WellMask

What WellMask does

• Mask identities: replace well names and recognized identifying metadata with generated aliases; choose how much other context to retain.
• Anonymize depth: change recognized depth origins while preserving original sample increments and missing values.
• Process batches: select several LAS files, add a folder or drag files into the app.
• Keep consistent aliases: save an encrypted project and reuse its well-identity mappings in another session.
• Recover original information: use each file’s encrypted .wmkey and password. Compatible exported files can retain newly added calculated curves during recovery.
• Keep your inputs: masked files, keys and restored files are written as separate outputs. Selected source files are left unchanged.

Install & activate

1. Use the Get WellMask in Microsoft Store button at the top of this page. On your Windows computer, open the product in the Microsoft Store app and install it.
2. Use a Windows Desktop x64 system with Windows build 19041 or later. Microsoft Edge WebView2 Evergreen Runtime is required. The Store package includes its .NET runtime.
3. Open WellMask. The interface contains Mask files, Restore, Profiles and Subscription; Privacy is available in the footer.
4. On Subscription, choose a monthly or yearly plan if you do not already have active access. Microsoft Store displays the current local price and purchase terms before confirmation.
5. After acquisition, use Refresh purchases and check for Subscription active. Keep the Microsoft Store app signed into the account that acquired your app and subscription.

A free application download provides the interface. Creating new masked files requires a verified active subscription. Restoration with an existing key and password remains available without an active subscription. Product availability and installation eligibility are determined by Microsoft Store.

Mask your first files

1. Prepare a project. On Mask files, use New project for a new alias mapping. To continue an existing mapping, enter its Project password and choose Open project….
2. Add the LAS inputs. Use ＋ Add LAS files, Add folder…, or drag LAS files into the app. Folder selection reads direct .las children only; it does not search subfolders. Select a queued file to inspect it, remove individual items with ×, or use Clear.
3. Review the headers and policy. Inspect Header review · Policy preview. Choose Strict · recommended or Custom · retain selected metadata and check the options described below.
4. Set a recovery password. Enter 12–1024 characters in Recovery password. Keep it securely: there is no password-reset service for your encrypted keys.
5. Choose output locations. Set Masked LAS destination. Save recovery keys in a separate folder is enabled by default; set a private Recovery key destination.
6. Run masking. Click Mask files & save keys →. Wait for the result and review every warning. Each masked LAS has its own matching .wmkey; keep the pair associated.
7. Save the project if you will continue later. Enter a project password and use Save project…. Saving the masked LAS and recovery keys does not automatically save the project mapping.
8. Validate a copy. Open the masked output in a LAS viewer, inspect headers and all datasets, and perform a recovery check before distributing a new workflow’s outputs.

The Project password and Recovery password protect different files and may be different. Use the password appropriate to the file you are opening.

Profiles & metadata

Strict applies a conservative metadata policy and enforces all five options below. Custom still replaces well names and recognized identifiers, while allowing selected context to remain. Changing an option switches the profile to Custom.

Technical units, channel ordering and non-depth numeric measurements are retained. Strict also neutralizes identifying LAS 3.0 text/table fields. If it finds an identifier in a technical definition that cannot safely be changed, or a LAS 3.0 numeric column recognized as an identifier/location, Strict may refuse processing. Custom can retain such protected content with warnings; retaining it may reveal identity.

Neither profile proves that every possible mnemonic, unusual comment or indirect identifier has been removed. Review custom sections and the complete exported file.

Depth anonymization

With Mask depth enabled, the first valid primary depth is replaced by a random value from 0.00 to 2000.00, inclusive. Remaining depths retain their original offsets. The engine uses actual sample values; it does not rebuild the array from STEP or resample it.

• Recognized mnemonics include DEPT, DEPTH, MD, DPT, TVD and TVDSS, plus other conventional and some numbered variants. A unit alone does not identify a depth channel: permeability PERM.MD is not depth.
• Only the primary starting value is fixed to two decimal places. Later samples can require more decimals to preserve original increments. Subsequent values can extend outside the 0–2000 starting interval.
• NULL/empty cells stay missing. Row order, STEP, units and non-depth numeric measurements stay unchanged.
• Recognized convertible length units within one file share a physical displacement. Unknown or incompatible unit groups use independent starting depths and produce a warning.
• STRT/STOP shift only if the first channel of the primary dataset is recognized numeric depth. Time-index bounds remain unchanged, and a NULL STOP stays NULL. Existing inconsistent bounds are translated where applicable, not repaired.
• The primary dataset is ASCII first; otherwise an unindexed Log dataset or Log_Data[1]; otherwise the first dataset. Review multi-dataset LAS 3.0 output carefully.
• Unsafe inputs are refused: examples include no usable recognized depth, all missing depths, a depth-named channel with time units, precision that cannot be retained, or failure to find a safe shift without a NULL-code collision.

Projects & well aliases

A .wmproject is a password-protected mapping from source well identities to generated aliases such as WELL-12HEXCHARACTERS. Reopen the same project when several batches must use the same aliases.

