Redacting everyone except the requester

On most subject access requests the requester stays in and everyone else is blacked out. In People and identifiers that is one run: name the requester in Request details, then redact everyone left to decide together.

It redacts the people it found. Read the documents for anything it did not find before you export.

1. Name who stays in

1. Open the project, click Tools and choose Request details.

2. Click Add a person, type the requester's name and set the role to Made the request.

3. Under Addresses, add every email address they have used, old ones included. Under Also written as, add any other spelling, such as a maiden name.

4. If the request is about someone else, such as a child, add them too as The request is about them.

5. Click Save.

Everyone named here is listed under Must stay in. People never suggests or redacts them.

Tip: An address you missed appears in To decide as a row of its own, and would be redacted with everyone else. Read the list before you run it. If one of the requester's addresses is there, add it in Request details and it moves to Must stay in.

2. Leave your own staff in first

Staff writing in their work role are usually left in. Leave them in before the run, so they are not part of it. Skip this step if you are redacting staff too.

1. Click Tools, choose People and identifiers, then click To decide on the left.

2. Under Narrow it down, press Ours. The list shows only people using your organisation's addresses, as ticked in Request details.

3. Tick the box at the top of the list, click Leave all 6 in · with one reason (the number is how many are ticked) and type why, such as "Staff acting in their school role".

4. Press Everyone to show the rest of the list again.

3. Redact everyone else

1. With To decide open and Everyone pressed, tick the box at the top of the list. Everyone left to decide is ticked, such as All 12 selected.

2. The panel on the right lists who is in the run and asks, for example, Redact 12 names in up to 242 documents?

3. Check Recorded as. It is the reason code on the Schedule of Redactions, NPD unless you change it.

4. Click Redact up to 242 documents, or press R twice.

If anyone ticked uses your organisation's addresses, an amber note names them. Take someone out with the × beside their name, or go back to step 2.

The run reaches every document approved in Triage. Its progress is in Tasks, and the work bar reads 0 to decide once everyone is decided. One Undo takes the whole run back: Undo the last apply on the work bar, until you redact or undo someone on their own or reload the page.

What the run does not cover

• A first name or surname on its own. It is not redacted, because it often belongs to someone else. Each person's panel lists these under Not redacted on their own, with a Find button that opens Search & Redact.

• Titles that could mean the requester. If someone shares the requester's surname, titles such as "Mrs Okonkwo" are held back, because they could mean the requester. Redact those by hand where they mean someone else.

• Names that are not on the list. Someone named only in the wording of a message, or only in an attachment, is not found. Use Search & Redact or a word list.

• Phone numbers and other identifiers. These are decided separately under Numbers and codes. A run for one kind includes the requester's own numbers, so if theirs appear, redact the others in Search & Redact instead.

Documents added later

When more documents are approved, the tool scans again the next time the project owner opens it. Everyone you redacted is redacted in the new documents too. Anyone new joins To decide: tick them and redact them the same way.

One run takes up to 2,000 people. On a bigger project, press a filter such as Outside and run each part in turn.

Before you export

Check that To decide and Second look both read 0, then click What this means before you export and work through Still to do by hand.

For everything else the tool does, see People and identifiers.