Guides by audience.
- FamiliesCalls from a relative in trouble, parcel texts, social media shopping, gift cards and charges that keep coming out.
- Carers of older relativesChecks to use side by side, a phone set-up checklist, and help with letters and statements.
- Companies and small businessesRedirected supplier payments, gift card requests, staff use of artificial intelligence and documents sent with hidden details.
- Charities, non-governmental organisations and community groupsLookalike donation pages, grant payments, beneficiary details and photos that carry a location.
- Social media creatorsFake brand deals, sponsorship offers that ask you to pay, impersonation accounts and copies of your face and voice.
- Libraries and educatorsA free session plan, the free large-print book, the Safe & Savvy After 60 lessons and cards to print.
- HealthcarePatient details kept out of artificial intelligence, and records blacked out properly.
- Insurance and financial adviceClaims documents, client details and what a regulator expects.
- Human resources and people teamsStaff records and documents handled with care.
By line of work.
HealthcareClinics, hospitals, pharmacies, care homes, therapists and home carers.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Ask an artificial intelligence to help word a referral, a discharge letter or a reply to a patient, without giving it the patient’s name, phone number, identity number or medical aid number. The real details go back into the reply on your own device.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Paste a note before it goes into any artificial intelligence and see the names, dates of birth and numbers still inside it.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out a patient’s details on a report, an insurance form or a letter so the words are really gone, shrink scanned records small enough to email, and turn phone photos into Joint Photographic Experts Groups with the hidden location removed.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
A one-page set of rules for the wall of the ward office or the reception desk.
Worth knowing: Taking out the names does not always make a person anonymous: a rare condition, a date and a town can still point to one patient. Your employer’s rules on artificial intelligence come first. These tools make mistakes less likely; they do not make anything allowed that was not allowed before.
LegalLaw firms, advocates, paralegals, legal aid clinics and court staff.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Redaction Studio blacks out names, account numbers and addresses in disclosure bundles, statements and filings, checks its own file, and gives you a report for the matter file. Compress PDF (Portable Document Format) file gets bundles under court and portal size limits.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a document from the other side, or your own before filing, for words still sitting under the black boxes.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Get help from an artificial intelligence with a client email or a first draft without handing it the client’s name and details.
- Delete My Details
Write the letter asking a company for a copy of the data it holds, or asking it to delete it, under the law where your client lives.
Worth knowing: Redaction Studio turns each page into a picture, so the finished file cannot be searched or read aloud by screen readers. Some courts and regulators ask for searchable files; check before you file.
Retail and large companiesShops, call centres, online stores, head offices and human resources teams.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Staff answering complaints, returns and loyalty queries can use any artificial intelligence without giving it the customer’s name, order number, phone number or card digits. It works on the staff member’s own phone.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
Print it for tills, service desks and call centres.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
When a customer or employee asks for a copy of their data, black out other people’s details before sending it.
- Site Control, a free offline file
Decide which artificial intelligence companies may read the company website.
Worth knowing: Using the tools across a whole company usually needs your information technology team’s approval. Write to us and we will send them what they need to check the tools send nothing.
HospitalityHotels, guesthouses, restaurants, bars, tour operators and event venues.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Reply to a guest complaint or a booking change with help from an artificial intelligence, without giving it the guest’s name, room number, phone number or card digits.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out a passport or identity copy before forwarding it, and turn guests’ iPhone photos into files anyone can open.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work
Includes a tip and bill splitter and a value-added tax calculator you can put on your own website.
- Before You Pay
For guests and staff: check a booking or “deal” page before paying.
Worth knowing: Blacking out a copy does not delete the original. Keep no more copies of guests’ identity documents than you need.
Tourism and travellersTour operators, travel agents and guides, and anyone booking a trip.
- Before You Pay
Check a holiday rental or booking message that asks you to pay by bank transfer, by WhatsApp or anywhere away from the booking site. Booking sites only protect payments made inside their own app or website.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Operators and agents can use any artificial intelligence to answer a guest complaint or a booking change without giving it passport numbers, names or card digits.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Remove the hidden location from travel photos before you post them while you are still away, and black out passport scans saved as PDF file before you email them.
- Can I Afford This?
See what a holiday on buy now, pay later or a credit card will really cost in total.
Worth knowing: A copy of a passport sent by email stays in every inbox it passes through. Send it only when you must, and black out what the other side does not need.
Colleges, universities and adult educationLecturers, tutors, college offices and adult-education staff.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Get help from an artificial intelligence with a report or an email without giving it the student’s name or personal details.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Check a document for students’ names and dates of birth before it goes into any artificial intelligence.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out students’ names on work you want to share as an example, and shrink scanned papers to email.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work
Includes a final grade calculator students can use, and a contrast checker for readable slides.
Worth knowing: Students’ personal details are protected by data-protection law in most countries. Your institution’s own rules come first.
