Microsoft Word

Philter Desktop redacts Microsoft Word documents that end in .docx. The sensitive information is removed from the text and the cleaned-up copy is saved as a new .docx file.

Redaction covers the document body and tables, headers and footers, footnotes and endnotes, comments, and the text inside shapes, text boxes, SmartArt, and charts. Text a reviewer deleted with tracked changes is scanned too, so detected information there is redacted rather than lingering in the file where Reject Changes could bring it back.

Charts are scanned for their titles, labels, and the cached data values a chart stores (its copy of the plotted series and category values), which is on by default and controlled in Settings → Microsoft Office. Because a chart is only scanned as text through your policy, a sensitive value it's built from is removed only when the policy detects it, and redacting a cached value can change how the chart looks — so review any charts in the redacted copy. A chart also carries an embedded copy of its source spreadsheet (what opens when you choose "Edit Data"), which can hold more than the chart plots — for example a column that isn't shown. Philter Desktop redacts that embedded workbook too; if one can't be read as a spreadsheet, it is removed so an unredacted copy can't ship.

More generally, a document can embed another file (Insert → Object). An embedded Word or Excel document is redacted in place. An embedded object Philter Desktop can't read — a legacy OLE object or another program's file — can't be inspected; by default it is removed so its original content can't ship. You can turn that off in Settings → Microsoft Office, in which case such objects are kept and verification warns you to review them.

Header and footer scanning covers the text that repeats at the top and bottom of each page (for example "Confidential — John Doe"); it does not remove images or logos placed in a header/footer. It is on by default and can be turned off in Settings → Microsoft Office.

Philter Desktop also checks the address a hyperlink points to, not just its visible text. If a link's target holds sensitive information — an email address in a mailto: link, a name or ID in an intranet or file:// address — that target is neutralized so it can't ship in the document even though you only see the link's wording on the page. Links whose targets contain nothing sensitive are left working as they were.

The same applies to field codes — the hidden instructions behind fields such as HYPERLINK, INCLUDETEXT, and mail-merge sources. A field keeps an instruction (for example the mailto: address or a file path with a name in it) separately from the result you see on the page, so sensitive information there is scanned and removed while the field itself is left in place. Only the sensitive text inside the instruction is replaced; a field with nothing sensitive (such as a page number or date) is untouched.

Hidden information is cleaned up too

For Word (.docx) files, Philter Desktop also cleans up hidden information in the redacted copy by default: the document's metadata (author, company, title, keywords, custom properties, and the custom XML data stores that back data-bound fields — so a field's value can't linger or refresh after redaction), reviewer comments, tracked changes, and hidden text, so a "redacted" file doesn't leak through any of those channels. You can control each of these on the Settings → Microsoft Office tab.

If you choose to keep comments rather than remove them, their text is still redacted like the rest of the document, and — when Remove document metadata is on — the reviewer names on them are anonymized (for example, to "Reviewer 1"). Either way, a comment can't ship the sensitive text or the reviewer's identity.

Highlighting redactions

When you redact Word documents (for example, with Redact Folder… or in Redact with Preview), you can optionally highlight redactions, which marks the replacements so they are easy to spot during review.

Password-protected Word and Excel files

A Word or Excel file that has been protected with a password (encrypted) cannot be opened for redaction. If you try, Philter Desktop tells you so clearly. To redact one, open it in Word or Excel, remove the password (File → Info → Protect Document / Protect Workbook), save it, and then redact the unprotected copy.

For adding files to the queue, previewing, adjusting, verifying, and reporting on a redaction, see Redacting Documents.