Redaction in GoldFynch

Redaction (also called sanitization) in GoldFynch refers to the process of removing sensitive information from a document prior to production. 

  • Redacted portions of text and images are covered by opaque boxes and are completely unrecoverable in the final produced document (i.e., the documents you give to the opposing counsel)
  • Even if you have made redactions to a file, they will not be present in a production with a 'native' format
  • Within GoldFynch, redacted portions of documents remain visible and fully searchable. The areas marked for redaction appear as a translucent box over the text in the original file (so a new file with redactions is not created)


NOTE: 'Native' documents in productions are documents that are added as they were when they were uploaded - because of this they never have redactions, Bates stamps, or tag stamps that are added after they were uploaded to GoldFynch. Learn more about native files here.


How to Redact in Under 3 Minutes


Placing redactions

To mark parts of your documents for redaction, open the document you wish to redact in the Document Viewer. Depending on the version of the document viewer you have selected ("New viewer" by default), the process of drawing redactions will be a little bit different. Here's where you can confirm which version of the viewer you have selected:


Arrow illustrating where to click to confirm your active document viewer version. You can also change to the other viewer by clicking on it's name here.



GoldFynch lets you mark either sections of a page with redaction boxes, or redact entire pages (or ranges of pages)


Choose one of the redaction options from the right panel of the Document Viewer


Using redaction boxes

'Boxes' are placed over parts of the document. These are areas that will be redacted in produced documents.

Step 1. Click on the "Draw" button under "Redactions" in the right panel.

Click on the Draw button

Step 2. Click and while holding the mouse button down, drag the cursor over the section of the document that you wish to redact.

Step 3. Click on the "Stop Redacting" button.

   

Note: If you have the "New viewer" selected, the "Draw" button will be along the top of the viewer itself, rather than within the right panel


Whole-page and page-range redactions

Instead of drawing out boxes to be redacted, entire pages and even page ranges can be marked for redaction. These page-wise redactions are effectively identical to drawing a redaction box across the whole page, and as such will be affected by all production options that affect boxes generated using the ‘Draw’ option (e.g. redaction box color, redaction mode, etc.) 


Step 1. Click on the "Add Range" button

Click on the add range button

Step 2. Enter a single page number, a range of pages, or a combination of both in the text box that appears. Separate each of these with commas. Make sure you do not leave a space after each comma.


Enter a page or page range 


Step 3. Hit the Return key to save your redactions, or the Esc button to cancel the assignment.


Managing redactions

  • To delete a page redaction, a page range, or all redaction boxes on a page, click on the trashcan icon against a line in the "Current Redactions" section of the Redactions box (visible when you are not in the 'edit' modes)
  • To delete individual redaction boxes:
    • When using the old document viewer layout click on the "Start Redacting" button and then the "X" symbol in the top-right corner of the redaction box and finally the "Stop Redacting" button to save the changes
    • When using the new document viewer layout click on the redaction box to be deleted and then the 'Delete' text that appears above it
  • To jump to a particular redaction in the Document Viewer, click on the arrow (next to the trashcan icon) against that redaction

Manage your redactions from the right panel


Redactions in productions

Applying regular redactions

When you include files that contain redactions into your production, they will by default have the redactions applied to them (unless it's a natively-formatted production.)


By default, the redactions applied are 'Final' redactions which are opaque and render the content they cover unreadable and unsearchable. They can be set as:

  • Black boxes
  • White boxes with black borders




Applying redaction 'previews'

Alternatively, the redaction mode can be set to 'Preview,' which renders redactions you have added as translucent grey boxes, leaving covered text still readable and searchable. Preview redactions are helpful for internal review, and mainly serve the purpose of marking out content that 'Final' redactions would cover if applied.


Learn more about redaction formats in productions here.