An outside agency requested a disciplinary incident report this afternoon and I must share it without student identifi…
Open the PDF you want to redact in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Go to the Tools panel and select Redact a PDF.
Best practiceIf you do not see 'Redact a PDF,' click 'View more' to expand the list of tools.
Use your cursor to select the text or images you want to redact.
CautionRedacted content is permanently removed after applying redactions; double-check your selections.
Click Apply to permanently remove the selected content.
NoteYou may be prompted to save a copy of the document after applying redactions.
Save the redacted PDF with a new file name.
Best practiceSaving a new copy preserves your original unredacted document.
You can preview all redaction marks before applying them to ensure nothing is missed.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Drawing a black rectangle only covers the text visually; the text is still present and can be copied or searched. The Redaction tool, however, permanently removes the selected text or image data from the document. This means the content is truly gone and cannot be recovered, making it safe for public release. Always use the dedicated Redaction tool for security.
Redaction is permanent. Once you save a redacted document, the removed information cannot be restored. Working from a copy protects your original document, ensuring you always have an unredacted version available if needed. This is crucial for internal records or if you make a mistake during the redaction process.
Yes, Acrobat Pro can help with bulk redaction. For patterns like Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or account numbers, you can use its pattern-based auto-redaction feature. This feature allows you to search for specific text patterns and mark them for redaction automatically. After auto-redaction, it's a good practice to have a colleague review a random sample to ensure accuracy.