XLSX Cell Redaction¶

OpenMed can de-identify string cells in .xlsx workbooks while preserving worksheets, formulas, numeric and date values, styles, and other workbook structure supported by openpyxl.

Install the multimodal dependencies first:

pip install "openmed[multimodal]"

Then write a redacted copy to a different path:

from openmed.multimodal import redact_xlsx

result = redact_xlsx(
    "clinical-workbook.xlsx",
    "clinical-workbook.redacted.xlsx",
)

for entry in result.redaction_report:
    print(entry)

By default, row 1 of each worksheet is treated as its header. OpenMed reuses the CSV/TSV header and value-sampling rules to identify PHI columns. Every other string cell is also analyzed individually, which catches PHI embedded in free text even when its column looks safe. Use header_row to select a different one-based header row, or pass the same header_heuristics and action_overrides mappings accepted by the CSV adapter.

Formula cells are identified from their workbook cell type and are never sent to the de-identifier. Numeric, Boolean, date, blank, and error cells are also left untouched. The source workbook cannot be used as the output path, so a failed or partial run cannot overwrite the original PHI-bearing file.

PHI-safe report¶

Each changed cell produces a record shaped like this:

{
    "sheet_index": 0,
    "coordinate": "C7",
    "labels": ["PERSON", "PHONE"],
}

The report intentionally omits original values, replacements, and worksheet names. Worksheet names can themselves contain PHI, so worksheets are addressed by their zero-based position instead. Store and transmit the redacted workbook under the same controls used for other clinical artifacts; formulas can still encode sensitive logic even when their displayed string cells are redacted.

Charts, pivot tables, macros, and VBA content are outside this adapter's scope. Only .xlsx files are accepted.