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Open one of your PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Best practiceMake sure you are using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC or later, as some features are not available in Standard.
Go to the 'Tools' pane and select 'Redact'.
Best practiceYou can also find 'Redact' in the right-hand pane or by searching in the Tools search bar.
Click 'Mark for Redaction' > 'Text & Images', then use your mouse to draw a redaction box over the area you want to redact.
CautionDo not apply the redaction yet; just mark the area.
Right-click the redaction mark and select 'Repeat Mark Across Pages...'.
Best practiceThis feature lets you apply the same redaction area to a range of pages within the current PDF.
In the dialog, specify the page range and click 'OK' to mark the same area on all selected pages.
Best practiceReview the marks to ensure they align correctly on each page.
To redact recurring text, click 'Find Text & Redact', enter your search term, and use 'Find Next' or 'Find All' to mark all instances.
Best practiceYou can use 'Match case' or 'Whole words only' to refine your search.
To apply these redactions across multiple PDFs, go to 'Tools' > 'Action Wizard', create a new Action, add the 'Redact' step, and configure it to use your search or redaction marks.
Best practiceYou can add multiple files to the Action and run the redaction process in batch.
Click 'Apply Redactions' to permanently remove the marked content, then save your files.
CautionRedactions are permanent and cannot be undone after saving.
For consistent redaction across multiple PDFs, carefully match the area coordinates and dimensions in each file before applying redactions.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
Redacting content with Acrobat's Redact tool actually removes the information from the PDF file. It's gone forever. Drawing a black rectangle only covers the information visually; the text or image data is still underneath and can be easily copied or revealed. This is a big security risk, as sensitive data could still be accessed. Always use the Redact tool for true removal.
For many items like Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or account numbers, use Acrobat's automatic redaction feature. You can search for patterns (like 'xxx-xx-xxxx' for SSNs) and redact all matches at once. After, have another person check a few random examples to make sure it worked correctly.
Redaction is permanent. Once you save a redacted document, the original sensitive information is gone. Working on a copy means you always keep the original unredacted document safe. This is important if you ever need to go back to the full version or if you make a mistake during redaction.
No, you cannot automate redaction using the Adobe PDF Services API. Redaction is a feature only available in the Acrobat Pro desktop application. This means you must manually perform redaction tasks within the Acrobat Pro program.