Hello @laurac2975094
I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out and sharing the details. We're sorry for the trouble you had.
Could you please share more details about the issue?
What is the version of Acrobat installed, and are you on Windows or macOS?
Are the “boxes” actual vector objects (shapes) in the content, or are they annotations/comments (e.g., rectangles added via Comment tools)?
What’s your desired outcome: A) permanently delete all hidden/covered content, or B) just make it visible and editable again?
Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 26.001.21691, Planned update, Jun 25, 2026. Check for any pending updates by navigating to Menu > Help> Check for Updates. Install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.
Why your three attempts did not work, since it helps explain the fix:
PDF Optimizer and Distiller only strip out data that is genuinely redundant or invisible. Those covering boxes are legitimate, visible page objects, so both tools faithfully keep them.
Redact deliberately rasterises the affected area to guarantee the content is gone, which is the flatten-to-one-image behaviour you are seeing.
The method that does what you want:
Work on a copy of the file, since these edits are permanent once saved.
Use the Print Production Edit Object tool: All tools > Use print production > Edit Object (this is Acrobat Pro only). This tool is the best at selecting plain-filled boxes, including ones stacked with other content. It selects both vector and raster objects and lets you delete them individually.
Click a covering box and press Delete. Because the customer laid opaque boxes over the content, the hidden text or image is still a real object sitting underneath. So deleting the box alone will just reveal that content again.
If your goal is to remove the hidden content entirely, select the now-revealed text or image object and delete that too. If instead you want to restore the hidden content to view, delete only the box and leave what is underneath.
For any object you cannot click on the page, open the Content pane (Menu > View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Content). It lists every object on the page in order, so you can find and delete the stubborn one from there.
Deleting objects this way removes only those objects. The rest of the page stays as editable text and vector, with no flattening.
Does the file have layers? Open View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Layers. The panel only appears if the PDF actually has layers. If the boxes live on a layer, you can hide or delete that layer directly. Most files where content was simply covered with boxes will not be layered, so this often will not apply.
One caution on the Sanitise / Remove Hidden Information route: it looks like the obvious tool, but by default, it removes overlapping content in a way that rasterises the affected page, so it can flatten things just like redaction did. If you ever do use it, set Preferences to retain overlapping content first. For your job, manual object deletion is the safer and more predictable path.
If the Edit Object tool selects the entire page as a single block rather than individual boxes, that means the page is already one flattened image, in which case there are no separate objects to delete, and it would need rebuilding or a Photoshop edit instead.
For more details, please check these articles: https://adobe.ly/4wGRSr3
https://adobe.ly/3SSZQPi
https://adobe.ly/4byTOcM
I hope this information helps, and let us know if you experience any issues or need more assistance.
Regards,
Anand Sri.
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