How to Redact a Word Document
Overview
Word documents often contain embedded metadata, tracked changes, and hidden text in addition to visible content. Conseal handles all of these when redacting .docx files — scanning both the visible document and its metadata to ensure nothing sensitive slips through. The redacted output is a valid .docx file with the same structure and formatting as the original.
Step-by-step instructions
Follow these steps to redact sensitive information from a Word document using Conseal.
- 1
Open your Word document in Conseal
Launch Conseal and click 'Open File'. Select your .docx file. Conseal parses the document structure, including headers, footers, tables, and comments.
- 2
Scan for sensitive content
Click 'Scan for PII'. Conseal automatically detects names, addresses, dates, phone numbers, email addresses, and other common identifiers throughout the document — including inside tables and tracked changes.
- 3
Review and adjust selections
The scan results appear highlighted in the document preview. Deselect any content that should not be redacted, or manually add any sensitive content the scan may have missed.
- 4
Apply redactions
Click 'Apply Redactions'. Conseal replaces selected content with placeholder text and strips metadata, tracked changes, and comments from the document. Formatting (fonts, tables, spacing) is preserved.
- 5
Save the redacted document
Export the redacted .docx file. The output can be opened in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or any compatible word processor, and is safe to paste into AI tools or share with collaborators.