How to send documents securely by email or chat

The short version

The safest document is the one that contains less. Most of the risk in sending a document by email or chat comes from what it carries that the recipient didn't need, and from copies that stay around long after the job is done.

• Confirm who's asking, through a phone number or website you already know.
• Send a masked copy with only the details they need.
• Strip hidden data such as photo location and PDF author names.
• Prefer the organisation's own portal over email or chat when it has one.
• Delete your copies once the job is done.

Confirm the request first

Fraud often starts with a convincing request for documents: an email that looks like it's from your bank, or a chat message from a new number claiming to be a landlord or recruiter. Before you send anything, contact the organisation through details you find yourself, not the ones in the message, and ask what exactly they need.

Make a copy that's safe to send

1. Open the editor and drop in the file, or paste a screenshot with Ctrl+V. Nothing is uploaded.
2. For common documents, pick a template such as Mask Aadhaar or Redact bank statement and tick the fields to hide.
3. Cover anything else the recipient doesn't need with a solid box.
4. Export. The new file has no metadata or EXIF location, and covered text is gone, not just hidden.

Writing the purpose and date on a copy also makes it harder to reuse elsewhere; see how to share ID documents safely for KYC.

Clean up afterwards

Copies of documents spread quietly. After sending, check these places:

• The chat itself: delete the file from the conversation if it's no longer needed, and remember the recipient's copy is outside your control.
• Your phone's downloads and chat media folders, which often save attachments automatically.
• Cloud backups of your photos or chats, which may keep a copy after you delete it from the phone.
• Your email's sent folder.

If you must email a sensitive file, sending it as a password-protected file and sharing the password through a different channel, such as a phone call, adds a layer of protection.