Names & people
Personal names of parties, signatories, employees, and anyone referenced in the body, headers, or signature blocks.
Word Document Redaction
Redact a Word document before you share it
Microsoft Word has no real redact button, so people black-highlight the text or set it to white — and the words are still there, selectable, underneath. RedactVault redacts a Word document (.docx) in your browser by actually removing the marked text, and the file is processed on your device and is not sent to RedactVault servers for redaction.
Free to start. No subscription required to redact a single Word document.
What gets caught
The details a Word document exposes
Opening a .docx file turns on general PII detection — names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, SSN and tax IDs, account and card numbers, dates, and amounts are highlighted automatically for your review, including values that appear in comments, headers, and footers rather than the visible body.
Addresses & contact details
Home and mailing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers wherever they appear in the document.
Social Security & tax IDs
SSN, ITIN, and EIN values that show up in letters, contracts, HR paperwork, and forms.
Account & card numbers
Bank account, routing, IBAN, and payment card numbers found in invoices, agreements, and statements pasted into the doc.
Dates & amounts
Dates of birth, signing dates, and currency amounts that can identify a person or a deal.
Beyond the visible body
Detection also inspects comments, headers, footers, and footnotes — not just the main text — so values hidden in those parts are surfaced for review.
Free-form prose varies too much to detect reliably, so review it yourself before exporting: descriptions, narrative paragraphs, custom reference codes, and anything specific to your matter. You can black these out in the same editor.
Why a Word document needs real redaction
Highlighting and accepting changes are not sanitization
A black highlight or white font only covers text visually — copy, paste, or change the theme and it reappears. Accepting all tracked changes is not a sanitization step either: comments, author and document metadata, and other hidden data can remain in the file, and tracked deletions you have not accepted can still carry the original sensitive text.
Because a Word document has a real text layer, RedactVault removes the values you mark from the exported file rather than just covering them over — so selecting text in the redacted copy will not bring them back. Document metadata is stripped on export, and comments, headers, footers, and footnotes are inspected during review, not ignored.
How it works
Three steps, all in your browser
Open the Word document in your browser
Select your .docx file. It is processed locally by your browser and is not sent to RedactVault servers for redaction.
Review the highlighted details
RedactVault highlights names, addresses, account numbers, SSNs, dates, and amounts across the body, comments, headers, and footers. You confirm, add, or remove boxes before anything is final.
Export a sanitized copy
Export a redacted document with the marked values removed from the text and document metadata stripped — not a black highlight sitting on top of text that is still there.
Why browser-local matters
Your Word document does not leave your device to be redacted
Most online redaction tools transfer your file to a server first. RedactVault runs the redaction in your browser, so the document content is not sent to RedactVault servers for redaction. Account, billing, and support data are still handled server-side like any normal web app.
Before you send it
Always review the redacted copy before sharing. Automatic detection helps you find common values but is not guaranteed to catch everything, so read the document and black out anything specific to your matter that detection cannot recognise on its own. Do not rely on black-highlighting or white font in Word itself — that leaves the text in place; use a real redaction so the values are actually removed.
Further reading
Redaction guides for Word documents
Practical reading on redacting Word documents without leaving the original text or metadata behind.
Why drawing black boxes over a document is not real redaction
The trap behind black-highlighting or white-font text in Word, and what actually removes the content.
How to permanently remove sensitive text, metadata, and hidden data
Why comments, tracked changes, and author metadata survive a careless redaction, and how to remove them.
The biggest redaction mistakes people still make
Common ways a Word document still leaks data after it looks redacted, and how to avoid them.
How the processing works
Check the security and accuracy details
Read how RedactVault processes documents locally and where its detection limits are, so you know exactly what the tool does and does not do before trusting it with a Word document.
Ready when you are
Redact your Word document now
Open your .docx and review the highlighted details. Nothing is shared until you export the copy you choose to send.
Just need it once?
Get 24-hour Professional individual access for one urgent redaction job. Includes a 50-document cap with unlimited pages and excludes team and high-volume batch features.