Document Anonymizer Tool

A local document processing tool that anonymizes personal data in text, DOCX, and PDF files all locally.

---

Features

• Multiple File Format Support: Process TXT, DOCX, and PDF files
• Local Processing: All processing happens on your local machine
• Detailed Logging: Generates JSON logs of all anonymization actions
• Customizable Rules: Enable/disable specific detection rules via configuration
• Comprehensive Data Detection:
  • Credit card numbers
  • Phone numbers (US format)
  • Email addresses
  • Social Security Numbers
  • Salary amounts
  • Street addresses
  • ZIP codes
  • IP addresses
  • Person names (context-aware heuristic detection)

---

Installation

Automated Installation (Windows)

1. Navigate to the project directory
2. Double-click on install_anonymizer.bat to run the installer

The script will:

• Check for Python 3.11.0 and install it if needed
• Upgrade pip, setuptools, and wheel to required versions
• Install the anonymizer package and its dependencies

Automated Installation (Linux)

1. Open a terminal and navigate to the project directory
2. Run the installation script:

chmod +x install_anonymizer.sh
./install_anonymizer.sh

The script will:

• Check for Python 3.11.0 , If you DON'T have Python installed you need to do it manually! (because of system distribution differences)
• Upgrade pip, setuptools, and wheel to required versions
• Install the anonymizer package and its dependencies

Usage

• This will create an anonymized version at path/to/your/file_anonymized.docx:
  • anonymizer path/to/your/file.docx

Advanced Options

• Specify custom output file:

  • anonymizer input.pdf -o output.pdf

• Use a custom configuration file:

  • anonymizer document.txt -c custom_config.json

• List all available anonymization rules:

  • anonymizer --list-rules

• Create a default configuration file to customize:

  • anonymizer --create-config name.json

• Enable verbose logging(future-proofing):

  • anonymizer file.docx -v

Configuration

• You can create a custom configuration file to enable/disable specific anonymization rules:

• Create a default config file

  • anonymizer --create-config my_config.json

Output

For each processed file, the tool generates:

• An anonymized version of the original file (with _anonymized suffix by default)
• A detailed JSON log file showing what was anonymized and where

Supported File Types

• TXT: Plain text files
• DOCX: Microsoft Word documents
• PDF: Portable Document Format files

Limitations

• This is an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and may have limitations with complex document layouts
• PDF processing preserves text content but may not maintain exact visual formatting
• Name detection uses heuristics and may have false positives/negatives
• Currently optimized for US format phone numbers and addresses

Requirements

• Python 3.11.0
• 4GB+ RAM recommended for processing large PDF files

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues:

• Ensure you have a stable internet connection for the initial installation
• Check that your system meets the Python version requirement (3.11.0)
• For PDF processing issues, ensure you have adequate system memory
• Use the -v flag for verbose logging to identify problems

Development

The project uses setuptools for packaging. The main entry point is in anonymizer/main.py.

To modify and reinstall:

1. Make your changes
2. Run
   • install_anonymizer.(bat|sh)
   • or
   • pip install -e .