Skip to main content
L
Ladyodenacht
New Participant
March 6, 2018
Answered

Can't redact?

  • March 6, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 82793 views

I redact a section of my document with Adobe Acrobat Pro but the 'apply redactions' button is opache and doesn't allow me to click on it. What am I doing wrong?

    Correct answer try67

    The solution is to ask ML to produce a document that contains the needed information, without any sensitive data. This is very common in the banking world and they should be able to do it.

    5 replies

    P
    pubg_diaries_7239
    New Participant
    January 16, 2025

    Super late reply, obviously, but I came across this post trying to solve this problem.

    Problem: chase bank statements were security locked, and I needed to redact info

    Solution: rather than download the files, attempt to print them from the website. You'll be prompted to "save  as". Once saved, the saved file will have no security enabled. So, back out of the print process, open your file explorer and open the saved file. Saved me a ton of time.

    N
    NudeCruzer
    Inspiring
    October 12, 2023

    I yearly need to submit my Merrill Lynch statement to a cruise line for a Shareholder benefit. They instruct you to redact the account number. Acrobat cannot do this without some help. You need a third party app to allow editing of the document by "unlocking it". Then, of course, you can fake the whole document if you wish.  All you need to do is redact the brokerage account number and any other account numbers, access codes, etc. Between Merrill Lynch and Adobe, they imply by all means email your account numbers and social security numbers to everyone... We will make sure that you are forced to do that.  The only other solution is to get an app that "unlocks" the document. Thus destroying the integrity of the document at the same time.  There should be a way to protect your identity while preserving the integrity of the document, but there is not. So search for a third party app that unlocks and destroys the integrtity of the document. Othwise be prepared to lose all the money in your brokerage account when emailing your sensitive data.

      try67
      try67Correct answer
      Community Expert
      October 13, 2023

      The solution is to ask ML to produce a document that contains the needed information, without any sensitive data. This is very common in the banking world and they should be able to do it.

      N
      NB LLC
      New Participant
      September 20, 2021

      I am having this same problem and it is a signed document; I did see in another thread that it is not "appropriate" to redact a signed document. Sometimes it is and I need to know if I can override it (already checked security settings and it is locked). My company used to collect customer credit info. We are no longer doing that and are trying to redact this information off of old contracts for client protection. It will not let me edit the original document to delete that page either so that is why I am attempting redact. Can I override? or is there another feature option?

      Thanks

        try67
        try67
        Community Expert
        September 20, 2021

        Whether it's "appropriate" or not is irrelevant. It's not technically feasible, as a digital signature locks the file from editing, expect for filling in other fields and signing it again (if the signer author of the file allowed it).

        If you want to make changes to the file you have to do so before signing it.

        try67
        try67
        Community Expert
        February 10, 2022

        This is moronic, to put it mildly. The parties signed an agreement and that's legally binding. But often the document needs to be shared with others who are not privy to the sensitive information contained in it and therefore the document needs to be partially redacted before it is circulated. To stay in a very simple example, consider a settlement agreement where the agreement has been reached between opposing parties, you need to let certain departments inside your own organisation have copies of it, but they should not have access to personal data contained in that document because they lack legitimate reason for it under EU GDPR. You'd need to redact the copy you are circulating internally.

        I can give thousands of more examples. Letters exchanged between regulators and one party where a third party needs to know that the letter has been exchanged but cannot see some of the information contained in it, board resolutions passing salary increase where certain departments are not allowed to have access to the actual salary figures but must keep records of the resolutions. Registrars filings. Etc, etc, etc. 

        This is a typical example of a company developing a software without having a clue about how clients use it. In this case, not even understanding the basic concepts of law because this is high school Intro do Law 101, day 1.


        I'm not going to argue with you, but it could also be a case of users not understanding the technical issues of developing something the way they want it to work. Think that redaction is just one form of possible editing you can perform on a document. If you allow editing of any kind it becomes a slippery slope, at the end of which we can both have "legally binding" documents signed by the two of us, each saying something completely different, and there's no real way of proving which is the original and which is the manipulated version.

        J
        jasonharper_RXA
        New Participant
        April 28, 2021

        I was struggling with this as well, and found your post. The solution here didn't work for me, but I ended up just printing it to pdf, and that new pdf let me redact and apply. 

         

        I needed to redact a document that had been signed via DocuSign so that a new person could review the prior docuement without seeing PII. And this appears to have done the trick.

          try67
          try67
          Community Expert
          April 28, 2021

          What you did invalidated the signature entirely, you know...

            J
            jjt46919968
            Known Participant
            June 8, 2021

            Yes.  And the bloody thing sucks.  You redact one page, it redacts all the pages AUTOMATICALLY!! What is the point of having a tool to select what to redact when it replicates it to everything!?

            G
            gkaiseril
            Inspiring
            March 6, 2018

            I would check the security settings for the PDF. It is located under "File => Properties" and then the tab labled "Security".

            L
            LadyodenachtAuthor
            New Participant
            March 7, 2018

            Thanks for responding, gkaiseril, but it says that changing document is not allowed

            It says that Changing the document is not allowed. It also tells me that Document assembly is not allowed,( though I did that without an issue). It tells me that to remove security restrictions to set the security method to No Security. It is set to no security. . It still doesn't allow me to apply redactions??? Is there something else I can do?

              try67
              try67
              Community Expert
              March 7, 2018

              Did you digitally sign the file, by any chance?

                Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
                Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices