Redacting Documents

Redacting Spreadsheets

Before You Begin

• Blackout only supports specific file types. For more information, refer to Supported File Types.
• Workspace Contributors and above can place and modify redactions.
• Black, white, and text redactions are supported on spreadsheet cells.
• Charts and objects can only be redacted in full using a black-box style redaction.
• Sheet names must be unique, regardless of capitalization, and cannot exceed 31 characters.
• Sheet names cannot contain : \ / ? * [ ], begin or end with an apostrophe ('), or use the reserved name History.
• CSV files do not have sheet names that can be redacted.

How to Place Redactions

The following sections explain how to place different types of redactions after navigating to a document. To learn more about viewing and navigating documents, refer to Viewing Documents.

Choosing the Redaction Type

To begin redacting cells, rows, columns, or entire sheets, a redaction type must be selected.

1. Choose the redaction type by clicking the dropdown menu next to the 'Redact' button in the top left of the document viewer. Three redaction types are available: Black, White, or Text

   

2. Select a redaction type: Black, White, or Text.

   • If Text is selected, the Text Redaction Options window appears. Enter the replacement text and select a text style:
   • Black Text, White Background: Displays black text on a white background.
   • White Text, Black Background: Displays white text on a black background.

3. Click Set Options to save the text redaction settings.

4. Click Redact in the top-left corner of the document viewer to redact your selected cell. 

Note: Text redactions support a maximum of 100 characters. While manually placed text redactions can be resized, their replacement text cannot be edited after placement. To change the replacement text, remove the existing redaction and place a new one. Automatically placed redactions cannot be resized.

Redacting Cells, Rows, and Columns

1. Select the cells, rows, or columns to be redacted. 

   Note: To select multiple separate cells, rows, or columns, hold Ctrl (Control) while clicking. To select a continuous range of cells, hold Shift while making the selection.

    

2. Click the 'Redact' button in the top left of the document viewer.

Resizing Cell Redactions

Manually placed cell redactions, including text redactions, can be resized after placement by Workspace Contributors and above. Resizing allows you to adjust the redaction area to ensure the appropriate spreadsheet content is covered.

To resize a cell redaction:

1. Click the existing redaction to select it. Resize handles will appear along the edges and corners of the redaction box.
2. Click and drag an edge or corner to adjust the size of the redaction.
3. Release the mouse when the redaction covers the desired area.

Note: Cell redactions cannot be resized to be smaller than a single cell.

Redacting Charts and Objects

1. Locate the chart or object to redact.
2. Right-click on the chart or object
3. Select 'Redact Object' or Click Redact in the top left of the viewer

Note: Charts and objects can only be redacted in full using a black-box style redaction. 

Redacting Comments

1. Click the 'Comments' button in the right of the document viewer below the information panel button. The comments on the spreadsheet will be displayed.
2. Double-click the comment that needs to be redacted. Alternatively, right-click the comment and choose 'Redact'.
3. Select the comment text to redact, delete it using your keyboard, and enter the desired redaction text.
4. Click the green checkmark to confirm the redaction, or click the X to cancel it.
5. To edit a comment redaction, double-click the comment text, or right-click and choose 'Redact'. Then update the redaction text as needed.

To designate that a comment has been redacted, it will be flagged with a black bar on the left of the comment text.

Note: Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter on Mac) saves a comment edit, while Esc cancels it. Restoring the comment's original text also removes the redaction. Author names associated with threaded comments cannot be manually redacted.

Redacting Headers and Footers

1. Click Headers & Footers on the right side of the document viewer, below the Comments icon. A list of headers and footers for the selected sheet is displayed.

2. Double-click the header/footer that needs to be redacted. Alternatively, right-click the header/footer, then choose 'Redact'.
3. Select the header/footer text to redact, delete it using your keyboard, and enter the desired redaction text.
4. Click the green checkmark to confirm the redaction, or the X to cancel the redaction

To designate that a header or footer has been redacted, it will be flagged with a black bar on the left of the header/footer text.

Note: Headers and footers have a maximum of 249 characters. Certain tokens count as two characters toward this limit. If the combined character limit is exceeded, Blackout displays a validation error and prevents the changes from being saved.

Redacting Sheet Names

1. Double-click the sheet name that needs to be redacted. Alternatively, right-click the sheet name and choose 'Redact'.
2. Select the header/footer text to redact, delete it using your keyboard, and enter the desired redaction text.
3. Press Enter to confirm the redaction. Clicking outside of the sheet name will not confirm the redaction. 
4. To edit a sheet name redaction, double-click the sheet text, or right-click and choose 'redact'. Then update the redaction text as needed.

To designate that a sheet name has been redacted, it will be flagged with a black bar on the left of the sheet name text.

