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Anonymise files and folders

Understand the original file-renaming workflow and its limitations. Renaming a file alone does not remove identifying information inside it.

Legacy referenceOriginally published: Not establishedEditorial review: 20 Sep 2026Maintainer: RehabTools · Ross Allan Clark & collaborators

Editorial review covers presentation and historical context, not full scientific validation or current hardware compatibility.

2 min reference readPreserved from the original RehabTools collectionBrowse related material

At a glance

  1. Keep an untouched copy of the original data in an appropriate secure location.
  2. Use the original workflow to rename files and folders consistently.
  3. Check the contents and metadata separately: changing filenames does not de-identify a dataset.
On this page

Original technical reference. Hardware, prices and software compatibility reflect the original guide; linked services may have changed.

How to Anonymise Your Files and Folders Before Uploading

While we have taken every step possible to ensure the confidentiality of your data when you upload it for analysis, we cannot guarantee that others will not be able to access your files "in the cloud". If you are already following best practices for research this should not be an issue as the data will be coded, however if you want an extra step for added piece of mind you can download and run this program (click here) which will change all the file and folder names based on random letter/number swapping. While this is not a brick wall of security, it makes it extremely difficult to identify the original names of the files or folders. This is a very quick process and is fully recoverable if you follow the steps outlined in the video below:

CONTRIBUTORS

Anonymise files and folders — original illustration
Anonymise files and folders — original illustration
Anonymise files and folders — original illustration

Ross Clark

Dawn Tan

Yong Hao Pua

Ross Clark is a National Health and Medical Research Council RD Wright Biomedical Fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He created this site and is the principal developer of the software, hardware and visualisation systems used. 
Dawn Tan is a senior Physiotherapist at Singapore General Hospital with a focus on neurorehabilitation. She has received multiple awards for her innovative practice in healthcare, and is a Life Member of both the Parkinson Society Singapore and the Singapore National Stroke Association.
Yong Hao Pua is a Principal Physiotherapist at Singapore General Hospital, and one of the country’s most highly respected researchers in the field of allied health. He has a passion for using data analysis and visualisation to improve clinical outcomes.

Funding received from:

Anonymise files and folders — original illustration

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