Redact PDF Content: Select Areas and Check the Shared Copy

You may need to share a PDF while leaving out a reference number, an address or a section of a page. Hiding something visually is different from removing the source content. TableFix provides separate crop, edit and redact tools because these operations produce different kinds of output.

Crop, cover or redact?

Crop PDF changes the visible page boundary. Content outside that boundary can remain in the document. A filled rectangle in Edit PDF is an overlay; it does not rewrite or remove the text beneath it. Neither operation should be used as a substitute for removing private content.

Redact PDF renders the pages as images, paints over the selected areas and builds a new PDF from those page images. The original text layer, attachments, links and metadata are not copied into this rebuilt output. Content outside the selected rectangles remains visible, so selecting the correct pages and areas is essential.

Select the pages before selecting the areas

1. Open the source in Redact PDF and choose the page in the preview. The default Apply to pages value is 1. Enter a selection such as 1,3-5 when other pages also need the same areas removed.
2. Use the area-selection control in the preview and drag a rectangle over the content. Leave a little space around letters and numbers, then check its placement in With changes.
3. For more than one rectangle, use Add selected area after each selection. Check the area list and remove any selection that should not be applied.
4. Check every selected page. The same rectangle positions apply to every page in Apply to pages; they do not automatically move to follow a name or number.
5. Click Redact PDF and download the new PDF. Open that downloaded file separately for your final review.

Different page layouts need separate attention

A customer address might be near the top of page 1 and in a footnote on page 3. One rectangle cannot follow both positions. Do not apply a shared selection to all pages unless you have checked that the target information is in the same place. If necessary, make separate passes for different page groups, reviewing the exported copy between passes.

Rebuilding pages removes selectable text throughout the output, including on pages without a selected rectangle. A larger file and the loss of forms or clickable links can be part of this tradeoff. Keep the original in a separate place if you still need those features.

Review the actual file you will send

• Look through every page, including headings, repeated footers, tables and page images. Private information may appear more than once.
• Zoom into the edges of each rectangle to check that part of a character or number is not still visible.
• Confirm the filename and page count. Send the redacted output rather than the original file with a similar name.
• Do not treat an unsuccessful text search as proof that a document contains no private information. A page image can still show readable information outside the selected areas.

TableFix does not automatically identify personal information or decide what you have permission to share. The redaction tool only processes your explicit page and area selections.