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Reference / ToolsUpdated 19 Sep 2026
Tools

File self-check

Work down the list on a copy of the file, in the software you already have. A single hit means the disclosure carried personal data you meant to remove.

Work on a copy. Several of the checks below involve turning on markup or unhiding parts of a file, and none of them should be done on the artifact you released or on the original you are keeping.

The ticks live in this page while it is open and nowhere else. Nothing is saved, nothing is sent, and reloading the page clears them. Print the list if you need to keep it.

The checks

Checked 0 of 7

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If any check produced a hit

If any step produced a hit, treat the disclosure as having released personal data belonging to someone other than the requester, and follow your own breach assessment process. The file you sent is the file they hold.

A disclosure generated from the text rather than drawn over it has nothing underneath to find. A complete released bundle, with its manifest and quality report is downloadable, from a run on synthetic data, if you want to see what that looks like before deciding how to reissue.

These are the checks from the guide Does redacting a PDF remove the text?, imported from it rather than restated, so the two lists cannot differ.