StudentsUniversity and college students, and anyone studying.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work
The final grade calculator shows the mark you need in the exam. Compress PDF file gets assignments under upload limits. High Efficiency Image Container to Joint Photographic Experts Group turns phone photos of notes into files every portal accepts.
- Before You Pay
Check a study app, an essay service or a “free” trial before typing in a card number.
- Before You Buy a Course
Check a side-hustle course, a coaching offer or a “work from your phone” job before paying, and see how many sales it takes to earn the price back.
- Can I Afford This?
Plan a student loan, part-time wages or an allowance around rent and bills, and see what buy now pay later really costs before using it.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before pasting a group project into an artificial intelligence, see whose names and numbers are in it.
- Delete My Details
Ask a company to delete the details it holds about you.
Worth knowing: These tools do not tell you what your university allows you to do with artificial intelligence. Check its rules.
Academics and researchersLecturers, research teams, postgraduate students and ethics committees.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence to help summarise or code interview transcripts without giving it participants’ names, places or contact details.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out personal details in records before sharing them with co-authors, and keep the checking report with your ethics paperwork.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check official documents released to you for words hidden under black boxes.
- The free test set
73 documents for testing any blacking-out tool, including ours, free for research.
- Sort My Saved-for-Later Reading
Gather newsletters, alerts and saved links into one document sorted by your research topics.
Worth knowing: Removing names is only one part of making research data anonymous. Follow your ethics committee’s rules on what else must go.
Education technology companiesCompanies that build apps, platforms and artificial intelligence tutors for colleges, universities and adult learners.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Let support and product staff use any artificial intelligence on a lecturer’s or student’s message without giving it the student’s name.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before an export of learner records or a support ticket goes into any artificial intelligence, see which names and numbers are in it.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out students’ details in documents you share with institutions, auditors or investors, and keep the checking report.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
A one-page set of rules for everyone on the team who uses artificial intelligence on work information.
Worth knowing: Personal data has legal protection in most countries. These tools lower the risk; your data protection lead and the law decide what is allowed.
Artists and creative workersVisual artists, musicians, dancers, writers, designers and photographers.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
High Efficiency Image Container to Joint Photographic Experts Group removes the hidden location from photos taken in your studio or home before you post them. Compress PDF file gets portfolios and funding applications under size limits. Black out your bank and identity details on a contract before sharing it with a collaborator.
- Site Control, a free offline file
Tell artificial intelligence companies, in the file they read first, whether they may train on your portfolio website.
- Before You Pay
Check a competition, a “showcase” or a “free” trial page before paying an entry fee.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a contract or a document sent to you for text hidden under black boxes.
Worth knowing: The file that tells artificial intelligence companies to stay away is a request. Well-behaved companies follow it; others ignore it, and no file can stop them.
Social media creatorsYouTubers, TikTokers, Instagram and podcast creators, and the people who manage them.
- Before You Pay
Check a brand-deal or sponsorship message that asks you to pay a fee, cover shipping, install an app or log in somewhere. Real brands pay creators, not the other way round.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Remove the hidden location from photos taken at home before you post them, and shrink a media kit small enough to email.
- Delete My Details
Write the letters that ask people-search and data companies to delete your home address and phone number.
- Before You Buy a Course
Check a “grow your channel” or “make money online” course before you pay for it.
Worth knowing: The location in a photo is only one clue. A street sign, a uniform or the view from a window can show where you live just as clearly.
Museums, galleries and theatresStaff, volunteers, and the visitors, donors and patrons they look after.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence to help with a donor letter, a patron email or a reply to a visitor complaint, without giving it their names and details.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out valuations and names in loan agreements and provenance files, and remove the hidden location from photos of storerooms and collections before they go online.
- Site Control, a free offline file
Decide which artificial intelligence companies may read your collection pages.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
For front-of-house and collections staff.
Worth knowing: The tools do not handle copyright or the cultural rules that apply to some objects and images. Those decisions stay with you.
Journalists and reportersReporters, editors, researchers and fact-checkers.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a leaked or officially released document for words still sitting under the black boxes.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out a source’s details before you publish a document, and remove the hidden location from a source’s photo.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence on interview notes without giving it the names of the people in them.
- Sort My Saved-for-Later Reading
Mix the newsletters, press releases and saved links you follow into one document sorted by your beats, with repeats removed.
Worth knowing: A document can identify a source in other ways: unusual wording, a unique layout, or the tiny tracking dots some printers add. Blacking out text does not remove those.
Publishers and news outletsNewspapers, magazines, online news sites and their commercial teams.
- Site Control, a free offline file
Choose which artificial intelligence companies may read and reuse your journalism, and see in plain words what your site allows today. A publisher cannot license an archive that artificial intelligence companies already take for free.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check court papers, leaked files and official releases for words still sitting under the black boxes before you publish them.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Let reporters and sales staff use any artificial intelligence on notes, advertiser emails and reader letters without handing over the names in them.
