What is PII? Personally identifiable information explained
PII is any information that can identify a person, alone or combined with other details. Clear examples from everyday documents, and how to find and hide it.
Updated · 2 min read
Do it now: free, in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Open Remove personal info from PDFThe definition
PII, or personally identifiable information, is any information that can be used to identify a specific person, either on its own or when combined with other details.
The term is most common in the US. Many other privacy laws, including the EU's GDPR, use the broader term personal data, which covers any information relating to an identifiable person. For everyday document sharing, the practical question is the same: could someone work out who this is, or learn something private about them?
Direct and indirect identifiers
Direct identifiers point to one person by themselves. Indirect identifiers don't, but a few of them together often do. A date of birth plus a postcode plus a gender can narrow things down to very few people.
| Type | Examples | Where you'll see them |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | Full name, face photo, Aadhaar, PAN, SSN, passport number | ID cards, KYC copies, W-2s |
| Direct | Email address, phone number, home address | Resumes, invoices, screenshots |
| Financial | Bank account, card number, IBAN, UPI ID | Statements, cheques, payment screenshots |
| Indirect | Date of birth, job title, employer, city | Resumes, salary slips, profiles |
| Technical | IP address, device IDs, location in photo EXIF | Bug reports, log screenshots, phone photos |
Sensitive information needs extra care
Some personal information can cause more harm if it leaks: health details, financial account numbers, government ID numbers, passwords and biometric data such as fingerprints. Share these only when there's a clear need, and only with the organisation that asked.
This is a general explanation, not legal advice. What counts as personal data, and what rules apply to it, depends on where you are and who is handling it.
How to find and remove PII from a document
- Open Remove personal information from PDF, or Censor screenshot for an image.
- PII is found automatically: emails, phone numbers, card and account numbers, IBANs, IFSC, UPI IDs, PAN, Aadhaar, SSNs, IP addresses, URLs, dates of birth, and labelled names and addresses.
- Turn on the optional on-device AI to also find names, places and organisations in free text. Faces and QR codes are detected too.
- Review the highlights, add boxes for anything missed, and export.
For text you've copied from an email or chat, the plain-text masker does the same job without a file. For a checklist by document, see what to hide before sharing documents online.
Questions
Is a name alone PII?
Often, yes, especially combined with anything else such as an employer or city. Common names on their own identify less, but it's safer to treat names as personal.
Is an IP address PII?
It can be, because it can be linked to a household or device. Cover it in screenshots and logs you share publicly.