Can redacted text be restored?

Question

In Acrobat DC, do documents keep their original properties after sensitive text is redacted, eg If the pdf was converted back to a .DOC by Acrobat, would the ability to view/edit the document and the redacted text be restored?

On Windows 7 networked workstation.

Many thanks

try67 · Accepted Answer

No, it can't. That would defeat the entire point of redacting it, wouldn't it?

Jason294715035rs1 · Answer

I just ran a test on this...starting from a Word doc, I converted it to PDF (using "Save as Adobe PDF" in Word menu). I redacted it in Adobe and then converted it back to Word. The redacted text IS DISCOVERABLE using the Word "Find" function. If you know even a small part of what you're looking for, the entire text of the redacted material showed up in the search pane.

So, what am I doing wrong? Or is there a way of changing the steps that actually kills the info, short of the NSA recommendation that involves manually replacing everything in a copy of the original document?

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