How redaction works, and why it is permanent

Last updated: August 27, 2026

When you redact in Govflo, the content is removed from the file rather than covered up. Anyone who receives the released document cannot recover what was underneath it. That is what makes a released package safe to hand out.

This matters because the alternative fails badly. A black box drawn over text in many tools is a graphic sitting on top of data that is still there, recoverable by anyone who selects the text or opens the file in the right reader. That is the failure that ends up in the news and in litigation. Govflo removes the underlying text and image data, so there is nothing left to recover.

How to redact a document

  1. Open the document from the request's Case/Media tab or from Document Workspace.
  2. Move it to Redaction In Progress if it is not already there.
  3. The redaction editor opens on the document.
  4. Work through what Govflo has proposed, accepting what is right and rejecting what is not.
  5. Add anything the detection missed.
  6. Finish the session. The redacted output is then verified independently.

Each editing session is scoped to the single document you opened and expires by itself, so a session left open does not stay open indefinitely.

What happens after you finish

The redacted file is examined again for anything that should have been withheld and was not. That check does not trust the editor's own record of what you applied; it looks at the output.

If it comes back clean, the document can move on toward Ready for Release. If it does not, the document is held for a person rather than released.

What permanence means in practice

Because removal is real, a redaction cannot be undone on the released file. Two consequences follow.

Decide before you finish, not after. Reviewing the proposals properly is quicker than dealing with an over-redacted release.

The original is untouched. Redaction produces a new released file. Your source record is not altered, so an over-redaction is corrected by producing a corrected release, not by recovering the released one.

What Govflo will not do

Govflo detects patterns and applies your decisions. It does not decide whether an exemption applies to a record, and it will not tell you whether something must be withheld. That judgment is yours, and the record shows it was yours.