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Postcard rule
Take private details out before you paste anything into ChatGPT
Swap names, addresses, phone numbers, codes, and card digits for placeholders like [CUSTOMER] before you paste. AI still writes a good reply. You put the real details back yourself.
The short answer
Before you paste a message into ChatGPT or any chat tool, take out the private details and put placeholders in their place: [CUSTOMER] for a name, [ADDRESS], [PHONE], [GATE CODE], [CARD]. Use Find and Replace in a plain text app so you don't miss one. Then tell the AI to keep the brackets exactly as they are. It still writes a good reply, and you put the real details back yourself before you send. A simple test: if you wouldn't write it on a postcard, swap it for a bracket.
Why it's worth the extra minute
The fear of putting a customer's information into AI stops a lot of people from using it at all. You don't have to choose between safe and useful. A reply to a customer email doesn't need the customer's name, street, or door code to be well written. Leave them out, and there's nothing to worry about later.
Floor vote
Before you paste into an AI tool, do you take private details out?
One vote per device. Change it any time.
Loading votes…
What to take out
Swap these for placeholders every time:
- Names of customers, patients, coworkers, and kids.
- Street addresses, and anything like gate codes or alarm codes.
- Phone numbers and email addresses.
- Account, policy, invoice, and order numbers.
- Card numbers, bank details, passwords, and login codes.
- Health details, legal matters, and anything about money that's specific to a person.
Watch for combinations, too. "The only dentist on Elm Street with a red door" names someone without a name in it.
Step 1: Paste into a plain text app first
Don't paste straight into the chat. Paste into a plain app on your computer: TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on Windows. Now you can see everything, and nothing has been sent anywhere.
Step 2: Find and Replace
Use the app's Find and Replace. Replace the customer's name with [CUSTOMER], the street with [ADDRESS], and so on. Use the same bracket every time the same thing appears, so the reply still makes sense. Then read the whole thing once more for anything you missed, like a phone number in an email signature.
Before | After
Before
Hi, it's Dana Ruiz at 14 Birch Lane. Gate code is 4471. Can you come Thursday? Call 555-0199.
Name, address, code, and number, all pasted.
After
Hi, it's [CUSTOMER] at [ADDRESS]. Gate code is [GATE CODE]. Can you come Thursday? Call [PHONE].
Same message. AI writes the same good reply.
Step 3: Tell the AI to keep the brackets
Paste the cleaned version and add:
Some details are replaced with placeholders in square
brackets. Keep every placeholder exactly as written.
Don't guess what they stand for.
When the reply comes back, swap the brackets for the real details in your email app, not in the chat.
Settings that help, but don't replace this
ChatGPT has a setting to stop your new chats being used to improve its models: Settings → Data controls → Improve the model for everyone, turned off. It also has Temporary Chat, which OpenAI says isn't saved to your history and isn't used to train its models, though a copy may be kept for up to 30 days for safety. Both help. Neither means the text was never sent. Redacting first does. For the full picture, see is your business data safe in ChatGPT?
If you use AI at work, your company's rules come first. Some workplaces allow only certain tools or plans.
Field check
Field check
Three questions. Honest answers. No score sent anywhere but this page.
01 / 03
Will you paste into a plain text app first?
Short close
Paste into a plain text app, swap private details for brackets, tell the AI to keep them, and put the real details back yourself. If you wouldn't write it on a postcard, don't paste it.
Keep these
The working rules
AI doesn't need a customer's name to write the reply. Then: Paste into a plain text app first; Swap private details for [BRACKETS]; Tell AI to keep the brackets; Put the real details back yourself.