Document anonymization is the process of detecting and replacing personally identifiable information (PII) in documents, images, and structured data files before those files are shared, archived, or submitted for legal or regulatory purposes. Done correctly, anonymization protects individuals' privacy and helps organizations meet their obligations under GDPR, HIPAA, and similar frameworks.
These guides cover every anonymization workflow supported by anonym.plus — from pasting a paragraph of text to processing hundreds of files in batch. Each guide is written for practitioners: lawyers handling discovery documents, HR teams exporting personnel records, healthcare administrators preparing datasets for research, and developers building GDPR-compliant pipelines.
Two anonymization approaches
anonym.plus offers two fundamentally different ways to handle detected PII, and choosing between them shapes your entire workflow:
[PERSON] or [EMAIL_ADDRESS]. The original value is gone. Use this for final redaction — court filings, public datasets, vendor submissions.
What the guides cover
The six guides below move from simple to advanced. Start with the text anonymization guide if you are new to the tool — it covers the Replace vs Encrypt decision in detail. Move to the file guide once you are comfortable with text workflows. The GDPR compliance guide is the most referenced guide for legal and compliance teams and covers the regulatory basis for each anonymization decision.
All guides assume you are running anonym.plus desktop with the local Presidio engine active. No cloud account or internet connection is required for any workflow described here — all processing happens on your machine.