By George Curta · Last updated 2026-04-07
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 alignment.
HIPAA
Threshold: 0.5PHI detection for HIPAA conformance 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 credits, 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 units.
- 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 credits 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.
About this page
We update this page when our platform or the law changes.
Read our founder note for how we work.
Each change shows up in the timestamp at the top.
Related reading
- Common questions
- Glossary
- How tokens work
- Security posture
- Where we comply
- What we detect
- Case studies
- Release notes
We follow these rules
- GDPR (EU 2016/679).
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022.
- NIS2 (EU 2022/2555).
- HIPAA safe harbor under 45 CFR § 164.514(b)(2).
Our promise
We do not sell your data.
We do not train models on your text.
We store your files in Germany.
You can delete your account at any time.
You own your work.
Where we run
Our servers live in Falkenstein, Germany.
We use Hetzner. They hold ISO 27001 certification.
All data stays in the EU.
Backups run every day.
Need help?
Email support@anonym.legal.
We reply within one business day.
How we test
We run a full check suite on every release.
Each surface gets its own sweep script and report.
Human reviewers spot-check the output each week.
We track recall and precision on a labelled set.
Bad runs block the deploy.
What we never do
- We never sell your information to third parties.
- We never train models on what you upload.
- We never keep your work after you delete it.
- We never share keys with any outside firm.
- We never run ads inside the product.
Plans in plain words
We sell credits, not seats.
One credit covers one short job.
Long jobs use a few credits each.
You can top up at any time.
Unused credits roll over each month.
Read the plans page for current rates.
Who built this
A small team of engineers and lawyers built this.
We ship from Europe and work in the open.
Our founder note spells out why we started.
Where to start
- Open the web app and try a sample file.
- Learn how credits get counted.
- See current plans and limits.
- Meet the team behind the product.
How the parts fit
A browser add-on cleans text inside Chrome.
A Word plug-in handles drafts in Office.
A small desktop tool works on whole folders.
An agent protocol link feeds large models safely.
All four share one core engine and one rule set.
Words from our team
We started this work after a lunch about cookies.
One friend kept getting odd ads on her phone.
We asked why a court file leaked through a draft.
We sketched the first build on a napkin that week.
By month three we had a tiny demo for a friend.
She used it on her first case the next day.
Common questions we hear
Can the tool read scanned PDFs? Yes, with OCR.
Does it work on long files? Yes, in small chunks.
Can I roll my own rule set? Yes, save it as a preset.
Does it run offline? The desktop build runs offline.
Do you keep my files? No, the cloud build wipes after each run.
Will it learn from my work? No, we never train on inputs.
A short tour of the workflow
Upload a file or paste a snippet of prose.
Pick the entities you want gone from the draft.
Choose a method: replace, mask, hash, encrypt, or redact.
Press run and watch the side panel show each hit.
Skim the result and tweak any rule that misfired.
Save the cleaned file or send it to a teammate.