PII Detector — Scan Files for Sensitive Data Before Sharing | MultiTools

What Is a PII Detector?

A PII detector scans text or a file and reports the personally identifiable and sensitive information it contains — emails, phone numbers, credit card numbers, IBANs, social security numbers, IP addresses, API keys and tokens. It does not change anything; it tells you what is there so you can decide what to do before the content is shared, emailed, or pasted into an AI tool. This tool runs the scan entirely in your browser, so the content you are checking is never uploaded.

This is the pre-flight check for the age of AI. Surveys show that around 77% of workplace AI interactions involve real company data, and high-profile leaks — such as engineers pasting source code and internal documents into a chatbot — happen precisely because nobody looked first. You cannot protect what you cannot see. Running a quick local scan turns a guess into a clear list of exactly what sensitive data a piece of content holds.

Why Use This PII Detector?

• Nothing is uploaded. The scan happens in your browser, so checking a file does not itself create a privacy risk.
• It is specific. It reports the type and count of each kind of sensitive data, with masked samples so the report is safe to read and share.
• It is fast. Paste text or drop a file and see results instantly.
• It tunes for accuracy. Credit card numbers are validated by checksum to avoid false alarms.
• No account, no cost, no install.

Common Use Cases

• Before using an AI assistant — check a prompt or file for sensitive data before pasting it into ChatGPT or similar.
• Before sending to a vendor — confirm a file does not carry data it should not.
• Reviewing logs and exports — find leaked tokens, emails or IPs in a log before sharing it.
• Data governance — spot-check files for personal data as part of a privacy process.
• Auditing AI prompts — verify that a prompt template is free of real data before reuse.

How to Use This Tool

1. Add your content — paste text or drop a .csv, .txt, .log or .json file.
2. Read the report — see each type of sensitive data found, with a count and masked samples.
3. Decide what to do — remove, anonymize, or reconsider sharing the content.
4. Clean it — use the prompt scrubber for text or the CSV anonymizer for spreadsheets.
5. Re-scan — confirm the cleaned content is safe before you share it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my content sent anywhere?

No. The scan runs entirely in your browser, so the content you check is never uploaded. That is the point — checking for sensitive data should not expose it.

Does it change my file?

No. This is a detector only. It reports what it finds and leaves your content untouched. To remove data, use the prompt scrubber or CSV anonymizer.

What does it detect?

Emails, phone numbers, credit cards (checksum-validated), IBANs, US social security numbers, IP and MAC addresses, API keys, tokens, and inline secrets like password= or api_key=.

Can it find people's names?

Not reliably — names look like ordinary words. Use this for structured patterns, and still review the content for names and context only a human would catch.

Why show masked samples instead of the real values?

So the report itself does not become a new copy of your sensitive data. You can see enough to recognise each item without exposing it fully.