- Sort My Saved-for-Later Reading
Mix wire alerts, newsletters and press releases into one document sorted by your beats, with repeats removed.
Worth knowing: Deciding which artificial intelligence companies may read your site is separate from getting paid by them. The choice in robots.txt is a request that most large artificial intelligence companies say they follow; it is not a contract.
Public relations and communicationsPress officers, agencies, in-house communications teams and spokespeople.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before a draft release, a client briefing or a crisis statement goes into any artificial intelligence, see which names, figures and dates are in it. Embargoed details belong in that check.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Ask an artificial intelligence to help with a client statement or a reply to a journalist without giving it the people’s names and numbers.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a blacked-out document before it goes to a journalist, because a box drawn over words often leaves them underneath.
- Sort My Saved-for-Later Reading
Put coverage alerts, newsletters and saved articles into one document sorted by client or topic.
Worth knowing: An embargo is an agreement with journalists, and anything pasted into a free artificial intelligence goes to that company’s computers before the embargo lifts.
Charities, community groups and volunteersNon-profits, faith groups, advice services and volunteers.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence to help write case notes, funder reports or replies to the people you support, without giving it their names and details.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out the details of the people you support before a report goes to a funder.
- Before You Pay
Help the people you support check a payment page themselves, and stop payments nobody agreed to.
- Delete My Details
Help someone ask a company to delete what it holds about them.
Worth knowing: Volunteers often work on their own phones. The tools run there safely, but the original messages and files stay on those phones until someone deletes them.
Read the full guide for charities, non-governmental organisations and community groups.
Humanitarian organisationsAid agencies, refugee and relief organisations, and field teams.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use any artificial intelligence to help write case notes, situation reports and funder updates without giving it the names, locations or identity numbers of the people you support.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out beneficiaries’ details before a report is shared with partners or donors, and remove hidden locations from field photos before they are published.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check any blacked-out document before it leaves the organisation.
- Works without a signal
Once loaded, the free tools keep working with no internet. Save them to a laptop or phone before a field trip.
Worth knowing: For people at risk, a location or a face can matter more than a name. Read what is left in a document or photo before it goes anywhere.
Read the full guide for charities, non-governmental organisations and community groups.
Front desks, security and event check-inReception, security staff, event registration and building management.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence to help write up an incident report or a visitor query without giving it names, identity numbers or number plates.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out an identity document copy before forwarding it, and shrink scanned sign-in sheets to email.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
Print it for the desk.
Worth knowing: The tools do not decide who keeps a visitor list or for how long. Keep only what you need, and delete the rest.
Government and public serviceDepartments, local councils, agencies and public bodies.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work
Release Check (full version), 21 more tools and a Public Office Supplement to the artificial intelligence policy: a named official for every decision, artificial intelligence prompts kept with the record, and every release checked for hidden words. From $39.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Redaction Studio prepares access-to-information releases and gives you a report showing what was removed and what was checked.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a document before release for text still under the black boxes.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use an artificial intelligence to help draft a reply to a member of the public without giving it their name and details.
- Site Control, a free offline file
The contrast checker helps make public pages readable for everyone.
Worth knowing: Your department’s security and classification rules come first, and installing any tool may need approval.
Insurance and financial adviceInsurance brokers, insurers, claims handlers, financial advisers and their office staff.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Ask any artificial intelligence to help word a claim letter, a renewal reminder or a reply to a client without giving it the client’s name, phone number, identity number, policy or account number, or car number plate. The real details go back into the reply on your device.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out identity copies, bank details and medical reports before a claim or proposal goes to an insurer, shrink claim files to fit insurers’ upload limits, and turn clients’ iPhone photos of damage into Joint Photographic Experts Groups with the hidden location removed.
- Before You Invest
Help a client check an insurer, broker or adviser on the official register, such as the Financial Conduct Authority Firm Checker in the United Kingdom or the Financial Sector Conduct Authority’s register in South Africa, and spot fake policies sold cheaply through social media.
- Is It Really Blacked Out?
Check a blacked-out claim or medical report before it goes out, or one you received, for words still sitting under the boxes.
- Staff artificial intelligence card
One page of rules for everyone in the office who uses artificial intelligence on client files.
Worth knowing: Your regulator’s rules and your record-keeping duties come first. Blacking out a copy does not remove the original from your files, and health details in life and medical cover need the most care of all. Read the full page for insurance and financial advice.
Fintech and payment companiesBanks, payment apps, lenders, crypto platforms and their support teams.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Let support staff use any artificial intelligence to answer a customer without giving it account numbers, card digits, identity numbers or names.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before a transaction export or a complaint goes into any artificial intelligence, see which account and card numbers are in it.
