Search & Redact

Search & Redact finds a word, a phrase, a word list or a kind of identifier across your project, shows you every match in context, and redacts the ones you choose in one go. Use it when you know what has to go: a pupil's name, a case reference, every National Insurance number.

It searches messages, documents and the attached files RedactBox has converted, and it tells you which files it could not search, so you know where to look by hand.

A search only finds the text you give it. Use People and identifiers to find the names you did not know to look for.

Opening Search & Redact

1. Open your project.

2. Open the Tools menu and choose Search & Redact, or press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F.

It opens ready to search the whole project, across items you have approved in Triage.

Choosing what to search for and where

The bar across the top holds four choices.

• Type term, Word list or Patterns. Type a word or phrase, run one of your word lists, or pick a kind of identifier (see below).

• Scope. This message (or This document) searches the item you have open. All searches the whole project. Mailboxes searches messages only. Documents searches uploaded documents and converted attached files.

• Approved items only or Every item. Click the chip to switch. Approved items only is the default, because those are the items that go into the export.

• Reason. Optional reason codes for everything this run redacts. A bulk run redacts the most, so it is the place a recorded reason matters most.

Beside the search box, Aa turns on Match case and W turns on Whole word. Turn Whole word off to find a number or word that runs into other text. Your last few searches show under the bar as Recent.

Searching and redacting

1. Type the word or phrase. Results appear as you type.

2. Read the line under the title. It says how many matches were found in how many items, and anything the search could not reach.

3. Click an item in the list to see each match in context. Skip a single match from its card, or click Exclude to skip every match in that item.

4. Click Redact N matches. The button changes to Confirm: redact N of "…". Click it again to run.

A toast confirms the run, such as Redacted 14 matches of "Penwick", with Undo for ten seconds. After that, remove the redactions from Tools › Redactions.

If you removed the word by hand from some of the items (with "just here"), the confirm step says how many, and the run leaves those items alone. Running the search again later does not put it back there.

What the results line tells you

Two extra notes can appear beside the count. Neither is an error, but both mean the count is not the whole story.

• · also in N items not yet approved. With Approved items only on, this says how many items you have not approved yet also contain the word. The run does not touch them now. What happens when they are approved is a project setting (see below).

• N attached files couldn't be searched. These files are in the project but the search could not read them. It also shows on its own line above the results with Show files, which lists each file under its reason: Needs a password, Couldn't be prepared, A type RedactBox can't open, such as .zip, Too large to store, Still being prepared, No text to search, such as a scan or a picture, or Its message is not approved yet. Open each one and check it by eye.

If RedactBox could not even check which files were searched, the note reads Couldn't check which attached files were searched. Results may be incomplete. Treat the results as a starting point, not a full count.

"At least" counts and searches that fail

• At least. A search that finds a very large number of items stops counting, and the line starts with At least. The number is real, but there are more.

• A search that fails says why. It no longer says "No matches" when it did not finish. A term that matches too many items, or takes too long, says so and asks for a more specific term or a narrower scope. Anything else reads Couldn't search this project. Please try again.

Words that follow approvals

When you redact a word with Approved items only on, it also reaches items you approve later. As each item is approved, RedactBox redacts the word in it and tells the person who approved it, for example Maisie redacted in 12 newly approved items. Undo in Tools › Redactions.

The project owner can change this in Settings › Project settings, under After you redact a word with Search & Redact:

• Also redact it in items as they're approved. The default, described above.

• Ask me first. Approving goes ahead, nothing is redacted, and the person who approved sees N of these contain words you've redacted with Redact them or Approve without.

Either way, the export check still holds any item that contains a word you redacted elsewhere. See Checks before an export goes out and Project settings.

Patterns

Choose Patterns and pick a kind: Email addresses, Phone numbers, Postcodes, NI numbers, NHS numbers, Sort codes or Credit cards. Every match of that kind is listed, and you redact them the same way.

To leave one value in, such as your own office number, type it into Add a value to skip… and press Enter. Its matches are muted and the count drops.

NI numbers follow HMRC's rules for the two letters at the start, so the example QQ 12 34 56 C is found and two-letter IDs such as TX700000 are not. A number written without its last letter counts only when the text is about National Insurance (a "NI number" column heading, say). If a project was counted before this change, People and identifiers marks its counts Counted before the patterns changed.

Patterns can include false positives. Always review the matches before redacting.

Text RedactBox now finds

In items imported from now on, Search & Redact finds names that older searches missed. Items imported before this change are searched as they were.

• Letter-spaced names, such as M A I S I E in a heading.

• A word straight after a joined letter pair such as fi or ff, and old-style long s.

• A name split across two lines, with or without a hyphen, and a word broken at the end of a column or page.

• Arabic and Hebrew names, in messages and converted Word files, and Greek names in capitals.

• Names in table cells of school-system messages, and in wrapped spreadsheet cells.

Every match the count finds now shows in the list of matches too.

Example: another pupil's name in a subject access request

Oakfield Primary is answering a subject access request from Mrs Claire Haverford about her daughter Maisie. Another pupil, Tobias Ravensworth, is named in some of the same items.

1. Triage the project and approve the relevant items.

2. Open Search & Redact, leave Scope on All and Approved items only on, and type Ravensworth.

3. The line reads "9 matches in 4 items · also in 2 items not yet approved · 8 attached files couldn't be searched". Click Show files: two are scans and one needs a password.

4. Check the matches, pick the reason TPD (Third party personal data), and redact.

5. Approve the last two items. The name is redacted in them as they are approved.

6. Open the scans and the locked file and check each by hand before you export.