Mastering Redaction Workflows In Relativity: A Comprehensive Administrative Guide

Relativity redaction is the process of applying persistent, image-level, or native-level masking to sensitive data within the workspace to ensure privilege and privacy compliance. Achieving defensible redaction requires a standardized workflow involving the native Redaction toolset, proper permission configurations, and rigorous quality control audits to ensure no underlying metadata or text remains exposed.

Pre-Procedure Prerequisites and Workspace Configuration

Before initiating redaction tasks, administrators must verify that the workspace environment is correctly provisioned. Redaction functionality is not merely about drawing boxes; it relies on the underlying Imaging profile and user permission sets. Improper setup can lead to redaction failures where sensitive text remains searchable in the extracted text field or readable in the native file.

• Essential Configuration Requirements:
  
  
  • Workspace Permissions: Users must possess the Edit and Redact permissions assigned via the Workspace Security settings.
  • Imaging Profile Settings: Verify the imaging profile utilizes an appropriate conversion engine capable of burning redactions into the processed output.
  • Infrastructure Readiness: Ensure the Relativity environment has the Imaging Worker manager services enabled to handle the load of burning redactions into images.
  • Audit Trails: Verify that the workspace Audit system is active to track all redaction additions, edits, and deletions for defensible reporting.
  • Scope Assessment: Define the scope of review, including whether redactions are applied to native files or processed images.

Procedural Workflow for Applying Redactions

Redaction in Relativity is typically performed within the Viewer, where users apply various shapes to sensitive content. The system classifies these as annotations until they are permanently burned into the image.

Step 1: Accessing the Viewer and Selecting Redaction Tools

Navigate to the document list and open the target record in the Viewer. Ensure the mode is set to Native or Image, depending on your document production strategy. Located on the Viewer toolbar, the Redaction icon provides a dropdown menu containing different shapes, including full-page redactions, text redactions, and freehand drawing. Select the desired redaction type based on the shape of the sensitive information.

Step 2: Applying Annotations and Redaction Shapes

Click and drag to apply the redaction over the target sensitive content. For sensitive text, the text-redaction tool is superior as it anchors the redaction to the specific characters or words, ensuring that if the document is re-rendered or zoomed, the masked area remains fixed over the intended data.

Pro-Tip: Utilize the Redaction Category feature to apply specific labels—such as Attorney-Client Privilege or Personally Identifiable Information—directly to the redaction shape to streamline subsequent privilege log generation.

Step 3: Burning Redactions for Production

Once the redactions are applied, they exist only as overlays. To make them legally binding and permanent, you must perform an Image-on-the-fly or a standard Imaging job. Navigate to the Imaging tab or the Batch Imaging tool. Ensure the Redaction setting is toggled to Include Redactions. This process physically alters the pixel data of the output file, effectively destroying the underlying sensitive information in the production image.

Step 4: Verification and Quality Control

After the imaging process is complete, perform a spot check on a statistically significant sample of documents. Open the produced image and use the document metadata fields to verify that the redactions are present and that no "bleed-through" or misaligned masks occurred during the imaging job.

Warning: Never rely solely on an overlay. Always verify that your production export settings include the "Burn Redactions" toggle; failing to do so will result in exporting documents with redacted overlays that can be easily removed by the receiving party.

Technical Parameters and Redaction Methodologies

The following table outlines the comparative requirements for different redaction methodologies within the Relativity interface to ensure compliance with varying production standards.

Addressing Common Redaction Failures and Remediation

Systemic failures in redaction often stem from configuration gaps rather than software bugs. Addressing these issues immediately protects the integrity of the review project.

• Issue: Redactions Not Appearing in Production
  
  
  • Root Cause: The Imaging Profile used for production was not configured to include annotations or redactions.
  • Actionable Fix: Re-run the imaging job using an Imaging Profile that has the "Burn Redactions" setting explicitly enabled, then re-export the production set.
• Issue: Redaction Shift/Alignment Errors
  
  
  • Root Cause: Differences in resolution or aspect ratio between the original file and the image viewer.
  • Actionable Fix: Re-image the affected documents using a standardized 300 DPI setting to ensure exact spatial alignment between the redaction mask and the underlying image.
• Issue: Metadata or Extracted Text Leakage
  
  
  • Root Cause: The Redaction process did not strip the underlying extracted text or OCR data.
  • Actionable Fix: Ensure that your Production Set workflow includes a step to generate new OCR based on the redacted images, effectively removing the sensitive data from the searchable text index.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can redactions be moved or resized after being applied?

Yes, provided the redaction has not been permanently burned into an image. In the Relativity Viewer, you can select the existing redaction shape and use the anchor points to adjust the dimensions or drag it to a new location.

How do I report on redacted documents for a privilege log?

You can query the Redaction table or use the Relativity Field Tree to identify documents containing specific Redaction Categories. These queries can be exported to Excel to serve as the foundation for your privilege log entries.

Does redacting a document change the original file?

If you are working in a standard image-based review, the original native file remains unchanged in the workspace. Only the generated image produced during the imaging process is altered to reflect the redactions.

Are redactions searchable in Relativity?

Redactions themselves are shapes and are not searchable as text. However, if you perform OCR on a redacted image, the underlying text will be masked, and the redaction labels (if applied) may be indexed depending on your search index configuration.

Elevate Your E-Discovery Workflow

Optimize your document production accuracy by implementing standardized redaction protocols across all workspace matters. Contact our technical consulting team to audit your current Relativity environment and ensure your redaction workflows meet the highest standards of defensibility and compliance.