- Before You Invest
Point customers to a free check of trading and investment adverts that use your brand or your competitors’ to lure them.
- Before You Pay
Point customers to a free check of messages that pretend to be from their bank or payment app.
Worth knowing: Card data and account data carry their own rules, such as the card industry’s Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Full card numbers should never go into any artificial intelligence, swapped or not.
Accountants and bookkeepersAccountants, bookkeepers, tax practitioners and payroll bureaus.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use any artificial intelligence to help explain a tax letter or draft a client email without handing over names, tax numbers, account numbers or salaries.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out account and tax numbers on statements and payslips before sharing them, and shrink scanned receipts and statements small enough to email.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before a spreadsheet or a ledger goes into any artificial intelligence, see which names and numbers are in it.
- Subscription Check
Go through a client’s own statement with them and list every software subscription, with the yearly total.
Worth knowing: Professional and data protection rules come first, and some firms ban client data in public artificial intelligence tools altogether, even with names removed.
Property and letting agentsEstate agents, letting agents, landlords and property managers.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Use any artificial intelligence to help write to a tenant, a buyer or a landlord without giving it names, addresses, phone numbers or bank details.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out identity copies, payslips and bank statements from tenant applications before passing them on, and remove the hidden location from photos of a property before they go online.
- Before You Pay
For tenants and buyers: check a message asking for a deposit or a change of bank details before paying.
Worth knowing: Keep copies of tenants’ documents only for as long as the law where you work allows, and delete the rest.
Investors and tradersAnyone new to shares, crypto, forex or trading apps, young or old, and anyone offered a loan, a pension move or an insurance deal.
- Before You Invest
Paste an advert, a WhatsApp or Telegram message or a website’s words and it points out the tricks financial regulators warn about: guaranteed returns, fake celebrity endorsements, “mentors” and signal groups, artificial intelligence trading bots, fees to withdraw your own money, recovery offers, requests for your seed phrase and screen-sharing apps. It links to the official register of firms in your country, shows what leverage and fees really cost, and says what to do if money has already gone.
- Before You Buy a Course
Check a trading academy, a forex or crypto mentorship, or a signals course for the warning signs regulators describe, before paying for it.
- Can I Afford This?
See what a loan, a credit card or buy now pay later really costs, how long a card takes to clear, and compare ways to pay off debts faster.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Ask an artificial intelligence about a statement or a trade confirmation without giving it your name, account numbers or identity number.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out account numbers on a statement before sending it as proof of address or to an adviser.
- Before You Pay
Check a message that asks you to pay a fee, tap a link or send a code.
Worth knowing: No checker can tell you an investment is safe or right for you, and UtilForge does not give financial advice. The tool helps you spot warning signs and find the regulator’s own register. Only invest money you can afford to lose.
Families and carersAnyone looking after a parent, a grandparent, or someone who finds the internet hard to trust.
- Before You Pay
Help a parent check a quiz, prize or “free” trial page themselves before they type in a card number, and stop payments nobody agreed to.
- Before You Buy a Course
Check a “make money from home” course, coaching offer or task job someone has been sold, and ask for a refund if they have already paid.
- Subscription Check
Sit beside a parent while they paste their own statement, and find the subscriptions and memberships they forgot or never agreed to.
- Can I Afford This?
Sit down together and see what a loan, a store card or a buy-now-pay-later plan will really cost before anyone signs, and plan a pension or wage around the bills.
- Delete My Details
Write the letter asking a company to delete a parent’s details.
- What Not to Paste into artificial intelligence
Before asking an artificial intelligence about a relative’s letter, see which of their details are in what you paste.
- Redaction Studio and file tools
Black out an account number on a statement before sending it as proof of address, and turn iPhone photos into files anyone can open.
- Sort My Saved-for-Later Reading
Sit with a parent and turn a crowded inbox of newsletters into one short document, with a list of the ones they could unsubscribe from.
Worth knowing: Each person should check their own payments and statements. These tools are built so a parent can do it on their own device, with you beside them if they want.
Read the full guide for families · Read the full guide for carers of older relatives
Small businesses and website ownersSole traders, small offices, freelancers and anyone who runs a website.
- Hide Names from artificial intelligence
Answer customers with help from an artificial intelligence without giving it their details.
- Site Control, a free offline file
Choose which artificial intelligence companies may read your website, write the files they look for, and check your colours are readable.
- Artificial Intelligence Tools for Work
Release Check and 21 more tools arranged by team, including a section for website owners, with the artificial intelligence use policy and staff training. From $39.
- Before You Pay
Check a software trial or “listing” offer before paying.
Worth knowing: These tools make specific things safer. They do not make a business compliant with privacy law, and nobody honest will promise that a download can.
Your work is not listed, or you need something the tools do not do yet? Tell us. Every new tool so far started with somebody’s real problem.