You can delete sensitive text, graphics, or hidden data on Mac or Windows. Choose Select a File , and then open the Employee Record. Click Mark for Redaction in the top menu to mark items you want to permanently remove from the file. You can remove different types of information:. Click Apply to remove the marked areas of content. Then click OK in the resulting dialog box to confirm that you understand the selected content will be permanently removed through black out.

The original file remains unchanged. You can also use the hidden information feature to find and remove hidden information in your redacted file. To do so, click Yes in the subsequent dialog box. More importantly, your file and data might be insecure due to lack of protection. In this case, you can free download here to try the best alternative to Adobe Acrobat. Buy PDFelement right now! Edit, Annotate PDF. Elise Williams. Product Features. PDFelement Download Download.

Then, select the occurrences you want to mark for redaction:. To select all occurrences in the list, click Check All. To select individual occurrences, click the check box for each one you want to redact. Click the text next to a check box to view the occurrence on the page.

To mark none of the occurrences, close the Search dialog box or click New Search to start over. To mark whole words or partial words characters for redaction, select the option under Redaction Mark Options. In the Settings dialog box, specify the number and location of the characters for redaction. The items you selected in the list are shown marked for redaction. To remove the marked items, click Apply in the secondary toolbar.

Find and remove hidden content Acrobat Pro. Make sure that the check boxes are selected only for the items that you want to remove from the document. See Remove Hidden Information options. Remove Hidden Information options.

Bookmarks Bookmarks are links with representational text that open specific pages in the PDF. Comments And Markups This item includes all comments that were added to the PDF using the comment and markup tool, including files attached as comments. Form Fields This item includes Form Fields including Signature fields , and all Actions and calculations associated with form fields. Hidden Text This item indicates text in the PDF that is either transparent, covered up by other content, or the same color as the background.

Hidden Layers PDFs can contain multiple layers that can be shown or hidden. Deleted Or Cropped Content PDFs sometimes retain content that has been removed and no longer visible, such as cropped or deleted pages, or deleted images. Overlapping Objects This item includes objects that overlap one another. Sanitize document Acrobat Pro. It removes: Metadata Embedded content and attached files Scripts Hidden layers Embedded search indexes Stored form data Review and comment data Comments hidden within the body of the PDF file Hidden data from the previous document saves Obscured text and images Unreferenced data Links, actions, and javascripts Overlapping objects.

Select a different language version for patterns Acrobat Pro. Change the look of redaction marks Acrobat Pro. Set the default look of all marks. Click the Redacted Area Fill Color icon and select a fill color from the color palette for the boxes that replace removed items. Choose No Color to leave the redacted area blank. Select Use Overlay Text if you want to select the custom text or redaction code options. Select the font, size, and text alignment.

Select Custom Text , and type the text you want to appear in the redacted area. Select Redaction Code , and then either select a code within an existing set, or click Edit Code to define a new code set or a new code. See Create redaction codes and code sets. Select a color from the color palette for the images and text you mark for redaction.

Move the slider to adjust the opacity of the color. Choose No Color to leave the selected area blank. Properties for redaction text Acrobat Pro. Custom Text. Displays custom text in the selected font. Font Size. Displays custom text in the selected point size. Font Color. Displays custom text in the selected color, which you can change by clicking the color swatch.

Aligns text to the left, right, or center. Redaction codes Acrobat Pro. Create redaction codes and code sets. Select Use Overlay Text. Select Redaction Code. To add multiple code entries to a redaction code, select an entry from the Code Entries list and click Add Selected Entry. Repeat as desired. Click Edit Codes to make additional changes.

Repeat the previous step to add another code entry to that code set, or repeat the previous three steps to create additional code sets and codes. Edit redaction codes and code sets Acrobat Pro. To remove a code set and all of the code entries within it, select an entry form the Code Set and click Remove Set.

To export a code set to a separate XML file that you can reuse in other PDFs or share with others, select the code set. Then click Export Set , specify a filename and location, and click Save. To import a previously saved code set, click Import Set , locate and select that file, and click Open.

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The AutoRedact® plug-in is an add-on to Adobe Acrobat® and Adobe Acrobat® Professional® software that provides a complete set of tools and operations for redacting various types of information from PDF documents. AutoRedact® is a “true redacting” solution that deletes sensitive text, annotations, text form fields, vector graphics, and. Always free, and now more powerful than ever, the Acrobat Reader mobile app is packed with the tools you need to view, annotate, sign, and share PDFs anywhere. And with Acrobat Standard DC, you can do even more. Edit, create, export, organize, and combine files right from your tablet. Get the free mobile app. Learn more about Acrobat Reader. Dec 12,  · Choose Select a File, and then open the Employee sample file or other PDF document from which you want to redact sensitive information. Mark content for redaction Click Mark for Redaction in the top menu to mark items you want to permanently remove from the file. You can remove different types of information.

Before you distribute a PDF, you may want to examine the document for sensitive content or private information that can trace the document to you.

Use the Redact tools to remove or redact sensitive images and text that are visible in a PDF. For example, if you created the PDF, the document metadata normally lists your name as the author. JavaScript, actions, and form fields are types of content that are subject to change. Redaction is the process of permanently removing visible text and graphics from a document. You use the Redact tools to remove content. In place of the removed items, you can have redaction marks that appear as colored boxes, or you can leave the area blank.

