Redaction

Redaction is the obscuring of text that should not be read by those without full security clearance. Redaction is most commonly seen, of course, in de-classified government or legal documents, but it is also used sometimes in business. Its advantage is that it doesn’t require the creation of an additional version of a document or the maintenance of one. Its disadvantages are that readers can see that something is obscured and too many redactions can destroy credibility. In Writer, Tools | Redact uses LibreOffice Draw to highlight a document, while Tools | Automatic Redaction (Figure 5) sets up a list of texts and contents to redact automatically – a handy tool, but one that obviously requires careful setup and organization.

Figure 5: Auto-redact can be set up to automatically obscure private information.

Tools | Options | LibreOffice | Security

This window (Figure 6) contains an assortment of security features, mostly to do with security whenever Writer is used:

• Warnings that a document contains hidden information, and when they should be given
• Passwords for browser connections
• Who can use and write macros
• The path to use for digital signatures
• Time Stamping Authority (TSA) links to use for digital signatures when exporting to PDF format.

Figure 6: The security options determine settings for Writer’s users.

Hidden and Forthcoming

To explore the privacy and security features of LibreOffice Writer is to dive into its more obscure and less-organized features. The majority of users, it can probably be said, are unaware of such features. However, whether you are concerned with internal or external privacy and security – which these days may include unauthorized AI training – there is a growing need for such features and for knowledge of their limitations.

In the past, LibreOffice menus have been rearranged and expanded several times. It’s possible that in some future release privacy and security feature will be given their own menu. It’s also possible that other features may appear among LibreOffice extensions. But there is no need to wait for future developments. If you look carefully, many features are already available.