# Review data before sharing

Canonical: https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/review-redaction/

Updated: 2026-10-10
Publication state: published
Product version: Recorder source f6ed5b96

Agent summary: Use the Privacy preview ledger to trace policy rules, your decisions, and unsanitized report content before sharing evidence.

## Prerequisites

- A recording or artifact ready for review

## Inputs

- Captured values and images and authored text

## Outputs

- Evidence selected for an approved destination

## Limitations

- Supported fields have manual redaction; screenshot pixels and authored text still need review

## Permissions

- Permission to access and share the selected evidence

## Privacy

- Review captured content before sharing


Check captured content before downloading, uploading, or attaching it.

Review the evidence you intend to share, including images and text you wrote. Automatic redaction covers selected data structures and keys; it cannot make every recording safe to send.

## Review in eight steps

1. Stop the recording, select **Investigate**, then open **Privacy preview**.
2. Read the export-size estimate. Treat **partial estimate** as an attachment-storage gap, not as a complete size.
3. Start with the selected source, then inspect the other rows under **Policy rules**, **Your decisions**, and **Not sanitized**.
4. Search for the subject, field, or rule you care about. Use the treatment and field-type chips to narrow the evidence.
5. Select a source and open its affected values or records. Follow **Show in Network / Actions / Console** when you need the surrounding evidence.
6. Apply a supported privacy choice, wait for it to save, and confirm the exported status shown beside the value.
7. Inspect **Screenshots**, **Truncated bodies**, **Recording composition**, your notes, and Description separately.
8. Clear filters, review the final ledger and actual files or destination, then share only the evidence you intended.

## Inspect the stopped session

Open **Investigate**, then select **Privacy preview**. The toolbar estimates the export size and provides a search plus treatment and field-type filters. If attachment storage is unavailable, the size is marked **partial estimate**; missing previews do not prove that no images were captured.

The ledger groups the reasons behind the export:

| Group | What it answers | Important limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Policy rules** | Which built-in or configured rule matched a captured value? | A configured rule comes from the recording profile; the Viewer does not identify whether it came from the project or a local default list. |
| **Your decisions** | Which values did you hide, preserve as originals, inherit from a hidden parent, or attempt to preserve when policy refused? | Empty decision types remain hidden unless selected. An unavailable group means local review metadata is missing, not that no decisions exist. |
| **Not sanitized** | Which screenshots, truncated bodies, and recording-composition data need separate review? | These entries describe gaps or content without field-level sanitization; they are not a privacy pass. |

Each ledger row shows **Values**, **Records**, **Hidden**, and **Visible**. A value you changed can appear under both its policy rule and your decision, so do not add the row counts into one total. Use the search and filter chips to narrow the ledger; every source row then shows its own match count. Select **Clear** to remove the search and filters.

Select a policy or decision row to see the values it affected. Expand its record rows when you need the request, action, or log that contained them. A value link opens the exact evidence in **Network**, **Actions**, or **Console**. A record opens its export JSON with treated values marked in place, followed by the decision details. On a narrow screen, use **Back to privacy sources** to return to the ledger.

Large lists show the first 100 records or values and offer **Show more records** or **Show more values**. A long export record can collapse unchanged lines around its marked values; **Show more marked values** expands the next group. These limits affect the rendered review list, not what the source count says was captured.

This view directs review; it is not a certification that all sensitive content has been removed.

Inspect the relevant actions, URLs, headers, payloads, responses, and cookies. Check console messages and stack traces separately. Read any notes and session descriptions you plan to copy into a handoff.

## Inspect images

Open **Not sanitized → Screenshots** to review available attachment previews and enlarge an image without leaving Privacy preview. Then open every screenshot or attachment you intend to share. Look at the pixels for names, account information, messages, credentials, or other sensitive content. Recorder does not automatically mask screenshot pixels or provide a pixel-redaction editor.

Small clicked-image thumbnails stored with actions are also exported. Privacy preview reports their count under **Screenshots**, but they cannot be hidden there. Open the relevant action to inspect its thumbnail. Repeat the recording with safe content when one cannot be shared.

Retake an image using safe data, or prepare and review an edited copy outside Recorder. Local downloads include images marked **Exclude from report** or **Outside recorded period**. Verify the actual files selected for sharing.

## Respond to sensitive content

In a local session, change a supported value either from its evidence detail or from Privacy preview. Evidence details use **Redact** and **Unredact**. The preview expresses the same choice as **Policy / Hide / Keep original**, **Default / Hide header / Keep header**, or **Export as captured / Hide**, depending on the value. A value hidden by a parent links to that parent instead of offering an ineffective child decision.

Keeping an original that a rule hides requires the session's reveal policy. When policy denies it, **Keep original** is disabled or the ledger records **Keep original refused**, and the export stays hidden. The control remains busy while Recorder saves the decision. If an inline error appears, resolve it before exporting; a successful update keeps the current source, filters, open record, and focus.

Console messages, stack traces, and individual arguments support manual redaction. Hiding a whole entry overrides its field choices until you restore the entry.

The **Originals** toggle only changes local display and search. It does not change export decisions. Use **Your decisions** to inspect **Hidden by you**, **Original kept**, inherited choices, and refused choices, then check the actual downloaded files.

**Delete** can permanently remove an eligible action from the report and exports; actions with linked requests or logs are protected. Filters only hide rows on screen. Neither feature provides arbitrary session trimming or a general payload editor.

If a field has no supported redaction control, use safe test data for a new recording or omit the affected artifact from a local handoff. Screenshot pixels and your own descriptions and notes still need manual inspection.

For local handoff, you can choose which downloaded files to attach. Removing a file from your intended handoff is different from sanitizing a connected report before upload.

## Review the destination

Local download saves files to your computer. Connected issue commands, screenshot attachments, report storage, and enhancement have their own destinations. Check [Storage and data destinations](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/privacy/) before submitting.

Both download entry points save immediately without an additional privacy acknowledgement. Review before clicking. Redaction changes to future exports cannot retract files or reports already shared.

A remotely opened or older report can show recording composition without the local rule/decision metadata. In that case the preview labels the estimate or controls as unavailable and does not offer privacy decisions. Review the supplied report as received and ask the recording owner for a newly reviewed export when required.

## Keep the result useful

After excluding sensitive material, state any resulting evidence gaps. Copy only reviewed observations; see [session and notes exports](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/bundle-contents/#session-summary-and-notes). See [How redaction works](https://fairleadhq.com/docs/recorder/redaction-rules/) for the automatic rules and their limits.