You can specify custom text or redaction codes to appear over the redaction marks. Note: If you want to locate and remove specific words, characters, or phrases, use the Find Text tool instead. Optional To set the appearance of redaction marks, click the drop-down in the Redact toolset in the secondary toolbar, and choose Properties.

See Change the look of redaction markers. Note: To preview how your redaction marks appear, hold the pointer over the marked area. To apply multiple code entries to a single redaction, right-click a redaction mark and select an option. For more information, see Apply multiple code entries to a redaction. This feature is convenient if a particular header, footer, or watermark appears in the same location on many pages. When you have finished marking the items you want to redact, click Apply in the secondary toolbar to remove the items.

The Save As dialog is displayed. Specify a filename and location. Use the Find Text tool to find and remove words or phrases in one or more PDFs that contain searchable text. If you selected occurrences that you want to mark for redaction, click Mark Checked Results For Redaction. The redaction marks become permanent after you save the file. When you remove items, additional items are automatically removed from the document. Items that are removed include digital signatures, document information added by third-party plug-ins and applications, and special features that enable Adobe Reader users to review, sign, and fill PDF documents.

Note: To examine every PDF for hidden content before you close it or send it in email, specify that option in the Documents preferences using the Preferences dialog box. Click Sanitize Document. In the Sanitize Document dialog, to remove hidden information, click Click Here. If items are found, they are listed in the Remove Hidden Information panel with a selected check box beside each item.

Click Remove to delete selected items from the file, and click OK. The selected content is permanently removed when you save the file. If you close the file without saving it, repeat this process, making sure to save the file. Files of any format can be attached to the PDF as an attachment. Bookmarks are links with representational text that open specific pages in the PDF. This item includes all comments that were added to the PDF using the comment and markup tool, including files attached as comments.

This item includes Form Fields including Signature fields , and all Actions and calculations associated with form fields. If you remove this item, all form fields are flattened and can no longer be filled out, edited, or signed.

This item indicates text in the PDF that is either transparent, covered up by other content, or the same color as the background. PDFs can contain multiple layers that can be shown or hidden. Removing hidden layers removes these layers from the PDF and flattens remaining layers into a single layer.

An embedded search index speeds up searches in the PDF file. Removing indexes decreases file size but increases search time for the PDF. PDFs sometimes retain content that has been removed and no longer visible, such as cropped or deleted pages, or deleted images.

This item includes web links, actions added by the Actions wizard, and JavaScripts throughout the document. This item includes objects that overlap one another. The objects can be images composed of pixels , vector graphics composed of paths , gradients, or patterns.

Sanitize documents removes all sensitive information, hidden or not, from your document so that the information is not passed along when you publish your PDF. The Sanitize Document dialog box is displayed. Click OK. Specify a filename and locaton. If you don’t want to overwrite the original file, save the file with a different name, at a different location, or both. Click Save to save the document and automatically finish the sanitization process.

The sensitive information is permanently removed when you save the file. From the Categories on the left, select Documents. Then click OK. By default, thin red outlines appear around images and text you mark for redaction, and black boxes appear in place of redacted images and text. You can set the default appearance of redaction marks before you mark items for redaction. You can also change the look of redaction marks before you apply the redactions. Click the drop-down, and choose Properties.

The Redaction Tool Properties dialog box is displayed. On the Appearance tab, select options you want to change, and then click OK :. Custom Text. Displays text you type into the Custom Text option over the redaction mark. Font Size. Resizes custom text to fit within the redacted area. When selected, this option overrides the Font Size setting for the overlay text.

Font Color. Displays custom text in the selected color, which you can change by clicking the color swatch. Repeat Overlay Text. Fills the redacted area with as many instances of the custom text as needed, without changing the font size. For example, if you specify the letter x or a hyphen – as the custom text, these characters are repeated throughout the redacted area.

Text Alignment. Acrobat uses overlay text to overprint areas selected for redaction. One example of overlay text is a redaction code, which consists of one or more code entries from a code set. Acrobat includes the U. FOIA and U. Privacy Act code sets that you can use. You can use either codes or custom text to create overlay text. The difference is that redaction codes are text entries that you can save, export, and import. One code set can contain multiple codes.

Codes only make the overlay text itself reusable in future sessions and by other users with whom you share code sets. You set other attributes for the code in the Redaction Tool Properties dialog box. Optional Type a new name for the set in the text field below the list of code sets, and then click Rename Set. Click Add Code , and type the text that you want to appear as overlay text in the text field below the list of code entries, and then click Rename Code.

Select a code set from the list on the left, and click Edit Codes. In the Redaction Code Editor dialog box, do any of the following:. With the Code Set selected, select the code entry that you want to edit, and do one of the following:. Select a Code Set from the list at the bottom of the context menu, and then select a code entry from the drop-down menu. A check mark appears next to the code entry when the code is applied. Hold your pointer over the redaction mark to see the code entries, each one separated by a comma.

Note: To apply the same code to multiple redactions, set the redaction properties before you mark the content. In the secondary toolbar, click Properties. Legal Notices Online Privacy Policy. Removing sensitive content from PDFs Search. Adobe Acrobat User Guide. Select an article: Select an article:. On this page Why redact or remove sensitive content? Why redact or remove sensitive content? Redact sensitive content Acrobat Pro.

Text marked for redaction left , and redacted right. Select the text or image in a PDF, right-click, and select Redact.