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If your workspace handles protected health information (PHI), or any highly sensitive material you want to keep inside the tightest possible boundary (confidential or unpublished research, trade secrets, regulated data), you can enable Restricted mode (HIPAA-ready) to enforce stricter controls on AI processing and data sharing.

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What Restricted mode does

When enabled, two restrictions take effect immediately:
  • AI processing is restricted to Google (Vertex AI) only. Bower uses multiple AI providers for different tasks. In Restricted mode, only routes covered by a signed Business Associate Agreement (Google Vertex AI) are permitted. Every other provider (the Gemini API, OpenAI) is blocked at the API level.
  • External sharing is disabled. Share links cannot be created for any artifact in the workspace. Existing share links are not retroactively removed, but no new ones can be generated.
These restrictions are enforced server-side by middleware; they cannot be bypassed from the frontend.

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What still works in Restricted mode

The following features run entirely on Google (Vertex AI, BAA-covered) and remain available:
  • Voice transcription (Google Cloud Speech-to-Text, covered by GCP BAA). The OpenAI transcription fallback available to other workspaces is disabled here; your audio stays on Google only.
  • Photo OCR and text extraction (Gemini Vision)
  • AI-generated descriptions for attachments (Gemini)
  • Chat with Bird, note authoring, summaries, and titles, all on Vertex AI
  • Search, the knowledge graph, protocols, equipment, and audit logs, which never leave Bower

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What is not available in Restricted mode

Each of these sends content to a third party that has not signed a BAA, so the workspace blocks it. The restriction is per workspace, not per user: a colleague in a different workspace is unaffected. If you try to use a blocked feature, Bower tells you it is unavailable in this workspace rather than failing quietly.

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Word (.docx) imports

Outside Restricted mode, Bower converts Word documents using a third-party conversion service. That service has no BAA, so in Restricted mode your document is never sent to it; Bower converts the file itself. The import still works. Text, headings, lists, and tables come across as usual. What you lose is embedded images: pictures inside the Word file are not imported. Bower adds a short note at the top of the imported document explaining this, so an image-less note is never a mystery. The original file stays attached, so nothing is lost; you can open it if you need the figures.

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Enabling Restricted mode

Only workspace admins and owners can toggle Restricted mode.
1

Go to Settings > Workspace

2

Find the Restricted mode toggle in the workspace card

3

Click the toggle to enable

4

Confirm in the dialog that appears

A confirmation dialog will explain exactly what changes. Once confirmed, restrictions take effect immediately.

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Disabling Restricted mode

You can disable Restricted mode from the same toggle. A warning dialog will explain that the protections will be removed. Disabling is also immediate: AI provider restrictions are lifted and sharing is re-enabled.

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Important notes

  • Restricted mode is forward-only. Enabling it does not retroactively re-process content that was previously handled by non-Gemini providers.
  • Restricted mode is a workspace-level setting. If you have multiple workspaces, each one can be configured independently. Consider creating a dedicated workspace for PHI data.
  • Bower’s Restricted mode restricts AI processing and sharing. It does not replace a full HIPAA compliance programme. You are responsible for ensuring your organisation meets all applicable requirements, including staff training, risk assessments, and BAA coverage for other tools in your workflow.

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Further reading