Anonymize and redact your documents, without leaks

Redact without leaving a trace

• Tutorial

  Redact a PDF: the reliable method, step by step

  Strike out, black out, censor: what truly removes the text and what leaves it readable.

• Pitfalls

  Black box on a PDF: why the text stays readable

  The copy-paste that reveals everything, and the 30-second test to check a redaction.

• Mac

  Redact a PDF on a Mac: Preview, Acrobat and alternatives

  The tools available on macOS and their limits.

• Hidden data

  Remove a PDF's metadata (and what it reveals)

  Author, software, dates, history: how to see them and erase them.

• Checklist

  Check that a PDF is truly anonymized: 6 tests before sending it

  Six tests on Mac and Windows to check that a redacted PDF lets nothing through.

Anonymize a PDF, a Word file or a scan

• Complete guide

  How to anonymize a PDF, for free and without uploading it

  The methods that truly remove the data, those that only hide it, and how to check the result.

• Word

  Anonymize or redact a Word document without uploading it

  Metadata, comments, tracked changes: what a .docx hides, and how to clean it on Windows and on Mac.

• Scans

  Anonymize a scanned PDF or a photo of a document

  When the text is an image: masking pixels, spotting the hidden OCR layer, the MRZ strip of ID documents, bank details and payslips.

• Comparison

  Anonymize a PDF online or offline: which to choose?

  Web tools, desktop software: where your file goes, and what that changes.

• Buyer's guide

  Choosing document anonymization software: the 8 criteria that matter

  Eight criteria, and the question to ask each vendor before buying.

• Comparison

  Best document anonymization software in 2026: the comparison

  Ten tools compared on eight criteria: local or online, whole file, scans, Word, emails, license, price.

• Offline

  Offline anonymization software: what "local" really means

  The five levels of "local", eight questions to ask a vendor, and how to check that software sends nothing.

• Alternatives

  Lexanon alternative: comparison, pricing and review

  Lexanon and AnonymFiles criterion by criterion: license, formats, layout, review, price for a firm.

• Alternatives

  Hexagone AI alternative: comparison, pricing and review

  Hexagone AI and AnonymFiles criterion by criterion: network signals, emails, layout, price for a firm.

• Alternatives

  Anoni alternative: what the free tool offers, and when to choose AnonymFiles

  Free, local, OCR: Anoni's strengths, its limits for a firm, and a head-to-head on eight criteria.

• Alternatives

  Tacitum alternative: Mac, emails and whole case files

  The €79 one-time Windows tool, its limits, and a head-to-head on eight criteria.

• Alternatives

  Adobe Acrobat redaction alternative: when the Redact tool is no longer enough

  Redact truly deletes text, but one PDF at a time: the alternative for a whole case file before AI.

• AnonymFiles

  AnonymFiles: reviews, pricing and how it works, the full fact sheet

  Pricing, formats, limits, security, published benchmark, and no link with AnonFiles.

• Excel

  Anonymize an Excel (or CSV) file before giving it to an AI or sending it

  Hidden sheets, notes, pivot table cache: what a workbook hides, and how to clean it.

• Emails

  Anonymize an email (.msg, .eml) before giving it to an AI

  Sender, signature, reply thread, attachments: what to remove, in Outlook as in Mail.

• Evidence

  AnonymFiles detection benchmark and offline test: the method and the results

  99% of items masked on 40 fictitious documents, in text and in real formats, the limits of the measurement, and how to check for yourself that nothing leaves the computer.

• Contracts

  Anonymize a contract before giving it to ChatGPT: the checklist

  Parties, SIRET, signatories, appendices, tracked changes: what to mask, and what to keep so the AI can work.

• PowerPoint

  Anonymize a PowerPoint presentation (.pptx) before giving it to an AI

  Speaker notes, hidden slides, charts: what a .pptx hides, and how to clean it.

GDPR and AI

• AI

  Generative AI and professional secrecy: what each profession can give ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot

  Six professions, six texts, one rule: the secrecy table by profession and what the CNB, the CSN, the Ordre and the CNCPI say.

• GDPR

  ChatGPT and GDPR: can you put client data in it?

  Personal plans, Business, Enterprise, API: training, data processing agreement, hosting in Europe and the CNIL's advice.

• AI

  Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft 365) and professional secrecy: what a firm needs to know

  Consumer or business Copilot, SharePoint oversharing, EU Data Boundary: what protects the firm, and what doesn't settle secrecy.

• AI

  Mistral (Le Chat) and sovereign AI: is privacy enough for professional secrecy?

  Le Chat now Vibe, training by default, hosting in Europe, the CSN partnership: why you still need to anonymize.

• GDPR

  Anonymization vs. pseudonymization: the difference under the GDPR

  What falls outside the GDPR, what stays within it, and how to choose.

• AI

  Anonymize a document before sending it to ChatGPT or an AI

  What never to paste into a chatbot, and how to prepare a confidential document.

• AI

  Pseudonymize a document for AI, then put the real names back into the answer

  Stable labels to work with AI, then the real names put back into its answer.

Legal and accounting professions

• Lawyers

  ChatGPT and lawyers: what you can do without breaching professional secrecy

  What the ethics rules and the CNB's guide say, the risks depending on the plan, and the 5-step method on a pseudonymized copy.

• Lawyers

  The CNB's guide on artificial intelligence: the recommendations, point by point

  Secrecy, pseudonymization, checking results, choosing tools: the guide adopted in March 2026, summarized.

• Template

  AI use policy for a firm: an annotated template, article by article

  Twelve articles to adapt: approved tools, prohibited data, prior anonymization, review, point of contact.

• Lawyers

  Anonymize a judgment or exhibits: a guide for lawyers and legal professionals

  Redaction of names, open data of court decisions, professional secrecy and the use of AI.

• Notaries

  AI and notaries: what you can give ChatGPT without exposing your clients

  What AI does well at the office, what to mask in a draft deed, and what the IEJ guide recalls.

• Chartered accountants

  ChatGPT and chartered accountants: what you can share without breaching secrecy

  What the Ordre recommends, what must not go out (FEC, DSN, client emails), and prompts on a pseudonymized copy.

• Lawyers

  Anonymize pleadings before giving them to an AI: the lawyer's checklist

  Parties, opposing counsel, case number, amounts: what to mask in pleadings before the AI.

• Commissaires de justice

  AI and commissaires de justice: preparing reports and writs with ChatGPT without exposing the parties

  Reminders, disputed statements of account, report notes: what AI can do on a pseudonymized copy.

• Insolvency

  AI and insolvency practitioners: what you can give ChatGPT

  Professional secrecy, conciliation, BODACC clues: what to mask before ChatGPT.

• Patent attorneys

  Patents and ChatGPT: avoiding disclosure of an unfiled invention

  Novelty, the patent attorney's secrecy, the CNCPI's guide: what AI can see of a patent file.

• Articles and RNE

  Public version of a deed without a home address (RNE): the method

  Decree 2025-840: filing a public version of your articles of association, with the address truly removed.

AnonymFiles, by profession:

• Lawyers
• Notaries
• Chartered accountants
• Commissaires de justice
• Insolvency practitioners
• Patent attorneys
• In-house counsel and DPOs