Redacting spreadsheets

  • Updated

 

1. Redacting in Spreadsheet Viewer

To redact information in a spreadsheet or perform Excel redactions in the DISCO Spreadsheet Viewer:

1. Start redaction mode by clicking Add Redaction / Edit Redaction in the left hand panel

  • In the primary Ad Hoc document viewer, open the REDACTIONS section, or
  • In the document viewers for Review Stage Batches or for Quality Control, look for the Add Redaction button

Adding_Redactions_-_Start_-_Doc_Viewer.png

Adding redaction in primary Document Viewer

Adding_Redactions_-_Start_-_Batch___QC.png

Adding redaction in Review Stage Batch Viewer

Adding_Redactions_-_QC.png

Adding redaction in Quality Control Document Viewer

 

2. Select the cells or images to be redacted, then click the Redact button or press R. The Redact button dynamically reflects your selection (e.g., Redact B42, Redact columns C-D, Redact E14:G23, or Redact entire sheet).

Similar to Microsoft Excel, you can select (and redact) cells in the following ways: 

  • Clicking on individual cells

  • Clicking on a row or column heading to redact the entire row or column

  • Clicking and dragging your cursor over a group of cells/rows/columns

  • Using Shift + up/down/left/right arrow

  • Using Shift + left click

  • Using Ctrl + left click (command + left click on Mac)

  • Clicking the top left corner of the spreadsheet or using Ctrl + A (command + A on Mac) to redact the entire spreadsheet. Note: Redacting a sheet automatically redacts all charts/images in the sheet.

Redact_Cell_Options_-_1.gif

Selecting cells in various ways

Redact_Images_-_1.gif

Selecting an image

 

3. Each time you redact, a dialog box will appear that allows you to:

  • Choose the redaction reason

  • Choose the color for the redaction

  • Delete the redaction

Redacted cells will turn the selected color with the redaction reason (if applicable) shown in the upper left hand corner in the Spreadsheet Viewer, and will show up as redacted with the reason (if applicable) if the document is produced. The dialog box defaults to the redaction reason and color that you chose for the previous redaction.

Adding_Redactions_-_Reason___Color.gif

Redacted cells will change color based on selection with redaction reason displayed

 

2. Hidden content

You can turn on/off hidden content by clicking the eye icon at the top right corner. However, the hidden sheets, columns, and rows are always shown while in redaction mode. 

Adding_Redactions_-_Hidden_Data_Shown_While_Redacting.gif

Hidden sheets, columns, and rows are always shown while redacting

Floating charts and images can be toggled on/off while redacting. It is important to note that redacting a chart/image does not automatically redact any cell content underneath. As a best practice, it is recommended to toggle off the floating charts/images to check if the cells underneath have any content that needs to be redacted.

Adding_Redactions_-_Cells_behind_images.gif

Toggle off the floating charts/images to check if the cells underneath have any content that needs to be redacted

 

3. Comments and Notes Redactions 

Comments and notes made on an Excel document are both considered comments and can be redacted within the Spreadsheet Viewer.  A comment's redactions will be applied to the entire thread, but will not redact the content within the cell that a comment or note was made on.

Adding_Redactions_-_Comments___Notes.gif

Redacting threaded comment and note

 

4. Workbook and Worksheet Redactions

To redact a workbook, a sheet, or a sheet name, click the down arrow next to the sheet names, and select the corresponding option in the drop down menu. 

Redacting the entire workbook will add the same redaction color and reason across all worksheets and the worksheet names.

Adding_Redactions_-_Workbook_Redaction.gif

Redacting the entire workbook

 

Worksheets and worksheet names can be redacted individually or as a group.

Adding_Redactions_-_Individual_Sheet_and_Sheetname.gif

Redacting single worksheet and sheet name

 

You can choose to react a group of sheets or sheet names, or choose to redact all but one sheet or sheet name.

Adding_Redactions_-_All_other_sheet_and_sheet_names.gif

Redacting all other sheets and all other sheet names

 

5. Editing Redactions

You can edit a redaction by clicking on the pencil icon and changing the reason and/or color. Editing_Redactions_-_Change_Reason_and_Color.gif

Editing redaction name and color

 

6. Deleting redactions

You can delete a redaction by clicking the X icon in the top-right corner of the redaction or by clicking the “Delete redaction” action in the redaction’s edit popover. 

Deleting_Redactions_-_X_or_Delete_Redaction.gif

Deleting redactions

 

7. Unredacting

To unredact a part of a redaction:

  1. Enter redaction mode by clicking "Edit Redactions"

  2. Select cells (within the existing redaction) that you want to unredact. The redaction button reflects your selection (e.g., Unredact A4, Unredact A4:B5).

  3. Press R or the button to unredact. The original redaction automatically gets broken into multiple redactions, ensuring that parts of the original redaction that you had not selected for unredacting continue to be redacted.

Unredacting_Redactions_-_Various_Selections.gif

Unredacting cells

 

8. Saving Redactions

Once you are done redacting, click the Save button to save the changes, including new, updated, or deleted redactions. For a spreadsheet with multiple sheets, you can make redactions on different sheets without having to save every time you move between sheets.

