regions in a redacted-export PDF are flattened — meaning the underlying text cannot be recovered by selecting or copying.

See also

• PII
• Data Subject Access Request