This is my solution for the McCarren Applied AI Challenge. It's a Word Add-in that helps protect sensitive information in documents by automatically redacting emails, phone numbers, and social security numbers. The add-in also adds a confidentiality header with tracking enabled.

When you open a Word document and click the redaction button, the add-in will:

1. Scan through your entire document looking for sensitive information
2. Replace any emails, phone numbers, and SSNs with [REDACTED] markers
3. Add a "CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT" header at the top
4. Enable Track Changes so you can see what was modified

I built this to make document redaction simple and reliable, especially when you need to share documents but want to protect personal information.

The solution uses:

• TypeScript for type-safe code
• Office.js API for Word integration
• Custom CSS for a clean, professional interface
• Regex patterns to identify sensitive data
• Word's Track Changes API (when available)

You'll need:

• Node.js (version 14 or higher)
• npm
• Word Online or Word Desktop

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/namo507/office-doc-redactor.git
cd office-doc-redactor

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Start the development server:

npm start

This will:

• Start a local server on port 3000
• Compile the TypeScript files
• Try to sideload the add-in into Word

If automatic sideloading doesn't work, you can manually sideload the manifest.xml file following Microsoft's guide.

1. Open a Word document
2. Look for the "Document Redactor" tab in the ribbon
3. Click "Show Taskpane" to open the add-in
4. Click the "Redact Document" button
5. The add-in will process your document and show you what was redacted

The add-in identifies and redacts:

• Email addresses (like [email protected])
• Phone numbers (various formats including xxx-xxx-xxxx, (xxx) xxx-xxxx)
• Social Security Numbers (xxx-xx-xxxx format)

office-doc-redactor/
├── src/
│   ├── taskpane/
│   │   ├── taskpane.html    # The UI
│   │   ├── taskpane.ts      # Main logic
│   │   └── taskpane.css     # Styling
├── manifest.xml              # Add-in configuration
├── package.json             # Dependencies
├── tsconfig.json            # TypeScript config
└── README.md               # This file

I focused on making the code clean and maintainable. The redaction logic is modular, so it's easy to add new patterns if needed. I also made sure to handle edge cases, like documents that don't support Track Changes.

The UI is straightforward but professional. I used custom CSS instead of a library to keep things lightweight and to show attention to design details.

I tested this with various documents containing different types of sensitive information. The regex patterns are robust enough to handle different formatting styles while avoiding false positives.

If I had more time, I would add:

• Support for more sensitive data types
• Undo functionality
• Batch processing for multiple documents
• Export redacted content report