Your first case,
from sign-in to download

Before you start: your computer

The case runs in your browser, on your own computer, which is what keeps your files off our servers. That puts a few requirements on the machine, and each one has stopped a first case.

• A desktop or laptop, not a phone or tablet. A current version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome is the recommended choice; Firefox and Safari also work. Keep it up to date, and close other memory-heavy tabs before a large case, because the working set for the case is held in the tab.
• Memory. A standard 8 GB laptop is fine for a few thousand documents. Cases above roughly 10,000 documents need 16 GB.
• The computer stays on and awake for the whole run. Turn sleep off and keep the power connected. A laptop that suspends when the lid closes pauses the case.
• No forced restart in the window. If your device management applies overnight patching or a reboot schedule, run the case in working hours or have the machine excluded for that night. A restart mid-run is recoverable, but it costs the time it takes to get back to where you were.
• Not a remote session that times out. If you work through a remote desktop or VDI that disconnects when idle, run the case on a local machine.
• The same browser on the same computer for the whole case. Progress is saved in that browser's storage, so a case started in Chrome on one laptop cannot be picked up in Edge, or on another machine. Do not clear browsing data while a case is in progress.
• A stable internet connection. Your documents never leave the machine, but detection sends extracted text to the service and waits for the answer, so a dropped connection pauses the run until it is back.
• One person, one case. A case belongs to the browser it was started in. If a colleague needs to work on the same request, split it by custodian into separate cases.
• Free disk space for the export, and the same again if you extract the package rather than loading the zip whole.
• The files on the computer itself, not in a cloud folder. A file in OneDrive or a similar synced folder that has not been downloaded is only a placeholder, and the browser reads the placeholder. Right-click the folder and choose Always keep on this device, or copy the export to a local folder, before loading it.
• Refresh when the app asks. If a bar at the bottom of the app says a newer version is available, save your work and refresh the page so the case runs on the current version. A tab left open for days otherwise keeps the old one.

1Sign in

Go to saferedact.app/signin on a desktop or laptop, in a current version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. If you do not have a password yet, or cannot find it, use Forgot your password? on that page and set one from the email it sends.

• Not a phone or tablet. The case runs in your browser, which is what keeps your files on your own computer, and it needs a desktop browser to do that.
• Keep the tab open while a run is in progress. Closing it pauses the case; reopening it under the same name resumes where it stopped.

2Accept the data processing agreement

When you sign in, the app shows Activate SafeRedact for your organization, with our standard data processing agreement for your jurisdiction. Read it, enter your name and job title, and accept. A signed copy is emailed to you straight away.

3Pay for the case

Pay from your set-up page, or from the payment link in your set-up email. It is a card payment through Stripe; the receipt and invoice arrive by email, and the confirmation page sends you back to the app. The payment covers the case size you chose. If your case turns out larger than that, the app pauses and tells you before anything more is charged.

You can also leave this step until later. Before you pay for anything, the free evaluation lets you process and review up to 500 of your own documents for 14 days, with the full review; downloading the redacted pack needs a paid case, and the documents you processed count towards it.

4Name the case and enter the subject's details

Name the case after the person who made the request, and keep that name: renaming a case in progress orphans its saved progress. Then enter the subject's details. This step decides how good the suggestions are.

• Full name and email address as they appear in the documents. These stay visible in the output so the disclosure is legible to the person who asked for it.
• Aliases / Alternative Identifiers. Every other way the documents refer to the subject: a first name on its own, initials, a nickname, a staff number, a personal email address. One per line.
• Anyone else who should stay visible can be added the same way, for example a manager whose name the subject already knows.

5Load your files and run

Drop the export into the case: a PST, a zip, a folder of PDF, Word and Excel files, or email as EML or MSG. Scanned pages inside PDFs are read in your browser; standalone image files such as JPG and PNG are not processed, so review those separately. Press Review and process, check the pre-flight screen, and let it run with the tab open.

• How long it takes. It depends on how much text the documents hold. Short emails and documents process at about 1,300 to 2,000 an hour; a mailbox export with typical attachments at about 70 to 110 an hour, so 2,500 of those take about one to one and a half days. The pre-flight screen reads a sample of your files and estimates the time before you start; the timeline table has more.
• An email and its attachments count as one document. Attachments are read and redacted as part of the email they belong to: the text of PDF, Word, Excel, HTML and plain-text attachments appears in the pack under the email. Images and other attachments that cannot be read as text are listed by name only, so review those separately. The first 20 attachments of an email are read; save any beyond that out and add them as their own files.
• Files that cannot be processed are listed during the run and in the manifest at the end.

6Review by person

When the run finishes, open By entity. Every person and identifier found across the whole collection is listed once, with the number of places it appears. A decision about a person applies everywhere that person appears, so review scales with how many people are in the collection, not how many documents.

• Approve what should be redacted, keep what should stay visible, and open any item to see it in context.
• Nothing is redacted that you have not approved. Approving in bulk is available, and it is your choice; the audit trail records how each decision was made.
• Flagged items are the ones detection was unsure about. Work through them last.

7Confirm that review is complete

Before anything is exported, the app asks you to confirm that review is complete. If items are still flagged it tells you which, and you can go back or choose to export anyway. Either way the choice is recorded in the audit trail that ships with the pack.

8Download the disclosure pack

Export produces one ZIP: the redacted documents, a manifest of what was processed and what failed, and the audit trail and review decision log. Redactions are burned into the pages, not covered over. The pack is yours; we hold no copy, so save it somewhere your organization keeps records.

• Load the complete set before you download. The pack is built from the files loaded in the app at that moment. If files the case has already processed are not loaded, the app names them before the download; add them back and they are restored from the case, not processed or charged again.
• To correct an omission, export again. The same case can be exported again for 14 days after its first export at no further charge.
• If the files came from Purview, reconcile the processed count and the failure manifest against Purview's own item report before you disclose.
• Clear your browser data after the download if you want the case record gone, never during a case.

If something goes wrong

• The tab closed or the machine restarted. Reopen the case under the same name and re-attach the same files. Processing resumes where it stopped.
• A file would not open. Check the manifest for the reason. Image-only files and handwriting are the usual causes.
• Anything else: support@saferedact.app.

Where your data goes

Your documents are opened and read in your browser and are never uploaded to our servers. The text extracted from them is sent for detection and is not used to train models; on the standard route it is deleted by the provider within 30 days. The redacted output is built in your browser too. The full answer, including the UK and EU processing route, is in the FAQ and the data processing agreements.