Redaction guide
What it is for
Redaction permanently removes marked information from an exported copy. It is different from whiteout, which only covers content visually.
Before you start
Keep the original PDF. OCR can miss text, so inspect every page and every black preview mark.
Step by step
- Choose a PDF or open the fictional sample.
- Use Text lines for embedded text or Rectangle for manual coverage.
- Click a recognised line or drag a rectangle over sensitive content.
- Use Detect Patterns to find emails, phone numbers and supported identifiers.
- Use Recognise with OCR for scans, choosing the correct language.
- Review Redaction Queue and remove incorrect marks.
- Choose Apply All Redactions.
- Open the exported PDF and try to select or search for the removed text.
- Keep or discard the text certificate according to your process.
What you get
The redacted PDF contains fresh page images with black regions. It has no retained source text, original form fields or attachments.
Good to know
Rasterisation makes the exported pages image-based. Metadata is rebuilt rather than copied, but review document properties before sharing.
Troubleshooting
- Text lines are missing: run Recognise with OCR or use Rectangle.
- A mark is too small: remove it and add a larger rectangle.
- Pattern detection finds nothing: recognise the scan first or mark it manually.
- Export fails: reopen the original PDF and retry with fewer pages.