• Identity selection prefers WELL, then WELLNAME, WELLID, UWI, UWID and API. Matching normalizes whitespace, Unicode and letter case.
• This is identifier matching, not an inference that two files describe the same physical well. Different usable WELL values do not merge merely because UWI matches. Check source identifiers before batching.
• Use separate projects for unrelated wells with the same source name, so they do not receive an unintentionally shared alias.
• A new mapping initially exists in memory. Save project… explicitly creates a new encrypted project file and refuses an existing destination; choose a new filename for an updated copy.
• Failed batches do not commit newly generated alias mappings. A saved project does not replace each LAS file’s recovery key.

Restore identities & results

1. Open Restore.
2. Under Masked or calculated LAS file, select Choose… and pick the masked LAS or a compatible exported LAS containing your added results. The filename may have changed.
3. Under Recovery key, select its matching .wmkey.
4. If an older v0.2/v0.3 key needs verification of a rewritten file, choose the original masked LAS in Original masked LAS · only for older keys. Current v0.4+ keys normally do not require this baseline. Keep an untouched masked baseline when working with older keys.
5. Enter the Recovery password used when the key was created, choose Restored LAS destination, then click Restore identity & results ↶.
6. Review the result and warnings. WellMask writes a separate file based on the original filename, with _restored_ and a random suffix. Your selected files stay unchanged.

Unchanged masked files

With the matching key and password, an unchanged masked LAS restores the exact original bytes, including original metadata, depths, formatting and measurements.

Files with calculated curves

A compatible exported LAS can restore the original identities, depths and source data while retaining added curves and supported additional datasets. Every protected original dataset, row, channel schema and value must remain present and semantically unchanged.

• Give added curves distinct names. Preserve original arrays, the depth grid, source precision and all original rows.
• Compatible numeric formatting changes and channel reordering may be accepted. Rounding source values, changing/deleting measurements, resampling, ambiguous duplicate names, missing arrays or conversion between LAS major versions can prevent recovery.
• Keep the WMID binding marker when possible. Invalid, mismatched or duplicated markers are refused. If an exporter omits it, complete source-array matching is attempted, with a warning about ambiguity for identical arrays.
• Added calculations are retained as exported. They are not authenticated as original measurements or recalculated by WellMask. A result depending on absolute masked depth is not automatically recomputed for the restored depth.

Formats & practical limits

WellMask v0.7 supports validated LAS 2.0 and LAS 3.0 text structures. It does not claim universal compatibility with every LAS variant, malformed export or vendor extension.

LAS 1.x, DLIS, LIS, spreadsheets, images and arbitrary binary well data are outside this version’s supported input scope. A file’s .las extension alone does not establish compatibility. Use the reported error and inspect the original rather than forcing a conversion that could invalidate recovery.

Subscriptions & access

Both plans unlock the same masking functions. The application download is free; creation of new masked files requires a verified subscription. Microsoft Store handles billing and displays the applicable local price and terms.

• The published plans have no free trial and renew automatically unless cancelled. Confirm the terms in Microsoft Store before purchase.
• Choose monthly and Choose yearly start acquisition when an offer is available and you have no verified active masking access.
• Both purchase buttons are intentionally disabled while an active subscription already provides access. This prevents another checkout; it does not mean masking is unavailable.
• Refresh purchases rechecks Store rights and offers. A checkout message alone is not proof that access has been verified; check the subscription status in WellMask.
• Manage subscription ↗ opens Microsoft account services to manage billing and cancellation. In this version, changing the billing period requires ending the existing subscription, waiting for its access to expire, then refreshing and purchasing the other period. There is no automatic plan-switch button.
• Cancellation normally retains access through the current term. When verified rights expire, new masking is blocked; recovery with an existing key and password remains available.
• A promotional code for the application provides the app itself. It does not create a monthly or yearly subscription.

Microsoft describes cancellation and subscription-period changes. Store terms and your account’s current subscription status determine billing.

Privacy & file handling

• WellMask processes selected LAS files locally. It does not automatically upload LAS contents, recovery keys, project mappings or recovery passwords to the publisher and has no application-level analytics integration.
• .wmkey files contain a compressed, encrypted full original LAS. .wmproject files contain confidential identity mappings. Treat both as confidential, even though they are password protected.
• Recovery and project containers use AES-256-GCM and password-derived keys. Use a strong, securely stored password and keep recovery keys separate from shared LAS outputs.
• Passwords are not saved in application settings and are cleared from the interface after secure operations. Preferences and selected destination-folder paths are stored locally.
• Microsoft Store handles accounts, payments and licensing; WellMask does not collect payment-card details. Windows, Store and WebView2 may communicate or update under Microsoft’s settings and policies.
• Saving to OneDrive or another synchronized/backup folder can cause that service to copy the outputs according to your configuration. Choose local private folders when required by your organization.
• Uninstalling the app does not remove LAS outputs, recovery keys or projects you saved in your chosen folders. Manage and back up those files yourself.

Read Privacy inside the installed app for its version-specific disclosure and Microsoft’s privacy statement for Microsoft services.

Troubleshooting

Before you share

• Review the whole masked LAS: well identifiers, coordinates, paths, comments, custom sections and every LAS 3.0 dataset.
• Check all warnings and the depth policy; confirm that retained context is appropriate for the recipient.
• Verify original increments, missing values and non-depth measurements in the output.
• Test recovery of an unchanged masked file. After an external export, test recovery again before relying on the augmented workflow.
• Keep originals, matching keys, saved projects and passwords in secure locations. Share only the intended masked LAS files.

Need help? d.karnaukh@outlook.com · Back to top ↑