Word Lists — Bulk Search and Redact from a List

Last updated 6 days ago

What are Word Lists?

Word Lists let you save sets of terms — names, email addresses, phrases, or any text — and apply them in Search & Redact. Instead of searching one term at a time, Paste your list and redact everything in one pass.

Creating a Word List

  1. Open Tools in the header and click Word Lists

  2. Click New List in the left panel

  3. Give your list a name (e.g. "Executive Names" or "Client Emails")

  4. Add terms in the editor:

    • Type directly — one term per line

    • Paste a comma-separated list — it's automatically split into individual terms (e.g. pasting "John Doe, Jane Smith, Bob Wilson" becomes three separate terms)

    • Import a file — click the upload icon to import from a CSV or TXT file. Terms are merged with any existing ones and deduplicated

  5. Click Create to save your list

The term count updates live as you type or paste, so you can see exactly how many terms will be searched.

Using a Word List in Search & Redact

  1. Open Tools > Search & Redact (or press Ctrl+Shift+F)

  2. At the top, switch the source from Type term to Word List

  3. Select your list from the dropdown — the search runs automatically

  4. Results are grouped by term, showing how many matches each term has and across how many items

  5. Review the results, then click Redact to apply redactions for all matching terms

Search options (case matching, whole word, status filter, scope) apply to all terms in the list — set them before or after selecting your list.

Managing Your Lists

From the Tools > Word Lists manager, you can:

  • Edit — select a list and modify the name or terms, then click Save

  • Duplicate — click the copy icon next to any list to create a variation

  • Delete — click the delete icon once to arm, click again to confirm (auto-cancels after 3 seconds)

  • Export — click the download icon in the editor to save a list as a TXT file

Each project can have up to 50 word lists, with up to 1,000 terms per list.

When to Use It

You've received a list of individuals whose personal information needs to be removed before disclosure. Paste the names into a word list, apply it in Search & Redact, and redact every occurrence across all files in one action — instead of searching each name individually.