Swap before you paste
You want help with a tricky email to a client, a staff letter or a family money question, but the draft is full of real names and numbers. The safest data is data the AI company never receives. A privacy policy is a promise, and promises can change. So before you paste, swap the details for placeholders. The AI still sees the shape of the problem and can help just as well.
This card pairs with Never paste this. Some things shouldn't go in at all, swapped or not: passwords, full card or ID numbers, and records you hold for other people.
Three choices for each detail
| Choice | When to use it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Leave it out | The AI doesn't need it at all. | Delete the client's home address from a pricing question. |
| Black it out | It's in the way but irrelevant. | [removed] in place of a reference number nobody needs. |
| Swap it | The AI needs to know it's there, and that it's the same thing each time. | Client A, [ACCOUNT-1], [DATE-1], [AMOUNT-1] |
How to swap
- Copy the text into a plain document on your own computer, not into the chat.
- Go through it and swap every name, company, account or policy number, address, phone, email and exact date or amount that could identify someone. Use the same placeholder every time a detail repeats: Client A stays Client A.
- Write the key in that document, not in the chat: Client A = the real name, and so on.
- Look again for details that identify someone in combination: a job title plus a small town plus a date can point to one person. Make those vaguer ("a manager", "a town in the region", "last spring").
- Paste the swapped version, with the instruction below.
- Swap the real details back into the answer yourself, using your key.
- Delete the key and the working copy when you're done, if you don't need them.
The names, numbers and dates in the text below have been replaced with placeholders like Client A, [ACCOUNT-1] and [DATE-1]. Keep every placeholder exactly as written in your answer. Don't guess the real details or invent new ones. If you need to know something about a placeholder (for example, whether [AMOUNT-1] is large or small), ask me. [paste your swapped text] What I need: [your request]
Worked example: a warning letter
Sam works in HR at a small manufacturer and needs help wording a final written warning. Before: "Dear Maria Lopez, following your absences on 3, 10 and 17 March from the Brookfield packing line..." After the swap: "Dear Employee A, following your absences on [DATE-1], [DATE-2] and [DATE-3] from [SITE-1]..." The AI suggests a clearer structure and a fairer tone. Sam swaps the real details back in from the key he kept in his own document, and checks the dates against the attendance record before it goes out.
Common mistakes
- Swapping the name and leaving the email signature, the file name or the subject line.
- Using different placeholders for the same person, which confuses the answer.
- Forgetting details that identify someone in combination.
- Keeping the key in the chat "for convenience". That's sending the real details.
- Assuming swapping makes anything okay to paste. It reduces what you send. Whether you may use a client's or patient's material in an AI tool at all depends on your contracts, your employer's rules and the law. Ask your lawyer or compliance contact.
ai.donnaruma.us/library/swap-before-paste, general information, not legal advice