In general, documents uploaded to and stored on the SDP should be free of personally identifying information (PII). However, when necessary (e.g., for the purposes of allowing auditors to confirm that uploaded documents are connected to a particular study subject), it is allowable to leave the subject's date of birth (DOB) and initials (not full names or signatures) unredacted; all other PII must be redacted. Any required redaction can be accomplished prior to upload (e.g., by redacting paper documents using an opaque pen prior to scanning and upload), or within the application using the built-in redaction functionality as described in this section.
Auto-redaction tool: The Auto Redact File tool is checked on by default (see Figure 7) and will remove any and all personal identifiers that it finds including but not limited to DOB, initials, names, addresses, and medical record number).
- When the Auto Redact File is checked, the tool will auto redact any PII on each page of the document during the document upload and display a findings window to the right of the document named Marked for Redaction (see Figure 8).
- As noted in the Marked for Redaction box, redactions can be individually removed by clicking the “x” to the right of the selected redaction. This action must be taken prior to selecting the Redact All button; at that point they will be applied and unchangeable.
- If after saving the redaction, it is determined there is under-redaction, it is best to use the document EDIT which allows access to the manual redact feature discussed next.
Manual-redaction tool: To activate the manual redaction, always make certain the auto-redact feature is unchecked (see Figure 7) and then proceed with redacting any and all personal identifiers as needed (e.g., full name, address, or medical record number).
- Click the Redact button and draw the redaction over the desired content using the plus-shaped cursor. Pending redactions will show as open boxes with a red outline. HINT: If the font within the document is small, making precise redaction difficult, it may help to use the resizing tool to increase the size of the document in the viewer.

Figure 7: Redaction tool, pending redactions, and redaction cursor.
- Apply all pending redactions by selecting the Redact All button at the bottom of the Marked for Redaction box (see Figure 8)

Figure 8: Apply pending redactions.
A pop-up message will display stating that this action will apply all pending redactions (see Figure 9).

Figure 9: Apply pending redactions pop-up.
- As noted in the Marked for Redaction box, redactions can also be individually removed by clicking the “x” to the right of the selected redaction. This action must be taken prior to selecting the Redact All button; at that point they will be applied and unchangeable.
- Turn off the redaction feature by clicking the arrow tool next to the Redact button at the top left of the document window.
If there are multiple pages, review each page for necessary redactions first before selecting the Redact All button.