Note: Sheet names must follow the naming requirements listed in Before You Begin. If a name is already in use, Blackout displays "That sheet name is already taken."

Redacting Full Sheets

Warning: When redacting a full sheet, only the cells of that sheet will be redacted. Blackout will not redact the comments, charts, objects, headers, or footers of the associated sheet. Those additional items will need to be redacted separately.

1. After choosing a redaction type, click the 'select all' button (highlighted in the image below) in the top left of the current sheet. All the cells in the sheet will be selected. 

   

2. Click the Redact button in the top right of the document viewer. All the cells in the current sheet will now be redacted.

   

How to Remove Redactions

There are many situations where a redaction needs to be removed or reverted. The steps below will explain how to remove redactions.

Note: Blackout does not provide an undo action for redactions. However, individual redactions can be removed using the steps below.

On Cells, Columns, Rows, Sheets, Charts, and Objects

1. Locate the redaction that needs to be removed.
2. Right-click on the redaction.
3. Select 'Remove Redaction'. The redaction will be removed.

On Sheet Names

1. Locate the sheet name redaction that needs to be removed.
2. Right-click on the sheet name redaction.
3. Select 'Restore Original Sheet Name'. The original sheet name will be restored.

On Comments, Headers, and Footers

1. Open the appropriate panel by clicking either the Comments or Headers & Footers icon on the right side of the document viewer.
2. Locate the redacted comment, header, or footer.
3. Right-click the redacted content.
4. Select Restore Original.

Redacting PDFs, Images, Word Documents, PowerPoint Documents, and Emails

Before you begin

• Blackout only supports specific file types. For more information, refer to Supported File Types.
• Workspace Contributors and above can place and modify redactions.
• Black, white, and text redactions are supported on PDFs, images, Word documents, PowerPoint documents, and emails.
• Redaction drawing mode remains enabled until it is manually disabled, including when navigating between documents.

How to Place Redactions

To redact content in a supported document:

1. Select a redaction type using the Redact dropdown menu.

   

2. If using Text redactions, enter the desired replacement text and Choose how the replacement text should be sized:

   • Auto: Automatically adjusts the font size to fit within the redaction area.
   • Fixed: Uses a font size that you specify.

   

3. Click and drag over the area of the document you want to redact.
4. Release the mouse to apply the redaction.

Redactions can be applied to text, images, and other visible content within supported documents.

Note: Text redactions support a maximum of 100 characters. 

How to Remove Redactions

To remove a redaction:

1. Locate the redaction on the document.
2. Right-click the redaction.
3. Select Remove Redaction.

Note: You can also select a manually placed redaction and press Delete to remove it.

Moving and Resizing Redactions for PDFs, Images, Word Documents, PowerPoint Documents, and Emails

Redactions can be adjusted after placement by Workspace Contributors and above.

To move or resize a redaction:

1. Click an existing redaction box to select it. 
2. To Move the redaction click and drag it to a new location. 
3. To Resize the redaction drag the edges or corners of the box.

If a redaction contains text, the replacement text automatically re-centers when the redaction is resized.

• With Auto text sizing, the font size adjusts to fit the resized redaction area.
• With Fixed text sizing, the font size remains unchanged.

Note: Automatically placed redactions cannot be moved or resized.

Editing Text Redactions

To edit an existing text redaction:

1. Right-click the text redaction.
2. Select Edit Text to open the Text Redaction Options window.
3. Update the replacement text or font sizing options as needed.
4. Click Update to save the changes.

Visibility Toggles

When redacting, it's helpful to see what is underneath a redaction, object, or chart. Not only does it give peace of mind that sensitive data was redacted properly, but it also speeds up review workflows, as you can see what is underneath redactions as you place them.

What to Know

• Two visibility toggles are available:

  Redaction

   Object/Chart

• The Redaction Visibility toggle is available for all supported document types.
• The Object/Chart Visibility toggle is available for spreadsheets only.
• Each toggle cycles through three visibility modes:
  • Solid: Displays redactions or objects normally.
  • Transparent: Makes redactions or objects transparent so the underlying content can be reviewed.
  • Hidden: Hides redactions or objects from the viewer.
• Setting Redaction Visibility to Hidden prevents new redactions from being placed.
• Hiding charts or objects does not prevent redactions from being placed on spreadsheet cells.

Note: Changing visibility does not remove existing redactions. Visibility settings remain in effect when navigating between documents but reset when the page is refreshed.

How to Toggle Visibility

1. Locate the or    icon in the upper left of the document viewer.
2. Click either of these buttons to change the visibility of the associated items.
3. Click the same button again to switch to a different visibility mode. The icons will change to signify different visibility modes: