Documentation

Overview

anonym.plus Desktop is a secure document anonymization application that detects and removes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from documents and images. It uses a local PII detection engine (Presidio) and an encrypted vault for secure storage.

Key Benefits

• Local PII detection engine — no cloud required for analysis
• Military-grade encryption (AES-256-GCM) for stored data
• Reversible encryption — encrypt PII, share documents, decrypt later
• Support for PDF, DOCX, XLSX, TXT, CSV, JSON, XML, and images (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIFF)
• 200+ PII entity types across all global regions
• 121 built-in detection presets (GDPR, HIPAA, Financial, Regional, etc.)
• Custom entity detection via regex patterns
• 48 languages supported
• Batch processing with parallel file handling
• Cross-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

System Requirements

Installation

Windows

macOS

Download the .dmg file, open it, and drag the app to Applications.

Linux

First Launch

When you open anonym.plus for the first time, a guided setup wizard walks you through five steps: choosing how to start, creating your secure vault, setting a PIN, activating your license, and selecting an output folder. Each step is explained below with screenshots.

Step 1: Welcome Screen

The welcome screen presents three options to get started:

A language selector at the bottom lets you switch the UI language before proceeding. 48 languages are available.

Step 2: Recovery Phrase & Vault Creation

After choosing "Get Free Account" or "I have an account," the app generates a secure vault protected by a 24-word BIP39 recovery phrase. This phrase is the master key to your vault.

You can Copy the phrase to clipboard (auto-cleared after 30 seconds) or Save as TXT to a file. Click Hide to blur the words for privacy. You must check "I have safely stored my recovery phrase" before continuing.

Verify Your Phrase

To confirm you saved the phrase correctly, the app asks you to enter 3 randomly selected words by their position number.

Type the correct words and click Confirm. If any word is wrong, you'll be prompted to try again. Once verified, the vault is created and you proceed to PIN setup.

Step 3: PIN Setup

After vault creation, you can set a 4–8 digit PIN for quick daily access. The PIN lets you unlock the app without typing all 24 words each time.

• Quick unlock without typing your full 24-word recovery phrase
• Your recovery phrase remains stored securely in the vault
• You can always use the recovery phrase if you forget your PIN

Enter your PIN in both fields and click Set PIN & Continue. You can also click Skip for now to set a PIN later in Settings → Security.

Step 4: License Activation

With your vault ready, the final security step is activating your anonym.plus license to unlock all features.

Enter your email and password, then click Sign In & Activate. Your password is hashed locally and never sent to the server in plain text.

Manual Activation

If sign-in doesn't work (e.g., behind a corporate firewall), expand Manual activation (paste or import file) for alternative methods:

• Paste license key — paste the JSON license key from your account page
• Import File — import a .json license file downloaded from your account

You can also click Skip for now to activate later via Settings → Account.

Step 5: Output Folder

The last step lets you choose where anonymized documents will be saved.

The default folder is Documents/CloakBusiness. Click Browse... to select a different location. You can change this later in Settings → Preferences.

Click Finish Setup to complete the wizard and enter the main application.

Main Interface Overview

After setup, the main interface is organized into several key areas:

Header Bar

• Mode Toggle — switch between Anonymize and Deanonymize modes
• Preset Selector — quick-switch between detection presets
• History — open the processing history panel
• Settings — access app settings (Ctrl + ,)
• Help — open the in-app help panel (F1)
• Bug Report — submit feedback with diagnostic info

Processing Area

• File Dropzone — drag and drop files or click to browse. Supports single files and batch uploads.
• Document / Image Tab — toggle between document text anonymization and image redaction modes
• Results Panel — shows detected entities grouped by type with accept/reject controls
• Output Options — choose output format and save location

Status Bar

The bottom of the window shows engine status (running/stopped) and the currently active encryption key.

Document Anonymization

The core feature — detect and anonymize personal information in documents.

Workflow

Step-by-Step: Text Anonymization with Replace

Anonymize text by replacing personal data with type labels like <PERSON> and <EMAIL_ADDRESS>. The original values are permanently removed.

1

Paste Text with Personal Data

Enter or paste a document containing personal information — names, email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, Social Security Numbers, credit card numbers, IBANs, and organization names.

2

Select Detection Preset

Choose “General PII Detection” from the preset dropdown. This preset detects Person, Email Address, Phone Number, Location, Date Time, and 7 additional entity types using the English NER model.

3

Analyze Text

Click “Analyze Only” to run the Named Entity Recognition pipeline. A loading spinner shows while the text is scanned for PII.

4

Review Detected Entities

All 10 detected entities appear as color-coded badges: Person (2), Organization (2), US SSN (1), Credit Card (1), Email Address (1), Phone Number (1), Location (1), IBAN Code (1). Toggle individual entities on or off with checkboxes, or use Select All / Deselect All.

5

Configure Replace Operators

The Configure Operators panel shows “Replace” selected for each entity type. Each PII value will be substituted with its type label in angle brackets — e.g., <PERSON>, <EMAIL_ADDRESS>. Quick-action buttons (All Replace, All Redact, All Mask, All Hash, All Encrypt) allow switching all operators at once.

6

Anonymize

Click “Anonymize with Selected Operators” to process. A brief loading state appears while each entity is replaced.

7

View Anonymized Result

The anonymized text appears with all PII replaced: <PERSON> for names, <ORGANIZATION> for company names, <US_SSN>, <CREDIT_CARD>, <EMAIL_ADDRESS>, <PHONE_NUMBER>, <LOCATION>, <IBAN_CODE>. Use Copy to Clipboard or Clear to reset.

Step-by-Step: Text Anonymization with Encrypt

Anonymize text using reversible encryption — each PII value is encrypted with your key and can be decrypted later via the Deanonymize feature.

1

Paste Text with Personal Data

Enter or paste a document containing personal information — same as the replace workflow.

2

Select Detection Preset

Choose “General PII Detection” to detect a broad range of entity types.

3

Analyze Text

Run the NER pipeline to detect all personal data entities.

4

Review Detected Entities

Review 10 detected entities with color-coded badges. Same entity types as replace.

5

Select All Encrypt with Encryption Key

Click “All Encrypt” to set every entity type to the encrypt operator. Select “Production Key (256-bit)” from the key dropdown. Unlike Replace, the encrypt operator produces reversible tokens that can be decrypted later.

6

Encrypt

Click “Anonymize with Selected Operators” to encrypt all PII with the selected key.

7

View Encrypted Result

The output contains reversible encrypted tokens: <PERSON_ENC:a1b2c3...>, <EMAIL_ADDRESS_ENC:...>, etc. These tokens can be decrypted back to the original PII using the Deanonymize feature with the same encryption key.

Step-by-Step: File Anonymization with Replace

Drop a document file to anonymize — text is extracted, PII detected, and a new anonymized file is saved to your output folder.

1

Open File Drop Zone

Navigate to the File Drop tab. The dropzone accepts PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, JSON, XML, XLSX, and XLS files up to 50MB.

2

Drop File for Analysis

Drop a text file (e.g., business-letter.txt). It appears in a “Ready to Analyze” card with the filename, size, and the “General PII Detection” preset pre-selected. Click “Start Analysis (1 file)”.

3

Analysis in Progress

The file card shows “Analyzing...” with a progress bar at 45%. Text is extracted and processed through the NER pipeline.

4

Review Detected Entities

The entity review panel lists all detected PII with color-coded badges and checkboxes. Select All / Deselect All controls are available. The output format selector and operator configuration are visible below.

5

Configure Replace Operators

The Replace operator is configured for all entity types. The output format is set to “Same as original (TXT)”. Other format options include PDF and DOCX. Click “Anonymize & Save as New File” to process.

6

Saving Anonymized File

The file card shows “Anonymizing...” with a progress bar while the output file is reconstructed and saved.

7

File Processing Complete

Green “Complete” status with entity count displayed. The anonymized file is saved to the output folder. A green toast notification confirms the output path.

Step-by-Step: File Anonymization with Encrypt

Encrypt PII in document files for reversible anonymization — output files contain encrypted tokens that can be decrypted later.

1

Open File Drop Zone

Same dropzone as Replace — supports all document formats up to 50MB.

2

Drop File for Analysis

Drop a text file. It appears in “Ready to Analyze” with preset selected.

3

Analysis in Progress

Progress bar while text is extracted and PII detected.

4

Review Detected Entities

Same entity review panel with color-coded badges.

5

Select All Encrypt with Key

Click “All Encrypt” to switch all operators to encrypt mode. Select “Production Key (256-bit)” for reversible encryption.

6

Saving Encrypted File

The file is processed with encrypt operators and saved to the output folder.

7

File Processing Complete

Output file contains encrypted tokens like <PERSON_ENC:...> that can be decrypted later using the Deanonymize feature.

Supported Formats

Input

Output

File Size Limits

Image Anonymization

Detect and redact personal information directly in images. Uses Tesseract OCR to extract text from images, then applies the same PII detection engine to find and visually redact sensitive data.

Workflow

Step-by-Step: Image Anonymization

Detect and redact PII in images using OCR text extraction and NER-based entity detection.

1

Open Image Drop Zone

Navigate to the Image tab. The dropzone accepts PNG, JPG, BMP, and TIFF images up to 10MB.

2

Load Image and Configure

Drop a business card image. The preview shows the card with visible PII. Below: fill color selector (black, red, green, blue, gray), detection preset “General PII Detection”, and transform tools (rotate, flip). Click “Analyze”.

3

OCR and NER Analysis

The app runs Tesseract OCR to extract text, then Presidio NER to detect PII entities and their bounding box positions within the image.

4

Review Detected Entities with Bounding Boxes

The image shows colored bounding boxes overlaid on each detected PII area. Entity type filter badges (Person, Email Address, Phone Number, Location, Organization) with checkboxes allow selecting which to redact. Click “Redact Selected (5 entities)”.

5

Redacting PII Areas

A loading indicator appears while selected PII regions are covered with black fill rectangles.

6

Before and After Comparison

Side-by-side view: the Original image (left) with visible PII, and the Redacted image (right) with black bars covering all detected areas. Stats show entity count. Use the Save button to download the redacted image.

Supported Formats

OCR Languages

38 languages supported including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Russian, and more. Select the correct language for best OCR accuracy.

How It Works

Known Limitations

Tips

• Use screenshots instead of camera photos of screens for much better results
• Select the correct OCR language matching the text in your image
• Ensure images are well-lit with good contrast between text and background
• For scanned documents, use 300 DPI or higher resolution
• Crop images to focus on the text area for faster processing
• EXIF orientation is applied automatically — no need to manually rotate photos

Batch Processing

Process multiple documents at once with parallel file handling. Batch mode is available for document anonymization.

Workflow

Step-by-Step: Batch Processing with Replace

Process multiple files at once with the Replace operator — all PII is substituted with type labels and saved as a ZIP archive.

1

Open Batch Dropzone

Navigate to the Batch Mode tab. The dropzone accepts multiple files (PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, JSON, XML, XLSX) up to 50MB per file.

2

Add Files and Configure

Three files added: business-letter.txt (2 KB), invoice.pdf (44 KB), contacts.csv (8 KB). Each shows in a card with pending status. The Batch Configuration panel shows preset selector, Replace operator mode, concurrency, auto-approve toggle, and export settings.

3

Review Full Configuration

General PII Detection preset, Replace operator, 2 parallel files, Auto-Approve Entities ON (skips manual review for faster processing), Continue on error, output format “Same as original”, export as ZIP Archive, filename pattern {name}_anonymized.{ext}. Click “Start Batch (3 files)”.

4

Monitor Processing Progress

Progress bar at 33% — 1/3 completed. Live stats show elapsed time, estimated remaining time, and 10 entities found so far. File statuses: business-letter.txt Done (10 entities), invoice.pdf Analyzing (45%), contacts.csv Waiting. Pause and Cancel buttons available.

5

All Files Complete

All 3 files show green checkmarks with individual entity counts (10, 7, 5). Total: 22 entities found, 0 errors. Export Results and New Batch buttons ready.

6

View Results Summary

Modal showing 100% success rate, stats grid (3 completed, 0 failed, 22 entities, 0 tokens), preset “default”, output format “Original”. ZIP archive exported with “Open Location” button.

Step-by-Step: Batch Processing with Encrypt

Process multiple files with reversible encryption — output files contain encrypted tokens that can be decrypted later.

1

Open Batch Dropzone

Same multi-file dropzone as Replace mode.

2

Add Files with Encrypt Mode

Three files added. The operator mode shows Encrypt with encryption key dropdown visible.

3

Configure Encrypt Settings

Full config: Encrypt operator highlighted, “Encryption Key: Select a key” dropdown, “Reversible encryption with key” hint. Other settings: 2 parallel files, auto-approve ON, ZIP archive export. Click “Start Batch (3 files)”.

4

Monitor Encryption Progress

Progress bar with mixed file statuses — same layout as Replace but processing with encrypt operators.

5

All Files Encrypted

All 3 files complete with green checkmarks and entity counts. Output files contain reversible encrypted tokens.

6

View Results Summary

100% success modal with encrypted output in ZIP archive.

Limits

Progress Tracking

During batch processing, each file shows its own progress indicator with status (queued, extracting, analyzing, complete). Files that fail are flagged individually without stopping the rest of the batch.

Deanonymization (Decrypt)

Restore original PII values from anonymized documents using your encryption keys. Works with any document that was anonymized using the 'encrypt' operator.

Input Modes

Step-by-Step: Deanonymize from History

Restore original PII from a previously encrypted anonymization by selecting it from your processing history.

1

Open Deanonymize Panel

Click “Deanonymize” in the header bar. The panel shows three tabs: File Drop, Text Input, and From History. The File Drop tab is active by default with a dropzone for anonymized files. “How Deanonymization Works” info box explains the process.

2

Select from Processing History

Switch to the “From History” tab. Previously anonymized files are listed with metadata: filename (business-letter.txt), format (TEXT), entity count (10), preset (General PII Detection), and a key icon indicating encryption was used. Click to select.

3

Review Encrypted Text and Select Key

The encrypted text is pre-loaded in the Text Input tab with tokens like <PERSON_ENC:a1b2c3d4e5f6> and <ORGANIZATION_ENC:f7g8h9i0j1k2>. The encryption key selector shows 2 keys available. A green “History entry matched” banner confirms 10 encrypted entities loaded.

4

Decrypt

Click “Deanonymize” to process each encrypted token. A loading state appears during decryption.

5

View Restored Original Text

“Deanonymization Complete” card shows “10 items restored, 0 tokens used”. The fully decrypted text displays all original PII: John Smith, Acme Corporation, 123-45-6789, 4111-1111-1111-1111, john.smith@acme.com, +1 (555) 123-4567, 742 Evergreen Terrace Springfield IL 62704, and IBAN DE89 3704 0044 0532 0130 00. Copy and Download buttons available.

Step-by-Step: Deanonymize via File Drop

Drop an encrypted file to automatically extract text, match against your history, and decrypt all PII.

1

Open File Drop Tab

The Deanonymize panel shows the File Drop tab with a dropzone accepting anonymized documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT, CSV, JSON, XML, XLSX, XLS up to 50MB). “How Deanonymization Works” info box visible below.

2

Drop Encrypted File

Drop business-letter_anonymized.txt. The encrypted text is extracted and displayed in the text area with tokens like <PERSON_ENC:a1b2c3d4e5f6> visible. The encryption key selector shows 2 keys available.

3

Auto-Match History Entry

The app automatically searches your processing history and finds a matching entry. A green “History entry matched” banner appears: “10 encrypted entities loaded from history. Ready to decrypt.” The correct encryption key metadata is loaded.

4

Confirm Key Selection

The encryption key is confirmed. The matched history indicator is visible. The “Deanonymize” button is ready.

5

Decrypt File

Click “Deanonymize” to decrypt all encrypted tokens using the matched encryption key.

