**Source URL:** https://clinical.veevavault.help/en/gr/49807/index.md

# Creating Blinded & Unblinded Documents

It is common industry practice to design blinded studies to avoid introducing bias into study results. When running a blinded study, there are two types of content: _Blinded_ and _Unblinded_. Unblinded content contains sensitive study information, for example, randomization, and can only be viewed by a limited group of people to ensure that study teams do not know which subjects are assigned to test groups versus placebo groups. Blinded content is unrestricted and can be viewed by all users without risk of biasing study results.

With the _Create Content_ field on the _User_ object and the _Blinding_ standard picklist, Admins can <a href="/en/gr/49810/">define which users can create unblinded (restricted) content and which cannot</a>, allowing organizations to securely and confidently manage restricted content in Vault. When you create or classify a document, Vault automatically sets the _Content_ (`blinding__v`) document field.

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      <p><strong>Note</strong>: Depending on your Vault’s configuration, the <em>Content</em> document field may appear as <em>Blinding</em>.</p>
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## About Content Field Defaulting
When <a href="/en/gr/49810/#content-field-config-ref">configured</a>, Vault automatically populates the _Content_ (`blinding__v`) document field when you create or classify a document.

For Vaults with only the _Enable Blinding Document Field Defaulting_ setting enabled, Vault defaults the _Content_ field on documents to _Blinded_ unless the user who uploaded the document has a _User_ record with the _Unblinded_ value for the _Create Content_ field. 

For Vaults with both the _Enable Blinding Document Field Defaulting_ and _Enable Enhanced Blinding Defaulting_ settings enabled, Vault defaults the _Content_ field on documents to _Blinded_ unless the document meets all of the following criteria:

* The _Study_ record's _Masking_ field value is not _Open-Label_.
* The document's _Document Type_ includes the <a href="/en/gr/31824/#document-type-groups">_Document Type Groups_</a> value of _Allow Unblinded_. 
* The user who uploaded the document has a _User_ record with the _Unblinded_ value for the _Create Content_ field.

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      <p><strong>Note</strong>: Vault does not update the defaulted <em>Content</em> field value when you reclassify the document. Vault also does not override the defaulted <em>Content</em> field when you create the document via API or with a Vault Connection if the source document has a <em>Content</em> field value.</p>
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## Creating Blinded & Unblinded Content

Based on your user configuration, Vault automatically sets the _Content_ document field to **Blinded** if you can only create blinded, unrestricted content that poses no risk to study results. If you can create unblinded content, Vault sets the _Content_ (`blinding__v`) field to **Unblinded**, ensuring that documents are only available to a small group of users.

Depending on the <a href="/en/gr/49810/#content-field-config-ref">configuration of your Vault</a>, you may be prompted to set the _Content_ field when you create <a href="/en/gr/68414/">Inbox Documents</a>.

## Switching from Unblinded to Blinded Content

When configured, users who can create unblinded content can sometimes update the _Content_ (`blinding__v`) document field via a user action. When the _Create Content_ field is set to _Unblinded_ for a document in a given lifecycle state, you can select the **Change to Blinded** user action from the document **Actions** menu. This sets the _Content_ (`blinding__v`) field to _Blinded_, making the content available to all defined users. Your document role must include the _Edit Fields_ permission to run this action.

Note that setting this field from _Unblinded_ to _Blinded_ cannot be undone.