A Privilege Log lists data withheld in a civil lawsuit due to attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine, or joint defense protections doctrine. By law, the party withholding data or information within a document must clearly describe each item without revealing privileged details. This is often difficult and requires precise application and tracking of redactions.

Redactable’s Privilege Log feature makes the process easier by building the log while you’re redacting, so there’s no need to create it manually afterward. It’s designed to meet the standards of legal discovery, allowing you to associate each redaction with a reason, date, and page number, then export the log as a CSV file that you can easily copy and paste into your filing documents. This helps legal teams respond to discovery requests efficiently and with complete documentation.

With Redactable’s Privilege Log feature, you can:

• Meet discovery and disclosure standards: Generate privilege logs that satisfy court expectations for transparency, accuracy, and completeness in civil litigation.
• Track redactions clearly: Every redaction is easily trackable with it’s logged reason and associated page date.
• Export logs instantly: Get a clean CSV file that lists all redacted items, page numbers, Bates numbers (if used), reasons, and dates.

Using the Privilege Log

Creating a Privilege Log in Redactable is a straightforward process that consists of three steps. First, you’ll assign a date to each page in your document. Then, you’ll apply redactions and label them with the appropriate reason. Once your redactions are finalized, you can download your privilege log - a clean CSV file that includes all the logged information.

1. Set a privilige log date

Page Dates are used to identify the document’s timeline. Each page in your document can be assigned a specific date. Typically our customers combine multiple individual documents into a single file that is then uploaded to Redactable. Each of those individual documents will have different dates associated with them. This allows you to set those dates. 

There are two options for setting the page date: manually entering it or extracting it from the document.

Option A: Set a custom date manually

1. Open your document and click the “Set Privilege Log Date” button in the toolbar
   
   
   

2. In the dialog:

   1. Select “Custom Date.” 
      
      

      
      

   2. Pick a date from the calendar.

      
      

      
      

   3. Choose which pages the date applies to: 

      
      

      
      
      
      • Current page only
      • This page and all following pages
      • All pages
      • Specific page range
        
        

3. Click “Set Page Date” to confirm.
   
   

   
   

Option B: Extract a date from the document

1. Click on the “Categories” tab in the toolbar.

   
   

   
   

2. In the search panel, select only date/time entities.

   
   

   
   

3. Hover over a detected date and click the on three-dot menu.

   
   

   
   

4. Select “Set Page Date.”

   
   

   
   

5. In the dialog:
   
   
   

• Confirm the auto-detected date.
• Choose how you want the date to apply across the document.

6. Click on "Set Page Date" to confirm.

2. Apply redactions with reasons

Redaction reasons explain why specific content was removed. Adding a reason to each redaction ensures it’s properly documented in the Privilege Log for review or legal use.

1. Highlight any content you want to redact using either the Auto, Categories, Search Text, or Manual tool

   
   

   
   

2. A dropdown will appear prompting you to select a Redaction Reason. 

   
   

   
   
   
   • You can either use a predefined reason (e.g., Attorney-Client Privilege, PII) or type in a custom one.
     
     

3. (Optional) Enable “Bates Numbering” if you need to track documents using unique IDs. 

   
   

   
   

4. After all redactions are complete, click on ****“Finalize Redactions” in the top-right toolbar.
   
   

   
   

3. Download the Privilege Log

Once your redactions and page dates are finalized, you can download either a single document’s privilege log or all logs for all documents:

Download a single document’s Privilege Log:

1. Return to your project view (not the document editor). 

   
   

   
   

2. Click the three-dot menu next to the redacted document. 

   
   

   
   

3. Select “Download Privilege Log.”
   
   

   
   

4. Your log will download as a CSV file.
   
   
   
   

Download all logs for all documents:

1. In your Project View, click on “Download” from the main toolbar.
   
   
   

2. A ZIP file will be created, which includes all documents and a complete Privilege Log.
   
   
   
   

Understanding the Privilege Log file

The downloaded CSV file will contain the following fields:

Item Number - Each redaction is numbered in the order it appears

Page Number - Page of the document where the redaction occurred

Bates Number - Unique ID (if enabled) used for legal tracking

Date - The page date assigned to the redacted content

Redaction Reason - The reason provided when redaction was applied

This format ensures legal teams can provide clear documentation during litigation, discovery, or regulatory reviews.

If you have additional questions or need help, please contact us at  support@redactable.com .

Tip: For detailed instructions on how to use the bates numbering feature, click here