During your review, you may need to reveal previously redacted information due to changes in case strategy, court orders, or updated confidentiality agreements, or discover an error affecting many documents. Mass redaction edits and removals help you apply these changes faster and more accurately. For a document set, you might correct a spelling error in a redaction reason, swap one reason for another, change redaction color, or add a missing reason.
As with all technologies automating eDiscovery, exercise due diligence with mass redaction edits and removals. Perform spot QC checks and run test edits or deletions on limited document sets to ensure correct application. You can undo test redactions as explained later in this article.
This feature is in Walk. Review databases that had their first document ingest as of August 19, 2024 will have this feature enabled.
How to mass redact documents: edits and removals
- On the Search & Review page, identify and select the documents you want to update redactions for.
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After selecting your documents, click the "redact" button in the mass actions above the document list.
Click 'Update existing redactions' to open the 'Update existing' side sheet. Like new mass redactions, updates apply only to selected documents. In this example, 15,384 documents will be included in the update.
In the "Redaction reason" dropdown, select the reason for the redactions you want to update. You can choose a specific reason, all reasons, any reason, or no reason.
- In the "Desired update" dropdown, select whether to update or delete the specified redactions.
- When editing redactions, you can modify the redaction reason and color.
- In the "New redaction reason" dropdown, create a new redaction reason by typing it and clicking "Create".
- In the "Color" dropdown, select a color for the specified redactions or choose "No change".
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Click "Add another" to insert a new row.
In this example, we'll delete all redactions lacking a reason.
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Adding more rows will affect the reasons you can select later:
We cannot select "All redactions", "Redactions with any reason", or "Redactions with no reason" because we have already changed these redaction types.
- You can also remove the redaction reason without replacing it with another:
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After finalizing your changes, specify the types of redactions to edit or remove:
Manual -> redactions added by a human reviewer who drew a redaction box.
Mass -> redactions added by our mass redactions system,
You can target mass, manual, or both at your discretion
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Specify where to run your edit operations:
You can specify adjustments for redactions within the document and restrict them to metadata redactions
Once you finish your update, click 'Apply' to start the mass action. A confirmation modal will appear. Click "Confirm updates":
The in-app notification system alerts you when your job starts:
Track your job progress in the Mass Action Log (MAL)
Click on '82 Documents' to view your changes as a consolidated job
Open a document to inspect its audit history:
You can roll back your changes to restore the original state:
Rollback operation begins:
Mass Redactions Edits and Removals FAQ
Q: Do mass redactions edits and removals involve extra costs?
A: Mass redactions are included for DISCO Ediscovery customers at no extra charge.
Q: In which data spaces are mass redactions edits and removals available?
A: Mass redactions edits and removals are available in active review.
Q: Are mass redactions edits and removals allowed?
A: Yes. Review managers can adjust permissions for custom roles. Users authorized to add mass redactions also have permissions for this feature.
Q: Can I start multiple mass redactions edits and removals jobs simultaneously?
A: Yes, you can initiate multiple jobs.
Q: Which documents qualify for this feature?
A: All text-based documents can have mass redaction edits and removals applied.
Q: What happens if I change redactions on a document after a mass redactions edit job?
A: Documents reprocessed, modified, or updated after a mass removals/edits action cannot be rolled back. When a rollback is initiated from the mass action log, we skip these documents and do not link to them.
Q: What does reprocessing mean?
A: It includes overlaying text, re-imaging, or updating document metadata. If affected documents have been reprocessed after the action, rollback will not restore redactions. Reprocessing alters the document's structure or content, preventing accurate restoration.
Q: What does modified mean?
A: Modified documents have changes after the batch removal/edit, such as new or edited redactions or annotations. These documents cannot have redactions rolled back from the mass actions log. Rollback will not affect them to avoid overwriting newer changes.
Q: What best practices do you recommend?
A: Users should exercise caution when performing batch deletions and understand undo limitations. If redactions might need restoration, avoid modifying or reprocessing affected documents until the decision is final.
Best Practices:
Verify selection criteria and documents before starting the removal/edit operation.
Notify team members about the batch deletion to prevent unintended modifications that could block undo.
Perform rollbacks promptly before any affected documents are modified or reprocessed.
Q: Are redactions edits and deletions combined in one job? Can I trigger cascading updates based on row order? For example, "If I remove the reason 'Attorney-client' and the next row deletes all redactions without a reason, then what?"
A: No. We take a snapshot of each document and assess edits/removals simultaneously. We do not apply edits sequentially, so one row does not affect the next.
Q: I still have questions that aren't answered here, can you help me?
A: Absolutely, we are with you in every case. Contact your customer service advisor and we'll directly connect with our product management team. They love to answer your emails and are always happy to jump on a quick video call with you!