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Version: Current

Extract PII Entities

Description​

The Extract PII Entities activity identifies personally identifiable information (PII) within text using Azure AI Language services.

Examples of PII include:

  • Person names
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Credit card numbers
  • Government-issued identification numbers
  • Bank account numbers
  • Addresses

The activity can also return a redacted version of the input text with detected PII masked.

For example:

Input

John Smith can be reached at john.smith@example.com or 555-123-4567.

Redacted Output

********** can be reached at ********************** or ************.

Common settings​

Use Process Data to bind supported inputs to workflow values or upstream outputs. See Common Activity Features for shared execution, error-handling, and output-persistence settings. Availability depends on the activity.

Design-Time Configuration​

Display Text​

The label for this activity as it appears on the workflow canvas.

Connection Name​

Select one of the following:

  • An Azure Text Analytics connection configured in AI Command Center using customer-provided Azure credentials.
  • IB-X Azure Text Analytics Credits to use the IntelliBuddies Integration Gateway.

When using IB-X Azure Text Analytics Credits, requests are processed through the Integration Gateway and consume IB-X Currency based on the request volume and service usage.

Input Text​

The text from which personally identifiable information should be detected.

The value can be entered directly or supplied dynamically from Process Data.

Execution settings​

Configure Wait All Incoming when execution paths converge, and On Error for failure handling. Select Inherit where available to use the workflow-level error policy.

Outputs​

PII Entities​

A collection of detected PII entities containing information such as:

  • Entity text
  • Entity category
  • Confidence score
  • Position within the source text

Redacted Text​

The input text with detected PII values masked or removed.

Raw Response​

The complete JSON response returned by Azure AI Language services.

Notes​

  • PII detection helps protect sensitive information before storing, transmitting, or processing text.
  • Detection categories depend on Azure AI Language service capabilities.
  • Redacted Text can be used in downstream workflow activities where sensitive information should not be exposed.
  • When using the Integration Gateway, IB-X Currency is consumed based on the request volume.

Example: Analyze text​

Select an Azure AI Language connection or the documented credits option, then bind Input Text to text such as “Contact John Smith at john.smith@example.com.”. After execution, use PII Entities to inspect the detected entities and Redacted Text. See the output model for property types.

For a collection output, check it contains items before iterating. Keep Raw Response for cases where the workflow needs details not exposed by the structured output. See Azure Text Analytics connection.

Detection may miss sensitive values. Review the result before using redacted text where complete removal of sensitive information is required.

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