An auditor needs parts of an employee file and payroll needs other parts, but I cannot share personal identifiers. I’m…
Open the PDF you want to redact in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Go to Tools and select Redact.
Click Find and Remove Text.
Enter the word, phrase, or pattern you want to search for in the search box.
Choose the location to search (e.g., current document or all PDFs in a folder), then click Search.
Review the search results and check all instances you want to redact, or use Select All to mark every occurrence.
Click Mark for Redaction to mark the selected instances.
Click Apply Redactions and confirm when prompted to permanently remove the marked content.
CautionRedactions are permanent and cannot be undone after saving.
Best practiceYou can customize the appearance of redaction marks before applying them by adjusting settings in the Redact tool.
Best practiceAlways double-check your search term and results to ensure all sensitive information is covered, especially with patterns like SSNs.
Save the redacted PDF with a new file name.
You can use the Find Text and Redact feature to quickly locate and mark all instances of sensitive words or patterns for redaction throughout your document.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Redaction only removes visible text and images. Hidden data, like metadata, comments, or previous versions, can still be in the file. Sanitizing removes this hidden data. This makes sure all sensitive information is gone, protecting your privacy and preventing accidental leaks.
For many items like SSNs, use Acrobat's automatic redaction feature. It can find patterns (like SSN formats) and mark them all at once. After, have someone else check a few random examples to be sure it worked correctly.
| Method | Result |
|---|---|
| Drawing a black rectangle | Covers text, but the text is still underneath and can be copied. |
| Using the Redact tool | Permanently removes the text or image, making it unrecoverable. |
Redaction is permanent. Once you save a redacted file, the hidden information is gone forever. Working on a copy means you always keep the original file safe with all its information, in case you make a mistake or need the full document later.