diff --git a/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/DicomText.py b/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/DicomText.py
index 6dafbc030..d2bbae628 100644
--- a/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/DicomText.py
+++ b/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/DicomText.py
@@ -23,6 +23,15 @@ class DicomText:
     dicomtext.write(redacted_dcmname)    # Writes out the redacted DICOM file
     OR
     write_redacted_text_into_dicom_file  # to rewrite a second file with redacted text
+    After parse() you call text() to get the extracted text without HTML tags
+    that can be fed into the anonymiser. That will output annotations,
+    typically in Knowtator XML format, indicating the character positions
+    of every word that needs to be redacted. To perform the redaction in
+    a DICOM file you need to parse() then redact(xml), then call redacted_text()
+    to see the text, or write*() to save a redacted DICOM file.
+    The redacted text will still include the HTML tags which is why it is
+    important to preserve exact character offsets between text(), anonymise
+    and redact() steps.
 
     Class variables determine whether unknown tags are included in the output
     (ideally this would be True but in practice we are only interested in known tags
@@ -348,7 +357,13 @@ def test_DicomText():
 # Finding
 ......
 ..................................
-..........
+
+.
+
+..
+
+.
+
 There is bruising of the medial femoral condyle with some intrasubstance injury to the medial collateral ligament. The lateral collateral ligament in intact. The Baker's  cruciate ligament is irregular and slightly lax suggesting a partial tear. It does not appear to be completely torn. The posterior cruciate ligament is intact. The suprapatellar tendons are normal.
 # Finding
 There is a tear of the posterior limb of the medial meniscus which communicates with the superior articular surface. The lateral meniscus is intact. There is a Baker's cyst and moderate joint effusion.
@@ -395,7 +410,13 @@ def test_DicomText():
 # Finding
 ......
 ..................................
-..........
+
+.
+
+..
+
+.
+
 There is bruising of the medial femoral condyle with some intrasubstance injury to the medial collateral ligament. The lateral collateral ligament in intact. The Baker's  cruciate ligament is irregular and slightly lax suggesting a partial tear. It does not appear to be completely torn. The posterior cruciate ligament is intact. The suprapatellar tendons are normal.
 # Finding
 There is a tear of the posterior limb of the medial meniscus which communicates with the superior articular surface. The lateral meniscus is intact. There is a Baker's cyst and moderate joint effusion.
diff --git a/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/StringUtils.py b/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/StringUtils.py
index f4d108057..41a9d63d6 100755
--- a/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/StringUtils.py
+++ b/src/common/Smi_Common_Python/SmiServices/StringUtils.py
@@ -9,16 +9,21 @@
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 class RedactingHTMLParser(HTMLParser):
-    def __init__(self):
+
+    def __init__(self, replace_char = ' '):
         super().__init__(convert_charrefs = False)
-        self.style_active = False
-        self.script_active = False
-        self.data_active = False
-        self.newline_active = False
-        self.ref_char = 0
-        self.html_str = None
-        self.rc = []
-        self.curpos = (0,0)
+        self.replace_char = replace_char # HTML tags replaced with
+        self.style_active = False    # is processing a <style>
+        self.script_active = False   # is processing a <script>
+        self.data_active = False     # is processing real text content
+        self.newline_active = False  # is processing newlines
+        self.ref_char = 0            # is an entity or character reference
+        self.html_str = None         # redacted document
+        self.rc = []                 # redaction offsets
+        self.curpos = (0,0)          # last HTML entity offset
+        # Change empty string to a nul character so it can be removed at the end
+        if not self.replace_char:
+            self.replace_char = '\0'
 
     def feed(self, html_str):
         # Build a list of line numbers and their character positions
@@ -53,6 +58,8 @@ def result(self):
         """
         # Ensure the final item is processed
         self.handle_prev()
+        # If user wants to remove HTML tags (not redact) do this now
+        self.html_str = self.html_str.replace('\0', '')
         return self.html_str
 
     def handle_prev(self):
@@ -69,20 +76,27 @@ def handle_prev(self):
             startoffset = self.linepos[startline] + self.curpos[1]
             endline, endchar = self.getpos()
             endoffset = self.linepos[endline] + endchar
-            redact_char = ' '
+            redact_char = self.replace_char
             redact_length = endoffset - startoffset
+            # First char needs to be replaced with newline?
             if add_lf:
                 redact_str = '\n'
             else:
                 redact_str = redact_char
-            redact_str = redact_char.rjust(redact_length, redact_char) if redact_char else ''
-            if add_lf and redact_char:
+            # Rest of replacement string is repeated chars
+            redact_str = redact_char.rjust(redact_length, redact_char)
+            # First char needs to be replaced with newline?
+            if add_lf:
                 redact_str = '\n' + redact_str[1:]
                 redact_str = redact_str[:-1] + '\n'
+            # Entity/char reference replaces first character in the replacement string
             if self.ref_char:
                 redact_str = self.ref_char + redact_str[1:]
+            # Reset flag for next time
             self.ref_char = 0
+            # Rebuild string by cutting out redacted section and replacing it
             self.html_str = self.html_str[:startoffset] + redact_str + self.html_str[endoffset:]
+            # Create array of offsets which might be returned
             self.rc.append( (startoffset, endoffset) )
 
