Troubleshooting Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Redaction issues

PDFs are created on different OS platforms and different applications. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC may not be able to redact PDFs created a few non-Adobe applications.

Why redact or remove sensitive content?

Before you distribute a PDF, you may want to examine the document for sensitive content or private information. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Redact tools let you remove or redact sensitive images and text that are visible in a PDF, e.g. removing identity and personal information used in cover letters and applications.

How to redact sensitive information using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

Adobe Acrobat directions for removing sensitive content from PDFs - https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/removing-sensitive-content-pdfs.html

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC redaction issues.

Besides Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, PDFs are created in many other applications, e.g. Libre Writer, Ghostscript, Office 365 apps, macOS Preview used in Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC opens PDFs created by these applications, but redacting errors can occur in PDFs created by a few non-Adobe applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redaction troubleshooting and work around options.

1. PDFs have security settings which an author turns on. PDF Security settings prevents redaction. Check Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - FILE > PROPERTIES > SECURITY. If security settings are enabled, contact author to send a new PDF with security settings disabled.
2. Two methods to allow redaction. Create new PDF: From Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, export PDF as Word DOCX document. In Word,  use "save as" or "print" to PDF. Open new PDF and redact sensitive information. Recreated PDF may have formatting issues if original PDF didn't include embedded fonts. New PDF may use different font and include extra spaces between words.
3. Check Adobe Acrobat Pro DC version: Contact other team members about opening and redacting PDF. If team member redacts PDF, compare Adobe Acrobat Pro DC versions. Contact ITC for assistance.