OBSCURA for law firms and legal teams
A law firm’s files are other people’s confidences, and most free tools that redact, compare or merge a PDF want it uploaded first. These do the same jobs inside the browser tab, on the machine the file is already on. Here is which tool fits which job, what it costs a firm, and what it does not do.
Where legal work goes wrong with files
Names in capitals are single tools: free to open and to check a file with, and Pro to save the result. A name marked Pro is a service inside the Sovereign Suite, which is Pro as a whole.
A redaction that only covers the words
A black rectangle drawn over a PDF is a shape on top of the page. The text underneath is still in the file, and anybody who selects it can copy it out. Nothing on the screen shows the difference.
- SEAL: rebuilds each page from its painted pixels, so the exported PDF has no text layer and nothing under the boxes
- X-RAY: checks a PDF you received, or are about to send, for text still sitting under a black box
- REDACTLOG: the schedule that goes with it: each passage withheld, the ground relied on, why it applies and who decided
- FLATTEN: burns a filled-in form into the page, so the answers cannot be edited or read back out as fields
Read first: how a redaction fails and redacting for discovery.
Metadata and tracked changes that travel with the draft
A Word file keeps the author’s account name, who saved it last, the comments, and text deleted under tracked changes. A draft sent to the other side can carry the last negotiating position inside it.
- X-RAY: who wrote it, what was deleted, and whether it contacts a server when opened
- DOCSCRUB: takes the author, comments and tracked changes out of a Word .docx
- SCRUB: the same for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and the author and producer out of a PDF
- LINEAGE: the editing sessions Word records against each passage, and passages pasted from elsewhere
- STRATA: every earlier version kept inside a PDF that was saved by appending, and what changed between them
Read first: what a Word document keeps.
The version that came back with a few small changes
The other side’s return is rarely marked up in full. The changes worth finding are the ones nobody mentioned.
- REDLINE: compares two versions (.docx, PDF, text or Markdown) and shows every changed amount, shifted deadline and inserted clause
- ABSTRACT: pulls renewal and termination deadlines, notice windows and expiry out of a contract as calendar reminders
- PDFSIG: hashes the bytes a PDF signature covers and says whether the document was changed after it was signed
- CLAUSE: a clause library, with numbering and cross-references that look after themselves
Exhibits, bundles and productions
Numbering, indexing and paginating is where an afternoon goes, and the online tools that do it keep a copy of the bundle.
- EXHIBIT: PDFs, photographs and screenshots bound into one PDF with a Bates number on every page, exhibit stickers and a linked index
- BUNDLE: a sectioned bundle, paginated straight through, with dividers, a linked index, bookmarks and a CSV of the index
- STAPLE: merge, split, reorder and rotate PDFs, and number the pages
- DOCKET: a disclosure schedule from a folder: every file with its type, size, dates and SHA-256
- PRIVLOG: a privilege log, checked for duplicate numbers, missing bases and descriptions that say too much
Read first: Bates numbering a bundle without uploading it.
Handing files to a client or to counsel
Email is the route most files take, and an attachment is readable by every system it passes through.
- Send a file securelyPro: seals files into one page that opens in any browser with a passphrase you send another way, or encrypts them to a public key
- CAPSULE: the single tool behind it: an encrypted HTML file the recipient opens with nothing installed
- PADLOCK: puts an AES-256 password on a PDF, or takes one off that you hold the password for
- WATERMARK: the recipient’s name across every page, so a copy that turns up says which one it was
- LOCKBOX: watermarked previews and a list of contents now, and the originals when you send the key: built for work released against payment
Around the file
The registers and counts that sit beside the documents.
- DIARY: counts calendar, business or clear days to a deadline, skipping the public holidays of the place you pick, and shows its working
- HOLD: writes a litigation hold notice, keeps the register of who acknowledged it, and writes the release
- CONFLICT: a register of interests, and which decisions somebody should have stepped out of
- COSTS: time and disbursements, with totals by fee earner, phase and task, and VAT at your rate
Why it matters that the file stays on the machine
Privileged material and a client’s confidential information are the files a firm is most expected to keep under its control. When a web tool works on a file, the file is sent to that tool’s server and kept there under its terms: for how long, by whom, and where, are answers somebody at the firm then has to find.
