BASALT · JOURNAL
Redacting confidential information covered by an NDA
An NDA does not create a magic list of words. Its definition, exclusions, purpose limits, and permitted-recipient terms must be interpreted in context. Have the responsible legal or business owner make those calls; use the PDF workflow to execute them consistently.
Translate the NDA into a review brief
Record the agreement version, disclosing party, recipient, purpose of the proposed disclosure, covered categories, exclusions, and approved reason codes. List known names, codenames, customer identifiers, pricing terms, formulas, system details, and distinctive phrases.
Separate direct matches from conceptual review. A product codename is searchable; an architecture diagram disclosing a protected method requires someone who understands the technology.
Review diagrams and attachments
Confidential content often lives in charts, screenshots, CAD exports, and appendices. Text search may not see it. Redact image pixels and vector paths destructively, remove OCR text underneath, and inspect alternate layers.
PDF comments may contain negotiation history, and attachments may contain an unredacted deck or spreadsheet. Remove or separately review every embedded file, plus metadata and prior revisions.
Verify against the brief
Use an independent parser to search target values and enumerate non-page objects. Have the content owner confirm that diagrams and conceptual material are treated correctly. Check that the output still contains the information the permitted recipient needs; over-redaction can make the disclosure useless and trigger unnecessary follow-up.
Record the final hash, recipient, purpose, NDA version, and reviewer without copying protected text into the log.
Frequently asked questions
Can software determine what an NDA protects?
No. It can search terms and remove approved regions, but interpretation belongs to authorized people working from the agreement.
Are diagrams searchable in a PDF?
Sometimes labels are text or OCR, but shapes and visual relationships are not reliably searchable. Review diagrams visually.
Should the NDA itself be attached to the redacted file?
Only if the workflow calls for it. An attachment becomes part of the disclosed PDF container and may introduce additional confidential data.
Doing it in Basalt
Basalt supports term search, image and vector redaction, reason codes, attachment removal, and independent verification. Presets make a documented procedure repeatable, and the no-network engine keeps the source local. Get Basalt.
Redaction that proves itself
Basalt destroys the content you mark, then re-opens the file it wrote and proves the content is gone before it saves anything. Your documents never leave your Mac.