Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

Using the Redaction Tool

Adobe Acrobat 8 allows you to remove selected text and images from PDF documents; the Redaction tools make this process quick and easy. This document explains how to use the Redaction tools and how to change the appearance of redaction marks.

Setting Redaction Properties
Redacting Selected Text or Images
Using Search and Redact

Setting Redaction Properties

By default, Adobe Acrobat replaces redacted material with black blocks. If you would like to modify the appearance of these redaction marks, you can easily do so. You may change the fill color of the redacted area and you may use overlay text.

NOTES:
Existing redaction marks cannot be modified.
If you have marked text or images for redaction and do not like the appearance of your redaction marks, you may delete the marks (before applying redactions), reset the redaction properties, and mark for redaction again.

From the View menu, select Toolbars » Redaction
The Redaction toolbar appears.
Click REDACTION PROPERTIES
The Redaction Tool Properties dialog box appears.
Select the Appearance tab
From the Redacted Area Fill Color box, select the desired color to fill the redacted areas
OPTIONAL: To use text that overlays the redacted area
1. Select Use Overlay Text
  An option is selected when a check mark appears before it.
2. In the Overlay Text section, make the desired font format selections
3. Select either Custom Text or Redaction Code
  A dot will appear when it is selected.
4. If you choose Custom Text, in the Custom Text text box, type the desired overlay text
  If you choose Redaction Code, under Code Sets and Code Entries, make the desired selections
Click OK

Redacting Selected Text or Images

To remove selected areas of text or images from your PDF document, the Mark for Redaction tool is used. It allows you to easily remove large or small areas of visible content. This option must be used when PDF documents are not searchable (e.g., scanned documents).

Open the desired PDF file
From the View menu, select Toolbars » Redaction
The Redaction toolbar appears.
Click MARK FOR REDACTION
To select text for redaction,
1. Hover over the desired text
  Your cursor becomes an I-beam.
2. With the I-beam, click and drag over the text to be redacted
  Red lines appear around the selected text.
  NOTE: To preview how the area will appear after redaction, hover over the selected area.
To select images for redaction,
1. Hover near the desired image
  Your cursor becomes a cross hair.
2. With the cross hair, click and drag a square around the image(s) to be redacted
  Red lines appear around the selected image(s).
  NOTE: To preview how the area will appear after redaction, hover over the selected area.
To deselect an item marked for redaction,
1. Click on the desired item
2. Press [Delete].
  The redaction marks disappear from the selected area.
Click APPLY REDACTIONS
A confirmation dialog box appears.
Click OK
A dialog box appears, asking if you would like to search for additional document information.
To remove information from your document that is not visible (e.g., hidden fields), click YES
To leave the invisible information, click NO
Repeat steps 4 - 9 until all of the desired areas are redacted
From the File menu » select Save As...
The Save As dialog box appears.
Using the Save in pull-down list, select a save location
In the File name text box, type the file name
WARNING: The redacted areas have been permanently removed from your document. If you would like to save one copy with the redactions and one without, rename your document.
Click SAVE
The selected areas have been removed from the PDF.
NOTE: If you do not like the appearance of the reaction marks, you can modify them.

Using Search and Redact

By using the Search and Redact tool, you are able to remove all occurrences of specific words or phrases or selected occurrences. This option works only with searchable PDF documents. If your document is not searchable (e.g., scanned), refer to Redacting Selected Text or Images.

Open the desired PDF file
From the View menu, select Toolbars » Redaction
The Redaction toolbar appears.
Click SEARCH AND REDACT
A dialog box appears.
Click OK
The Search window appears.
In the What word or phrase would you like to search for text box, type the desired word or phrase
Under Where would you like to search, make the desired selection
In the current PDF document searches only the PDF document currently open
All PDF documents in searches all PDF documents in the specified folder from the pull-down list
OPTIONAL: To further define your search, select Whole words only and/or Case-Sensitive
A checkmark appears in the box when it is selected.
Click SEARCH AND REDACT
The Search window refreshes and displays the search results.
To view specific instances of your word/phrase in the document, in the Results scroll box, click on the desired text
The specific instance of that word/phrase will be shown in your PDF document with the word/phrase highlighted
To remove all of the occurrences of that word/phrase, click CHECK ALL
To remove only specific occurrences, in the Results scroll box, select the desired occurrences
NOTE: To remove a selection, click the check box again, or to uncheck all of the selections (if all are selected), click UNCHECK ALL.
Click MARK CHECKED RESULTS FOR REDACTION
In the PDF document, the selected occurrences become outlined in red.
To deselect an item marked for redaction,
1. Click on the desired selection
2. Press [Delete]
Click APPLY REDACTIONS
A confirmation dialog box appears.
Click OK
A dialog box appears, asking if you would like to search for additional document information.
To remove information from your document that is not visible (e.g., hidden fields), click YES
To leave the invisible information, click NO
OPTIONAL: To begin a new search,
1. From the Search window, click NEW SEARCH
2. Repeat steps 5 - 15 until all of the desired words and/or phrases have been redacted
From the File menu » select Save As...
The Save As dialog box appears.
Using the Save in pull-down list, select a save location
In the File name text box, type the file name
WARNING: The redacted areas have been permanently removed from your document. If you would like to save one copy with the redactions and one without, rename your document.
Click SAVE
The selected areas have been removed from the PDF.
NOTE: If you do not like the appearance of the reaction marks, you can modify them.