Native Redaction File Flattening
File flattening is part of the preparation process that makes native redaction possible. Below is a summary of items impacted by flattening.
Object Type | Flattening Result |
|---|---|
Hidden Rows/Columns/Sheets | Unhide |
Password Protected Sheets | Remove password and unprotect sheet |
Macro and module | Removed |
Cells with formula* | Replaced with the calculated value |
Pivot table | Replaced with static value |
Filter | Removed to make all the rows visible |
Group | Removed to make the rows and columns visible |
Frozen pane | Unfreeze all panes to make all the data visible |
Screen split | Screen splits are removed |
Chart | Converted to image |
Embedded file | Replaced with an image |
Hyperlink | Replaced with the displayed text |
Sharing | All file sharing with external sources is removed |
*Cell references across the worksheets are a type of formula which are converted to flat values just like the other formulas.
Additionally, Flattener also identifies invisible values (values with the same font and background color), PII values, empty rows/columns, and index documents. Other actions the Flattener performs:
generate a sheet-level hash to identify duplicate sheets,
create a data-type map to identify visually similar sheets, and
calculate hints to create Excel threads.