Here the file is opened from the disk, worked on in the tab’s memory and saved back to the disk. There is no upload step, no account and no copy held by us, so there is no third party in the chain to assess. You can check that rather than take it on trust: open the browser’s network tab, run a document through SEAL and watch that nothing leaves. The verification page sets out that test and the offline one.
What this does not settle is whether a particular use meets your professional rules, your client’s instructions or a court’s order. Those remain the firm’s to judge. It takes one question off the list: where the file went.
A worked example: a disclosure batch
A trainee has a folder of documents to produce by Friday, some of them to be redacted. On one laptop:
- DOCKET lists the folder: every file with its type, size and SHA-256, so the schedule records exactly which copies were reviewed.
- Each Word file goes through X-RAY. One carries a partner’s comment and three paragraphs deleted under tracked changes; DOCSCRUB takes them out, and the clean copy is saved beside the original.
- The documents to be redacted go through SEAL. Each exported page is rebuilt from pixels, so nothing survives under the boxes, and the text is no longer selectable, which is the price of the redaction being real. REDACTLOG records each redaction and its ground.
- X-RAY again, on the finished PDFs, as the last check before anything is served.
- EXHIBIT binds them into one PDF with Bates numbers and a linked index, and it goes to counsel through Send a file securely, with the passphrase sent by text message.
The only things that crossed the network were the pages of the tools, and the sealed file the trainee chose to email.
What it costs a firm
Every tool above is free to open and to check a document with, so a firm can see what they find before paying anything. Saving the redacted PDF, the clean copy or the bundle is Pro.
- Free, for everyone
- The Workspace: Docs, Sheets, Slides, Notes, Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, Plan, Drive and the PDF editor, at work as well as at home. And every single tool on this page, to open a file and see what it finds, with no account.
- Pro, for one person
- $15 a month or $144 a year, with 7 days free. Saving the result in every tool outside the Workspace, the whole Sovereign Suite and the Photo Editor.
- Team, up to 25 people
- $69 a month or $690 a year, with 14 days free. Everything in Pro for up to 25 people on one key for the whole team, a Stripe invoice with your organisation’s name and tax number, and email answered by a person within a working day.
- Not included
- No admin console, single sign-on, audit log or shared team storage: each person’s work stays on their own machine. The page for teams lists the rest, with the answers a security reviewer will ask for.
From five people, Team costs less than five Pro subscriptions. Checkout is Stripe’s: the card is asked for at the start and not charged until the fourteen days are over, and if you cancel before then nothing is paid.
Questions
Is a SEAL redaction permanent?
In the file it exports, yes. Each page is rebuilt from its painted pixels, so there is no text layer and nothing beneath the boxes to recover. The original on your disk is not changed; keep it or delete it as your own process requires.
Can we use it on privileged documents?
The tools never send the file anywhere, and you can confirm that in the browser’s network tab. Whether a particular use fits the firm’s obligations is for the firm to decide. This page describes software; it is not legal advice.
Does it replace a document management or e-disclosure platform?
No. These are single-purpose tools on one machine. There is no shared matter workspace, no review platform and no audit trail across users.
Will a bundle match our court’s format?
Not necessarily, and no tool can promise that. Numbering, sticker placement and the form of the index vary by jurisdiction and by court. The practice direction that applies to you is the authority; EXHIBIT and BUNDLE give you a consistently numbered, indexed PDF to check against it.
How does one key work for the whole team?
Each person adds the same key under Sign in on the Pro page. It is checked on their own machine, and the only time it leaves is when a Pro feature’s code is fetched, so the server can see it is paid for. Documents never do.
Does it work without a connection?
Each tool keeps working once its page has loaded. The heavier ones, such as the PDF engine behind SEAL, fetch a library from obscuraos.com the first time and keep it on the device afterwards. Installing it keeps a copy that opens offline.
The same tools, for other work
This page describes what the tools do. It is not legal advice, and nothing on it says that using them satisfies any professional, regulatory or court rule.