Remove sensitive information
Learn how to use the Redact tool to permanently remove private or sensitive information from a PDF, then sanitize the document to remove information that is not visible in the file, such as comments, metadata, or hidden layers. Permanently removing sensitive content and hidden data is important so the information is not passed along when publishing your PDF. This tutorial uses the New Acrobat experience.
[Organizational Impact]{class="badge informative"}
Customer data protection, Risk management
How to redact information in Acrobat desktop
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Open a file and select All tools from the toolbar, then choose Redact a PDF.
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Select Set properties to customize the appearance of your redactions including the color of redaction boxes or text overlay.
To redact information, first mark the items for removal and then apply the redactions. You can redact entire pages or selected content.
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Select Redact text and images and use the cursor to select the content to redact.
You can see a preview of the redaction by hovering over the selected content.
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Select Find text and redact to search for a specific word or phrase, or search for a Pattern to find certain types of information. Set your search and select Search & Remove Text.
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In the search results dialog, check the boxes next to the items and select Mark checked results for redaction.
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Select Redact pages to mark entire pages for redaction.
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Select your pages and choose OK.
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Select Apply in the Redact a PDF panel to apply the marked redactions.
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Select Continue to sanitize and remove hidden information.
Once you confirm, the redactions and hidden information are permanently removed and saved to a new file.