# Remove personal information: prompt chain Find the personal details in a text, swap each one for a placeholder, change nothing else, and get a short list of what a person must still check before the text goes anywhere. **Made for:** Anyone who forwards notes, feedback or messages that name people, such as a coordinator, an office manager or a volunteer lead. ## Before you start Have these ready: - **The text to clean** (required): Paste the text as it stands. Paste only what your rules let you put into an AI tool; if they say no, take the names and numbers out by hand instead. - **What may stay** (optional): For example job titles, or the name of a town. Leave empty if nothing may stay. **How to use this chain** 1. Open a new chat in any AI assistant. 2. Copy the Step 1 prompt, replace every [PASTE HERE: ...] slot with your material, and send it. 3. Keep each answer: later steps ask you to paste it in. Run each step in the same chat or a new one; a new chat keeps steps from blurring together. 4. After a step that has a check, run the check before you move on. ## Step 1: List every personal detail Pick out each detail that names or points to one person, quoted word for word, before anything is changed. Copy this prompt: ````text You are a careful privacy reader who spots the details that could identify a person. Your task is to list every personal detail in the text below. The text: [PASTE HERE: The text to clean] What may stay (if this is empty, nothing may stay): [PASTE HERE: What may stay] Rules: - A personal detail is a name, an email address, a phone number, a street address, an ID or account number, a date of birth, or any wording that points to one person without naming them, such as "the only night-shift nurse at the clinic". - A job title on its own may stay, but a title together with words like "the only" or a workplace can point to one person. Quote those words as one detail. - Quote each detail from the text word for word, as short as you can. Do not correct it and do not reword it. - List each different form once: a full name and a first name on its own are two rows. List the rows in the order each form first appears. - Do not list anything the "may stay" line allows. Do not list a detail that is not in the text, and do not skip one because it looks harmless. - Do not change the text yet. Return one markdown table and nothing else: | # | Detail (quote) | ```` **You get back:** A numbered table of the personal details, each quoted from the text. **Check after Step 1: Every detail is quoted word for word from the text** Check by eye: Every quote in the Detail (quote) column appears word for word in the text to clean. If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 2: Choose a placeholder for each detail Give each detail a kind and a placeholder, with the same placeholder for the same person. Copy this prompt: ````text You are a careful editor who plans the replacement for each detail before any text is changed. Your task is to give each detail below a kind and a placeholder. The details: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 1 (List every personal detail)] What may stay (if this is empty, nothing may stay): [PASTE HERE: What may stay] Rules: - Use exactly one of these kinds: name, email, phone, street address, ID number, birth date, indirect. Use indirect for wording that points to one person without naming them. - Write each placeholder in square brackets with a kind word and a letter, such as [Person A], [Email A] or [Phone B]. Use letters and never digits. - Give the same placeholder to every form of one person's name, so a full name and a first name on its own get the same one. Give different people different letters. - For an indirect detail, keep the words the "may stay" line allows and swap only the identifying words for a bracketed placeholder, such as "a night-shift nurse at [Workplace A]". - Do not add a detail and do not drop one. Do not change the wording of a quote. Return one markdown table and nothing else: | # | Detail (quote) | Kind | Placeholder | The Kind column must say exactly name, email, phone, street address, ID number, birth date or indirect. ```` **You get back:** A table that gives each detail a kind and a placeholder. **Check after Step 2: Each kind is one of the seven allowed words** Check by eye: Every row of the table has one of "name", "email", "phone", "street address", "ID number", "birth date" or "indirect" in the Kind column. If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 3: Write the cleaned text Replace each detail with its placeholder everywhere it appears and change nothing else. Copy this prompt: ````text You are a copy editor who swaps listed words and changes nothing else. Your task is to write out the text below with each detail replaced by its placeholder. The text: [PASTE HERE: The text to clean] The details and their placeholders: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (Choose a placeholder for each detail)] Rules: - Replace every occurrence of each detail, wherever it appears, with its placeholder. If a detail sits inside a longer word or an email address, replace the whole of it. A word that only looks like a name, such as a verb, is not a detail. - Change nothing else. Keep every other word, number, line break and punctuation mark exactly as written. Do not fix spelling, do not shorten and do not add anything. - Do not use a placeholder that is not in the table above. - Do not add a note, a heading or a comment. Return the cleaned text and nothing else. ```` **You get back:** The text with each personal detail replaced by its placeholder. **Check after Step 3: No number appears that the original text does not have** Check by eye: Every number in the answer also appears in the text to clean. If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Step 4: Add the count and the reminder Put the count, the cleaned text and a short list of what a person must still check into one package. Copy this prompt: ````text You are a careful reviewer who tells the reader what an AI tool cannot promise. Your task is to write the final package: a count, the cleaned text and a short list of things a person must still check. The cleaned text: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 3 (Write the cleaned text)] The