Abstract: An apparatus for selectively attaching strips of an encodable material bearing a heat activatable adhesive to a document or for removing the strips therefrom generally comprises a strip attachment assembly and a strip removal assembly. The attachment assembly includes a set of document feed rollers and strip feed rollers which deliver the documents and the strips to an alignment subassembly where the document and the strip are properly aligned. A cutter cuts the strip to match the length of the document and the aligned document and strip pass by a heater which heats the heat activatable adhesive. The strip secured to the document by the heat activatable adhesive is sealed thereto by a pair of sealing rollers. The strip removal assembly comprises a passageway having a heater extending along one side and an obstruction extending across a portion of the passageway.