Document Anonymization – How to Do It Effectively and Securely

Document anonymization has become one of the key processes in data protection. Every organization — from public offices and banks to insurance companies, law firms, and private enterprises — processes documents that may contain personal data. Sharing such files without properly removing personal information not only risks violating GDPR, but also damages credibility and public trust.

Increasingly, anonymization is performed not manually, but with specialized document anonymization software that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to automatically detect and redact sensitive information — even in scanned files. However, not all tools deliver the same level of accuracy and security.

Data anonymization is the process of permanently removing information that could identify an individual — such as names, addresses, personal identification numbers, bank accounts, contact details, registry entries, and more.

A well-executed PDF data anonymization must meet two essential conditions:

1. Completeness – all identifying information must be removed, leaving no link to a person.
2. Effectiveness – no data can be restored, recovered, or otherwise reconstructed.

In practice, the main challenge lies not only in concealing the data but also in accurately recognizing it — especially in languages like Polish, where inflection and complex grammar make AI detection more difficult.

Many organizations still rely on simple tools like Adobe Acrobat or free PDF editors to manually black out sections of text. This approach is risky and inefficient:

• It’s easy to miss data fragments, such as a name in a different grammatical form or a document number abbreviation.
• Manual anonymization is time-consuming – offices and law firms often handle hundreds of pages each week.
• Some tools only visually hide data, without permanently deleting it — meaning that sensitive text can be revealed by converting the PDF back to text.

• Uploading documents to external servers poses serious security and GDPR compliance risks.
• Most SaaS tools charge per page, document, or data transfer, making large-scale anonymization extremely expensive.

Mycroft Sweeper is a desktop application for document anonymization that automates the removal of personal data directly on the user’s computer. The program runs completely offline, without connecting to the cloud or transferring files outside your organization.

It uses proprietary AI models and OCR technology optimized for the Polish language, allowing it to accurately recognize personal data even in scanned or photographed documents.

Local processing – full control over data Mycroft Sweeper is installed directly on the user’s computer. No data ever leaves your system.

AI tailored for Polish Effectively detects personal identification numbers (PESEL), tax IDs, bank accounts, dates, names, surnames, and addresses — even when grammatically inflected.

Speed and performance Mycroft Sweeper anonymizes a 100-page document in about 3 minutes.

Built-in OCR Analyzes not only text-based PDFs but also scanned documents and images, making it a complete data anonymization tool for different file types.

Interactive interface Users can click on any detected word to include or exclude it from anonymization, draw rectangles over signatures, stamps, or handwritten notes, and save the final file as a searchable PDF.

Fixed cost – no per-page or API fees

Organizations that benefit most from Mycroft Sweeper include:

• public administration offices (before publishing documents in BIP),
• law firms and notary offices,
• companies in the financial, medical, and insurance sectors,
• HR, compliance, and data protection departments.

In all these cases, Sweeper significantly reduces workload and minimizes human error, ensuring GDPR-compliant document anonymization that is both fast and secure.

Data security is not just about firewalls or certificates — it’s about knowing where and how your information is processed. Performing document anonymization locally, using Mycroft Sweeper, gives organizations full control, lower costs, and offline operation — even in high-security environments.

Mycroft Sweeper provides:

• complete control over data processing,
• lower infrastructure costs (no servers or cloud traffic),
• secure offline operation for confidential workflows.

Document anonymization doesn’t have to be complicated, risky, or expensive. Instead of uploading sensitive files to the cloud, you can anonymize them locally — quickly, securely, and in compliance with GDPR — using Mycroft Sweeper.

This document anonymization software combines AI, OCR, and practical data protection features to deliver one of the fastest and most secure ways to protect personal information in PDFs and scanned files.

👉 https://mycroftsolutions.ai/en/products/sweeper