details and their placeholders: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (Choose a placeholder for each detail)] Rules: - Start with one line that begins "Result:" and counts the details that were replaced, in total and by kind. - Under "Cleaned text", copy the cleaned text exactly as it is above. Do not change a word. - Under "Look at these yourself", list two to five things a person should still check, each as a short quote from the cleaned text followed by one reason. Look for details that could still point to one person when read together, such as a job, a place and a date, for family or health details, and for anything the table did not cover. - Do not say or suggest that all personal information has been removed or that the text is safe to share. Do not invent a detail that is not in the cleaned text. - End with exactly this line: Read the cleaned text yourself before you share it. An AI tool can miss a detail. Return markdown in this form and nothing else: Result: (the counts) ## Cleaned text (the cleaned text) ## Look at these yourself - (a quote from the cleaned text, then the reason) Read the cleaned text yourself before you share it. An AI tool can miss a detail. ```` **You get back:** A count line, the cleaned text, a list of what to check yourself, and the reminder line. **Check after Step 4: The reminder to read it yourself is in the final text** Check by eye: The answer includes the words "Read the cleaned text yourself before you share it.". If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. ## Final checks Run these on the finished result. **Final check 1: No listed detail is left in the cleaned text** Open a new chat (so the check is not swayed by the work) and paste this check prompt: ````text You are a careful reviewer. You do not fix or rewrite the work; you only decide whether it passes one check. The check: No listed detail is left in the cleaned text Read the cleaned text in the answer. Does any detail in the table below still appear in it, whole or in part, such as a first name on its own or the last digits of a number? Answer FAIL and quote each place where one is left. The details: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (Choose a placeholder for each detail)] The work to check (the answer from Step 3 (Write the cleaned text)): [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 3 (Write the cleaned text)] Reply with exactly PASS or FAIL on the first line. On the second line, say in one sentence why. If it fails, name the exact item or line that fails. Do not add anything else. ```` If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. **Final check 2: Only the listed details were swapped** Open a new chat (so the check is not swayed by the work) and paste this check prompt: ````text You are a careful reviewer. You do not fix or rewrite the work; you only decide whether it passes one check. The check: Only the listed details were swapped Compare the cleaned text in the answer with the original text below. Apart from the placeholders, is every word, number and punctuation mark the same, and is each placeholder where a listed detail stood? Answer FAIL and quote any other change, such as a word that was dropped, reworded or swapped by mistake. The original text: [PASTE HERE: The text to clean] The work to check (the answer from Step 3 (Write the cleaned text)): [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 3 (Write the cleaned text)] Reply with exactly PASS or FAIL on the first line. On the second line, say in one sentence why. If it fails, name the exact item or line that fails. Do not add anything else. ```` If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. **Final check 3: The counts add up to the table** Open a new chat (so the check is not swayed by the work) and paste this check prompt: ````text You are a careful reviewer. You do not fix or rewrite the work; you only decide whether it passes one check. The check: The counts add up to the table Count the rows in the table below, in total and by kind. Do the numbers on the Result line of the answer match those counts? Answer FAIL and say which count is wrong. The details: [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 2 (Choose a placeholder for each detail)] The work to check (the answer from Step 4 (Add the count and the reminder)): [PASTE HERE: the answer from Step 4 (Add the count and the reminder)] Reply with exactly PASS or FAIL on the first line. On the second line, say in one sentence why. If it fails, name the exact item or line that fails. Do not add anything else. ```` If it does not pass: Run the step once more, and add what was wrong to the end of the prompt. If it still does not pass, fix it by hand and make a note of it. **Final check 4: A person reads the cleaned text before it goes anywhere** Ask yourself: Read the cleaned text from top to bottom as someone who knows the people in it. Decide what to do about each item under "Look at these yourself", and look for anything else that could point to one person, such as a nickname, a rare job, or a date and a place together. Only a person can say who the reader may already know. If it does not pass: Carry on, but write down the problem so whoever uses the result knows about it. ## What you end up with - A count of the details that were replaced, in total and by kind. - The text with each of those details swapped for a placeholder. - A short list of the places a person must still check. ## Changing this chain - This template does a careful first pass. It cannot promise that every personal detail is gone, and the last step says so. A person must read the cleaned text before it goes anywhere. - Paste only what your rules allow you to put into an AI tool. If they do not allow it, take the names and numbers out by hand and do not use this template on that text. - To let a kind of detail stay, such as dates or job titles, say so in the What may stay box. Details you name there are left out of the list. - To add a kind of detail, such as a license plate number, add it to the allowed kinds in the placeholder step and in its check, both. - For a long text, run one section at a time and keep the same letters for the same person in every section. --- From Logic Lab (logiclabhq.com). Free to use and adapt, with credit.