GETTING STARTED
Get started with ClearHarbor
From download to your first clean note, in a few minutes.
Once ClearHarbor Desktop is installed, it works without an internet connection. By default, it performs only an automatic update check — never your documents or their contents. Install/upgrade/uninstall telemetry and usage telemetry are not part of the current build; if we add either, usage telemetry will stay off until you turn it on in Settings.
What counts as “technical details”?
What's in the note: what you typed, cleaned twice — once on your own computer, before you see it, and again when it reaches us — and shown to you on screen before you send it.
What's in the technical details: around 60 small pieces of information about how the app was used — things like which screen you were on, how many items were found, your app and Windows version, and how large the document was. Each one is a category, a count, or a version number, never free text — none of them can hold a name, a document, or a file path, because the fields they're built from don't have room for that kind of thing.
How long we keep it: 30 days, then it's deleted automatically.
Quick start
SETUP
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Download and install
Go to clearharbor.io and click the Windows download button. It is in the navigation at the top of the page, and again in the middle of the page. The file is ClearHarborSetup.exe, about 278 MB, so give it a few minutes on a slow connection — if you lose your way, clearharbor.io/download takes you to the same file.
Download ClearHarbor and run the installer. Windows may show a caution screen the first time you open this — that’s normal for a new app from an independent developer, not a sign of a problem. Click More info → Run anyway to continue.
USE
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Open it and paste a note
Open ClearHarbor and paste in a note. Not ready to paste something real? Click “Try a sample note” to watch it work first, on fake patient data.
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Run it and review the findings
Click Clean & de-identify. ClearHarbor lists everything it found — names, dates, record numbers, and more — so you can check its work before anything changes.
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Copy your clean result
Once you’re satisfied, click Copy to place the cleaned note on your clipboard, ready to paste wherever it needs to go.
The floating button
Once you’ve done that a few times, there’s a faster way for everyday use.
The round button sits on top of your other windows, so you can clean text without opening ClearHarbor. It runs the same local check as the main window; nothing about your selection or your clipboard is sent anywhere.
- Highlight text in any program — a few words is enough. Hold the highlight for a moment. Copying text works the same way.
- The button shows a pulsing ring and a dot. That means it has your text.
- Click it once. It cleans the text straight away — there is no confirm step.
- The cleaned text appears in a small panel beside the button. You can edit it there and fix anything the detector missed.
- Nothing is copied or replaced on your behalf. To take the cleaned text with you, click Copy cleaned text. Until you do, your original text is untouched and your clipboard still holds whatever it held before.
- Once you have copied it, paste it anywhere as you normally would. Or click where you want it and use Place cleaned text where your cursor is now, which inserts it at your cursor without replacing anything.
- If you click the button with nothing highlighted, you get a panel reading Nothing copied yet. That is not an error — you can paste or type into it.
- Drag it anywhere on screen; it stays where you put it.
- Right-click it and choose Hide floating button to put it away. Bring it back from the tray icon’s menu (Show floating button), or the Floating button toggle in the app.
Are you one of our beta testers?
There’s a separate guide for you — what we’re asking, how to send us feedback, and how the 30-day build works. Everything above still applies; this is the rest of it.
Frequently asked questions
Does ClearHarbor work offline?
Yes. ClearHarbor runs entirely on your computer and works fully offline — it never needs an internet connection to clean a note.
What does ClearHarbor remove?
ClearHarbor finds and removes the kinds of identifying detail defined by HIPAA’s Safe Harbor method — grouped here, not listed exhaustively:
- Who: names, and ID numbers tied to a person (medical record, health plan, account, license, or Social Security numbers)
- Where: addresses and locations smaller than a state
- When: specific dates tied to a person, like birthdays or admission dates (the year alone is kept)
- Contact info: phone, fax, email, and web addresses
- Devices: serial numbers, device IDs, and vehicle identifiers
- Digital traces: IP addresses and other online identifiers
- Images and biometrics: photos, fingerprints, and other unique physical identifiers
For the exact regulatory list, see HIPAA’s Safe Harbor method (45 CFR §164.514(b)(2)), which defines all 18 categories.
What is Deep Detection?
Deep Detection is an optional add-on that helps catch things the built-in rules might miss — names and identifiers written in less predictable ways. It runs entirely on your computer, downloads once (about 1.8 GB), and never sends anything anywhere. Turn it on or off any time in Settings. Turning it off stops it being used but keeps the download; Remove is a separate button, and that’s the one that frees the 1.8 GB.
Do beta builds expire?
Yes. A beta build gives you up to 30 days, starting the first time you open ClearHarbor — not the day it was released, and not the day you happened to download it. The clock belongs to your computer rather than to any one build, so installing again, or moving up to a newer build, doesn’t restart it. Starting about 10 days out the app shows a reminder, and it always shows your exact date, so it’s never a surprise.
Updates arrive on their own in the meantime: when a newer build is ready, ClearHarbor lets you know and installs it the next time you quit, keeping your settings and dictionary.
Once your 30 days are up, cleaning stops. ClearHarbor still opens, and nothing already on your computer is touched or removed — we’ll get you a fresh build.
Is anything sent to the cloud?
Only if you choose to send us feedback — a note you write, plus a set of non-identifying technical details about the app, never your documents or their contents. Everything you paste, upload, or clean stays exactly where it is, on your computer.
How do I hide or bring back the floating button?
Right-click the button and choose Hide floating button. Bring it back from the ClearHarbor icon in your system tray (choose “Show floating button”), or the Floating button toggle in the app window.
Why does Windows warn me when I install ClearHarbor?
Windows may show a caution screen the first time you open this — that’s normal for a new app from an independent developer, not a sign of a problem. Click More info → Run anyway to continue.
This is a guide, not a new agreement — installing ClearHarbor means agreeing to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, which are readable any time.
New to ClearHarbor? Get it from clearharbor.io to get started.