Features & Workflow
Master the full anonymization workflow, presets, encryption keys, history, and deanonymization.
Anonymization Workflow
The Desktop App guides you through a 6-step process for every document.
Open any supported document (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, TXT, CSV, JSON, XML)
Select a preset that matches your use case (GDPR, HIPAA, Financial, etc.)
Detect all PII in the document using Presidio + regex + ML
Review detected entities, adjust confidence threshold, deselect false positives
Select anonymization method: Replace, Mask, Redact, Hash, or Encrypt
Save the anonymized document. Original file is never overwritten.
Presets
Presets are named configurations that define which entity types to detect and how to handle them. Use built-in presets or create your own.
General
Threshold: 0.5Balanced detection for general business documents.
GDPR
Threshold: 0.5GDPR-aligned entity detection for EU compliance.
HIPAA
Threshold: 0.5PHI detection for HIPAA compliance in healthcare.
Financial
Threshold: 0.6High-precision detection for financial documents.
Development
Threshold: 0.3Liberal detection for test data and development.
Custom Presets
Create and manage custom presets at anonym.legal/app/presets. Custom presets sync across all your devices automatically.
Encryption Keys
Encryption keys enable reversible anonymization. Anonymized text can only be de-anonymized by someone with the same key.
What encryption keys do
- Replace PII with encrypted ciphertext (AES-256-GCM)
- Allow exact de-anonymization with the same key
- Are stored server-side, wrapped with your Key Encryption Key (KEK)
- Are zero-knowledge — even we cannot decrypt them without your passphrase
How to use encryption keys
- Go to Settings then Encryption Keys
- Create a new key or import an existing one
- Select 'Encrypt' as your anonymization method
- Choose the key from the dropdown
- Anonymize — the output contains encrypted tokens, not plain replacements
Deanonymization
Reverse the anonymization process to restore the original text. Only works with the 'Encrypt' method — Replace, Mask, Redact, and Hash are irreversible.
How to deanonymize
- 1
Open the anonymized file
Load the file that contains encrypted tokens.
- 2
Go to History
Find the session in History, or drag-drop the file into the app.
- 3
Select the encryption key
Choose the same key that was used during anonymization.
- 4
Click Deanonymize
The app sends the tokens to the server for decryption and reconstructs the original document.
Note: If you lose the encryption key, deanonymization is impossible. Always back up your keys.
History
The Desktop App keeps a local history of all anonymization sessions. Use it to review, copy, or deanonymize previous results.
What's in History
- Timestamp of each session
- File name and detected entity count
- Anonymization method used
- Full anonymized output text
- One-click copy of results
Privacy Notes
- History is stored locally on your device only
- Never sent to our servers
- Cleared when you reset your vault
- You can manually clear history in Settings
Supported File Formats
| Format | Max Size | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 MB | |||
| DOCX | 30 MB | ||
| XLSX | 20 MB / 100k rows | CSV (flat) | |
| TXT | 50 MB | ||
| CSV | 30 MB | CSV | |
| JSON | 30 MB | JSON | |
| XML | 30 MB | XML |
Language Support
UI Languages
The Desktop App interface is available in 48 languages. The language is auto-detected from your system settings but can be changed in Settings.
Detection Languages
PII detection supports 48 languages. Select the language of your document in the app before analyzing to improve accuracy.