Redaction Tool User Guide

Overview

The Redaction tool permanently removes sensitive information from PDFs. It offers two modes:

• Automatic - Type the words or regex patterns to remove and let the tool find and redact every match across the document.
• Manual - Open the PDF in the viewer and draw redactions over specific text, areas, or whole pages.

Unlike a simple black box drawn on top of the page, automatic redaction deletes the matching text from the file so the underlying text is genuinely removed - not merely hidden. You can also flatten the result to an image to guarantee nothing recoverable is left behind.

Choosing a mode

At the top of the Redact panel, the Redaction Method selector switches between Automatic and Manual. Selecting Manual opens the document in the viewer, where the drawing controls described below appear.

---

Automatic redaction

Automatic redaction searches the document for the text you specify and removes every match.

How to use:

1. Choose Automatic as the redaction method.
2. Under Redaction Settings, add each word or pattern to redact. Add as many as you need - the tool scans for all of them in a single pass, and matches are found across multiple columns and text lines.
3. (Optional) Open Advanced Settings to adjust:
   • Use Regex - Treat each entry as a regular expression rather than a literal word.
   • Whole Word Search - Match only complete words, not substrings.
   • Box Colour and Custom Extra Padding - Style the redaction boxes.
   • Convert PDF to PDF-Image - Flatten the redacted PDF to an image so no text remains behind the boxes (enabled by default).
4. Click Redact.

Redacting PII with patterns

With Use Regex enabled you can target common personally identifiable information (PII) by entering the matching pattern. For example:

Type	Example pattern
Social Security number (SSN)	\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}
Credit / debit card	\d{4}[ -]?\d{4}[ -]?\d{4}[ -]?\d{4}
IBAN	[A-Z]{2}\d{2}[A-Z0-9]{1,30}
US routing number (ABA)	\b\d{9}\b
Account number (labelled)	[Aa]ccount\s*#?\s*\d{6,}
Email address	[\w.-]+@[\w.-]+\.\w+
Phone number	\(\d{3}\)\s*\d{3}-\d{4}

Add one pattern per entry; refine them to suit your documents to keep false positives down.

How text is removed

Automatic redaction deletes the matching text from the file rather than just covering it. For maximum safety, keep Convert PDF to PDF-Image enabled so no recoverable text can remain under the boxes.

---

Manual redaction

Manual redaction lets you mark sensitive content visually in the viewer using three methods: text selection, area drawing, or entire page redaction.

1. Text Selection Redaction

Perfect for redacting specific words, sentences, or paragraphs.

How to use:

1. Click the text selection icon in the toolbar

   

2. Select the text you want to redact

3. Apply the redaction by either:

   • Pressing Ctrl + S

   • Clicking the save icon in the toolbar

     

2. Area Drawing Redaction

Ideal for redacting images, tables, or irregular content blocks.

How to use:

1. Click the drawing tool icon in the toolbar

   

2. Click and hold at your starting point

3. Drag to create a rectangle over the area

4. Click again to confirm and apply the redaction

   • A red border means unsaved

     

   • A green border means saved and active

     

3. Page Redaction

Used when you need to redact entire pages.

How to use:

1. Open the page redaction dialog

   

   

2. Enter page numbers or ranges (e.g., "1,3-5,7")

3. Select your preferred color

4. Click "Apply" to save changes

Customizing Redactions

Changing Colors

For new redactions:

1. Click the color palette icon in the toolbar

   

2. Select your preferred color

3. Any new redactions will use this color

For existing redactions:

1. Click the redacted area
2. Click the color palette icon that appears
3. Choose your new color

Removing Redactions

1. Click the redacted area you want to remove
2. Either:
   • Click the trash icon that appears
   • Press the Delete key

Converting PDF to PDF-image (Used in removing text behind the box)

To enable PDF to PDF-image option:

1. Click on the image icon

   

To disable PDF to PDF-image option:

1. Click on the image icon

   

• If the image icon is green, then the option is enabled, if it is red then it is disabled.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Ctrl + S: Save/apply redaction
• Delete: Remove selected redaction
• Escape: Cancel unsaved area drawing

Tips

• If you're in drawing mode and need to delete a redaction, temporarily disable drawing mode first
• You can combine different redaction methods in the same document
• Always review your redactions before finalizing the document
• Redaction colors can be changed at any time, even after applying