Auto-redaction automatically removes protected information from media before it's reviewed by staff. This is a service-level setting that administrators enable per tenant.
What Auto-Redaction Does
When enabled, the system automatically identifies and redacts protected information in media files. This runs when media is processed, before a records clerk reviews it.
Auto-redaction handles common patterns like:
Protected personal information
Sensitive identifiers
Information covered by exemptions in your jurisdiction's public records laws
The clerk still reviews the results. Auto-redaction is a starting point, not a replacement for human review.
Enabling Auto-Redaction
Go to Settings > Services.
Find your Records Requests service and click to edit.
Locate the Redaction settings.
Enable Auto-Redaction.
Click Save.
Auto-redaction applies to all media processed under this service. You can't enable it for some request types and not others.
Auto-Redaction vs. Manual Redaction
Auto-Redaction | Manual Redaction | |
When it runs | Automatically on media ingest | Clerk applies before release |
What it catches | Common patterns (PII, identifiers) | Anything the clerk identifies |
Review required? | Yes, clerk should verify | Clerk is the reviewer |
Best for | High-volume agencies, consistent baseline | Nuanced or jurisdiction-specific redaction |
Most agencies benefit from enabling auto-redaction as a baseline, then having clerks do a manual pass for anything jurisdiction-specific (e.g. different rules for DA requests vs. public FOIA requests).
For the manual redaction workflow, see Redacting Records Before Release.