6

View Restored Original Text

File deanonymization complete — all original PII values restored including names, SSN, credit card, email, phone, address, and IBAN. Copy and Download buttons available.

How to Deanonymize

1. Switch to 'Deanonymize' mode using the toggle in the header
2. Drop a file, paste text, or select from history — keys load automatically
3. If auto-match fails, manually select the encryption key
4. Click 'Deanonymize' to restore original values
5. Copy or download the restored text

Encrypt → Share → Edit → Decrypt

You can encrypt a document, share it with collaborators, receive it back with edits, and still decrypt the PII:

Detection Presets

Pre-configured entity detection profiles for different use cases. 121 built-in presets across 7 categories.

Custom Presets

Create your own presets in Settings → Presets. Select entity types, set operators, and configure confidence thresholds. Custom presets are stored in your vault.

Custom Entities

Define your own PII entity types using regular expression patterns. Custom entities are detected alongside built-in types during anonymization.

Creating a Custom Entity

Pattern Guidelines

• Use standard JavaScript regex syntax (no delimiters needed)
• Patterns are validated for ReDoS safety — catastrophic backtracking patterns are rejected
• Test with real sample data using the inline tester before saving
• Use named groups (?<value>...) to capture only the relevant part of a match

Import & Export

Custom entity definitions can be exported as JSON and imported on another machine or shared with team members. This makes it easy to standardize detection rules across an organization.

Limits

Encryption Keys

Manage encryption keys for reversible anonymization.

• Create and store encryption keys securely in your vault
• Apply encryption to specific entity types
• Keys are stored locally — only you can decrypt
• Sync keys across devices via your account

How to Use

Processing History

View and manage your anonymization history.

• View all processed files with timestamps
• See entity counts and tokens used
• Copy original or anonymized text
• Use history entries for deanonymization
• History stored locally in encrypted vault

Settings

Account

• Sign in with browser or ZK authentication
• View license plan and activation status
• Sync presets and encryption keys
• Sign out

Preferences

• Language selection (48 languages)
• Theme (Light / Dark / System)
• Output folder configuration
• Auto-update settings

Security

• Change or set PIN (4–8 digits)
• View recovery phrase
• Vault lock settings
• Reset vault

Encryption Keys

• Create and manage encryption keys
• Set default key and entity type binding
• Rotate key values (one-time display)
• Keys stored locally in encrypted vault — values never leave your machine

Presets

• 121 built-in presets across 7 categories
• Create custom presets with entity selection
• Configure per-entity-type operators
• Set default preset for auto-selection
• Duplicate built-in presets as custom

Entities

• Enable/disable 200+ PII entity types globally
• Search and filter by entity group
• Per-group and global Enable All / Disable All

Custom Entities

• Define custom PII types with regex patterns
• Inline pattern tester with real-time highlighting
• Import/export custom entity definitions
• Max 50 custom entities, ReDoS-safe validation

Models

• Download additional language models for PII detection
• 23 spaCy-based languages available
• Check for model updates
• Delete unused models to save disk space

Advanced

• Embedded debug log viewer with cross-window log broadcasting
• Log level configuration
• Data management: export, import, delete, move vault data

About

• App version and build info
• Engine status (PII detection engine)
• Download and install updates
• Links to documentation and support

Keyboard Shortcuts

Security

Vault Encryption

Your sensitive data is protected with military-grade encryption.

• AES-256-GCM encryption for all stored data
• Argon2id key derivation (64 MB memory, 3 iterations)
• BIP39 24-word recovery phrase
• PIN-based quick unlock for daily use
• Sensitive data zeroized from memory when locked

How Your Data is Processed

What We Never Store

Troubleshooting

Error Messages

Frequently Asked Questions

Jump to: Security · Anonymization · Deanonymization · Encryption Keys · Batch · Presets · Custom Entities · Images · Models · History · Licensing · Updates · Troubleshooting

Support

Need help? Reach out through any of these channels:

• Documentation — this page
• Contact Support — submit a support request
• In-app bug reporting — use the bug icon in the app header to report issues with diagnostic information