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Masking a sales sheet locally before you send it out

Agencies, channel partners and managers all want the sheet, but not the real phone numbers and ID cards. Here are the column rules, why amounts are left alone by default, and why you should not upload the file to an online tool.

Before you send a sales sheet to an agency or a channel partner, it usually still contains phone numbers, ID cards and bank card numbers. Uploading it to an "online masking site" leaks it a second time. The safer approach is: process it in the browser on this computer, then send the masked copy.

First decide what the other side should see

Three columns cover most cases:

  • Contact details: a mobile number keeps the first 3 and last 4 digits, e.g. 138****5678
  • ID numbers / card numbers: an ID card keeps the first 6 and last 4 characters; a bank card keeps only the last 4
  • Amounts: reporting and collection sheets usually need the real figures, so TwoThink Excel / CSV data masking leaves amount columns untouched by default. Switch the rule by hand when you need a range or a dropped column.

Names and addresses are only suggested automatically when the header looks like "Customer name" or "Address", so company names and free-text notes are not hit by accident.

Pseudonym or hash?

  • Mask: for a human reader — it is still obvious that this is a phone number.
  • Pseudonym: Zhang San becomes Customer001; the same person keeps the same code inside one file, which makes reconciliation easy.
  • Hash: a one-way digest. The same original value gives the same result, which is handy for feeding a downstream system. It cannot be reversed.

By default the tool does not export an "original → masked" table. That table is itself sensitive data.

How it fits with contracts and screenshots

Use this tool for spreadsheets, PDF redaction for contract PDFs and image mosaic for chat screenshots. If bank e-receipts have to be split by account name but must not be uploaded, the desktop product Huidantong does it offline.

This is not a compliance certificate

PIPL and classified-protection compliance depend on your own policies and legal advice. The tool only does one thing: carry less real information out of the building. Keep an unmasked original in a controlled place and send out only the processed file.

Try it → open Excel / CSV data masking, drop in a sample sales sheet, look at the detected suggestions first, and then download.