     def prepare_next(self, data_active):
@@ -217,7 +231,7 @@ def test_string_match_ignore_linebreak():
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-def redact_html_tags_in_string(html_str, replace_char='.', replace_newline='\n'):
+def redact_html_tags_in_string_simple(html_str, replace_char='.', replace_newline='\n'):
     """ Replace the HTML tags in a string with equal length of a
     repeating character (space or dot for example).
     The character (or string!) is given in replace_char, default dot.
@@ -251,38 +265,38 @@ def replfunc(s):
     html_str = re.sub('</{0,1}(.DOCTYPE|a|abbr|acronym|address|applet|area|article|aside|audio|b|base|basefont|bdi|bdo|big|blockquote|body|br|button|canvas|caption|center|cite|code|col|colgroup|data|datalist|dd|del|details|dfn|dialog|dir|div|dl|dt|em|embed|fieldset|figcaption|figure|font|footer|form|frame|frameset|h1|h2|h3|h4|h5|h6|head|header|hr|html|i|iframe|img|input|ins|kbd|label|legend|li|link|main|map|mark|meta|meter|nav|noframes|noscript|object|ol|optgroup|option|output|p|param|picture|pre|progress|q|rp|rt|ruby|s|samp|script|section|select|small|source|span|strike|strong|style|sub|summary|sup|svg|table|tbody|td|template|textarea|tfoot|th|thead|time|title|tr|track|tt|u|ul|var|video|wbr)( [^<>]*){0,1}>', replfunc, html_str, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
     return(html_str)
 
-def test_redact_html_tags_in_string():
-    src = '<script src="s.js"/> <SCRIPT lang="js"> script1\n </script> text1 <1 month\r\n<BR>text2 <script> script2 </script> text3&nbsp;</p>'
+def test_redact_html_tags_in_string_simple():
+    src =      '<script src="s.js"/> <SCRIPT lang="js"> script1\n </script> text1 <1 month\r\n<BR>text2 <script> script2 </script> text3&nbsp;</p>'
     # changing the \r to a space in the expected string also tests the string_match_ignore_linebreak function
-    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string(src)
+    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string_simple(src, replace_char='.')
     expected = '.................... ..................................... text1 <1 month \n....text2 .......................... text3      ....'
     assert(string_match_ignore_linebreak(dest, expected))
     # Test replacing HTML with spaces
-    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string(src, replace_char=' ')
+    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string_simple(src, replace_char=' ')
     expected = '                                                           text1 <1 month \n    text2                            text3          '
     assert(string_match_ignore_linebreak(dest, expected))
     # Test the newline replacement
-    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string(src, replace_char=' ', replace_newline=' ')
+    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string_simple(src, replace_char=' ', replace_newline=' ')
     expected = '                                                           text1 <1 month      text2                            text3          '
     assert(string_match_ignore_linebreak(dest, expected))
     # Test squashing HTML and newlines
-    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string(src, replace_char='', replace_newline='')
+    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string_simple(src, replace_char='', replace_newline='')
     expected = '  text1 <1 monthtext2  text3      '
     assert(string_match_ignore_linebreak(dest, expected))
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-def remove_html_tags_in_string(html_str):
+def redact_html_tags_in_string(html_str, replace_char=' ', replace_newline='\n'):
     """ Remove all HTML tags from the string and return the new string.
     Does not try to preserve the original string length."""
-    parser = RedactingHTMLParser()
+    parser = RedactingHTMLParser(replace_char = replace_char)
     parser.feed(html_str)
     text_str = parser.result()
     return(text_str)
 
-def test_remove_html_tags_in_string():
-    dest = remove_html_tags_in_string('<!DOCTYPE fake> <style>stuff </style>hello <p>world')
+def test_redact_html_tags_in_string():
+    dest = redact_html_tags_in_string('<!DOCTYPE fake> <style>stuff </style>hello <p>world')
     expected = '                                     hello \n \nworld'
     assert(dest == expected)