Power Query - anonimize values?

[SOQLee]

Is there a way to anonymize email addresses recorded as the USERID?

 

[Matt Allington]

Why don't you just delete them?

 

[SOQLee]

I'm preparing Excel data to load to SPSS; and need to retain an ID column to identify each observation; "data confidentiality" rather than "anonymizing values" might be a better description of what I'm trying to do. Wondering if I could avoid a few steps.

A solution might be to add an index column to the Excel dataset; one that would number and identify duplicate UserIDs; then in Power Query create a new ID column by combining the index number to text, 'Anon'. Can the index be created in Power Query?

Index | ID|

1 | Anon1|
2 | Anon2|
3 | Anon3|
4 | Anon4|
4 | Anon4|
5 | Anon5|
.
.
.

Why don't you just delete them?

 

[SOQLee]

This is more like what I'm after...


|Index | UserID| ID|

1 | aaa@email.com| Anon1|
2 | bbb@email.com| Anon2|
3 | ccc@email.com| Anon3|
4 | ddd@email.com| Anon4|
4 | ddd@email.com| Anon4|
5 | eee@email.com| Anon5|
.
.
.

 

[Matt Allington]

If they are all random, why not make them all the same

aaa@email.com anon
aaa@email.com anon
aaa@email.com anon

so just hard code it.

 

[OlaSa]

One way:
n. Menu: Icon/Function
1. Add Column: Add Index Column
2. Store the Query as Query1
3. Right-click on Query1 and select Reference and change the name as Query2
4. Select the e-mail and index column and
5. Home: Remove columns/Remove Other Columns + save Query2
6. Right-click on Query1 and select Reference and change the name as Query3
7. Remove e-mail (keep the index column as the UserID)
//Ola


This is just a simple example.
There are several ways to scramble/code a email-address; shifting each letter, have a separate replacements table, etc
It's just a matter of how secure it must be.