SAR, Printing Emails

[Jobos]

So the first SAR or at least the first I'm involved in has come through. The HT asked if I could help so using Microsoft Purview I exported the emails into a .pst and after removing any unneeded emails I'm left with just under 600.

 

The HT wants them printing so using Outlook I did a few test prints but my name is at the top of every print in big bold letters and it doesn't show the sender so it looks as if I sent the email. Is Outlook the software to use or would something else be better?

 

Thanks.

 

[Steve101]

I bought ReliefJet Essentials for Outlook, it will covert all PST files into PDFs. Then easy to print if needed.

Edited June 10 by Steve101

[Olliedawg]

We use outlook. Just redact the name from the top. Acrobat is pretty good for redacting, but you need the paid version.

[Jobos]

2 minutes ago, Olliedawg said:

We use outlook. Just redact the name from the top. Acrobat is pretty good for redacting, but you need the paid version.

 

Now that's going to be a problem as we do not have the paid version of Acrobat.

[willtech]

https://acuityautoredact.com/ think it does PST files as well. Does cost.

[Olliedawg]

5 minutes ago, Jobos said:

 

Now that's going to be a problem as we do not have the paid version of Acrobat.

What about creating a new user account specifically for opening that .pst & exporting it, then your name won't appear at the top.

[TheHyperTechie]

Just now, willtech said:

https://acuityautoredact.com/ think it does PST files as well. Does cost.

This^ I do believe they offer a free trial. It can convert your PSTs to PDFs and then if you collate them into a single document, it can be redacted.

[AndrewJWalls]

On 10/06/2026 at 13:15, TheHyperTechie said:

This^ I do believe they offer a free trial. It can convert your PSTs to PDFs and then if you collate them into a single document, it can be redacted.

Hi,

This is correct. You can use our PST to PDF converter for free after you register for a free account.

Also, iIf you sign up for a free account at https://www.acuityautoredact.com/ you can upload 200 pages and have them redacted by our AI (with you then making changes). It's free.
 

 

On 10/06/2026 at 13:15, Olliedawg said:

What about creating a new user account specifically for opening that .pst & exporting it, then your name won't appear at the top.

 

Olliedawg, if you'd like a 30 minute chat on how to do this you can book a meeting at https://www.acuityautoredact.com/booking-calendar-page - we can automate what you're doing and get it done in minutes.

[Jobos]

On 10/06/2026 at 13:15, Olliedawg said:

What about creating a new user account specifically for opening that .pst & exporting it, then your name won't appear at the top.

Now that's a good idea but in the end I used Thunderbird which worked well.

[johnfermor]

Hi,

 

I think this could be useful for anyone in a similar situation.

 

I use Stirling PDF running on Docker on our old SIMS server. There’s also a standalone Windows version available (https://stirling.com/download).

 

It provides a wide range of tools - including converting, merging, removing blank pages and redaction. As long as you can convert your files into PDF (Stirling\Print to PDF will do this), you can then use the redaction feature. I use it for all kinds of PDF tasks, although it’s not particularly strong at converting PDFs back to DOCX.

 

You simply upload your documents into the interface and select the tool you need - redaction in this case.

 

 

Redact has two modes - automatic and manual. Enter your name or email address into the text-to-redact field and click Redact. Make sure you enable the “Convert PDF to PDF-Image” option, otherwise the text may still remain searchable. Once the automatic redaction is complete, you can switch to manual mode and draw boxes around any additional text you want to remove, then download the updated PDFs.

 

It also includes a regex feature that allows you to paste in regular expressions - this is where it becomes particularly powerful.

 

I use this alongside an app I developed which generates compatible regex patterns for use in Stirling. It imports staff and student data from a CSV file into a SQLite database and automatically creates multiple aliases. This allows me to use regex to redact everyone who hasn’t been selected in the app. The configurable aliases make it possible to cover variations such as “Smith, John”, “John Smith”, “J Smith”, “JSmith”, and so on resulting in fewer false positives.

 

With the use of additional tools currently being tested - such as automatic monitoring of the DPO mailbox and tagging to separate staff emails from student messages - I’m aiming to reduce this laborious task from days down to a few hours.

 

John

 

 

Edited June 29 by johnfermor

[browolf]

I use pfftools to extract the contents of  PST files and then a python script that uses beautiful soup to extract emails into text messages and then some other scripts to get rid of irrelevant messages and perform redacts.   The process will often start with around 3000 emails that i can reduce to 500-1000. A lot of emails are lists are that aren't specifically about the subjects.

The advantage of this kind of thing is is being able to design the final output which is 1 text file where individual emails are split with dividers containing dates and subject lines. 

If you have some familiarity with python and time for vibe coding check out my code https://github.com/browolf/Subject-Access-Requests-from-Microsoft-Copilot-365

The digital officer is using acrobat pro to redact pdf documents from cpoms and SEN  with redaction lists

[Ditto]

Are you aware legislation updates brought some clarity on processing SARs last year. The fundamnetal haven't changed, but the element of 'reasonable and propottionate searchs'. The goal IMHO, is to be able to push back on the 'tell me everything' and to deal with vexatious approaches.

[psydii]

On 10/06/2026 at 12:37, Jobos said:

but my name is at the top of every print in big bold letters 

 

 

I have a dedicated outlook profile for this, keeps my name out of things. Except when my name is in things.

 

35 minutes ago, Ditto said:

Are you aware legislation updates brought some clarity on processing SARs last year. The fundamnetal haven't changed, but the element of 'reasonable and propottionate searchs'. The goal IMHO, is to be able to push back on the 'tell me everything' and to deal with vexatious approaches.

Funny this legislation appeared about 18 months after some of the big DPO outsourcers (run by lawyers) started offering SAR processing services and realised just how much work (i.e. costly) they really were.  Hopefully I've now seen the last of the  50hr+ SARs. 

[AndrewJWalls]

On 03/07/2026 at 10:43, Ditto said:

Are you aware legislation updates brought some clarity on processing SARs last year. The fundamnetal haven't changed, but the element of 'reasonable and propottionate searchs'. The goal IMHO, is to be able to push back on the 'tell me everything' and to deal with vexatious approaches.

 

People really do need to hear this! You can request clarification, extensions for complex requests and in extreme cases claim it is 'Manifestly Unfounded or Excessive' and request a more restrictive scope.