Saving_Redactions_-_Add__Unredact__Delete_between_sheets.gif

Saving redactions across multiple sheets

 

9. Jumping Between Redactions

You can use the Jumper in the upper right corner to easily find redactions made across a workbook.

Jumping_Redactions.gif

Jumping between redactions

 

10. Document Audit History

The Document Audit History keeps a log of all the redaction changes that you make on a document.

Document_Audit_History.png

Document Audit History

 

11. Redacting in PDF View

You can continue to redact spreadsheets in the PDF Viewer. It is worth noting that: 

  • Redactions made in a given view can only be viewed and edited in that view.

  • Once a redaction has been made in the PDF, before you can redact in the Spreadsheet Viewer, redactions made in the PDF Viewer must be deleted. 

  • Once a redaction has been made in the Spreadsheet Viewer, before you can redact in the PDF View, redactions made in the Spreadsheet Viewer must be deleted.

Redacting_in_SV_-_Switch_to_PDF.gif

Attempting to add or edit redactions within the PDF Viewer when there are existing redactions in the Spreadsheet Viewer is not permitted. You will be prompted to edit existing redactions in the Spreadsheet Viewer.

Redacting_in_PDF_-_Switch_to_SV.gif

Attempting to add or edit redactions within the Spreadsheet Viewer when there are existing redactions in the PDF Viewer is not permitted. You will be prompted to edit existing redactions in the PDF Viewer.

 

12. Searching

You can use the following new search syntax to easily find documents that have redactions

  • hasRedaction(onPDFViewer) - Returns documents that have a redaction applied in the PDF Viewer

  • hasRedaction(onSpreadsheetViewer) - Returns documents that have a redaction applied in the Spreadsheet Viewer.

Search_-_hasRedaction_OnSpreadsheetViewer_.gif

Searching for redactions made on documents in the Spreadsheet Viewer

 

13. Producing Redacted Excel Documents

Redacted Excel documents can be produced either as a PDF image or as a native .XLSX document. If redactions were applied in the Spreadsheet Viewer, they can be produced as either a PDF image files or a native .XLSX file. However, if redactions were applied in the PDF Viewer, they can only be produced as a PDF image file.

Production_-_Redacted_Native_Excel_v4.gif

Choose to produce redacted Excels as either "Redacted images" or "Redacted .XLSX files" 

 

13a. Produce as Redacted images

If you select "Redacted images" for your production, those Excel documents will be produced in the image format that was selection for production (i.e PDF, TIFF, JPG)

Production_-_Redacted_Excel_as_PDF_Image.png

 

A note about overflow text

Spreadsheets cells can have their content set as overflow / wrap text / shrink text to fit. Consider a scenario where a cell’s (A3) content is set to overflow, and the cell to its right (B3) is redacted. When this spreadsheet is produced as an image, then it is possible that a part of the non-redacted cell’s (A3) content gets covered by the redaction area. It is important to note that the covered content—while not visible to the naked eye—is still a part of the produced image. If you chose PDF as the document format at the time of production, then the covered content can be searched/copied in the produced PDF. It will also be present in the OCR .txt file in the production .ZIP file.

 

13b. Produce as .XLSX Files

If you select "Redacted .XLSX files" for your production, those Excel documents will be produced as native Excel files.

Production_-_Redacted_Excel_as_Native_XLSX.png

 

The redaction reason and color will both be reflected on the produced .XLSX file as seen in the Spreadsheet Viewer. Below are examples of various redactions scenarios as seen on both the produced .XLSX file and in DISCO's Spreadsheet Viewer.

 

Redacted Sheet Name

  • A redacted sheet name will be replaced with {Redacted, <redaction reason>}.

Redacted Cells, Columns, Rows

  • Each redacted cell will have all redaction reasons displayed
  • If there are cells with more than one redaction applied, all reasons for each overlapping redaction will be displayed on the redacted cells and separated with a semicolon.

Comparison_-_Overlapping_and_Sheet_Name.png

Example of a document with sheet name redaction and overlapping redactions

 

Full Sheet Redactions

  • Full sheet redactions have redaction color applied across every cell with the redaction reason listed in the top left cell.
  • All charts, graphs, and comments within that sheet will also be redacted, but the sheet name will not be redacted. 

Comparison_-_Full_Sheet_with_Image.png

Example of full sheet redaction

 

Formula Redactions

  • A cell whose value is derived from a formula containing a redacted cell will still display the value, but not the formula
  • Redacting a formula in one cell will redact the formula in all other cells that references that formula

Comparison_-_Formula.png

Example of a cell value calculated from the sum of redacted cells

 

Comment Redactions

  • A cell and its associated comment must be redacted individually. 
  • If only a cell is redacted, then the associated comment will not be redacted. 
  • Similarly, if only a cell's comment is redacted, then the cell itself will not be redacted. 

Comparison_-_Comments.png

Example of redacted cell with comment, redacted comment on an unredacted cell, and redacted cell and comment

 

 

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful
Return to top

Related articles

Articles in this section

See more