Redact Not Working/Signed Document

[susan_9772]

I work in a university and need to remove student identifying information from some signed documents. The reason for this is that we are reaffirming our accreditation, and the accrediting body requires real samples of these documents with the student's identifying information redacted. From reading other posts, it appears that Adobe doesn't allow redaction on signed documents. While in theory I understand that signed documents shouldn't be edited, there are times when one needs to remove from" VIEW" information on a signed document to protect someone.

I have attempted to accomplish this by highlighting the student's identifying information in black. However, I got a warning stating that the information blacked out could still be revealed by changing the document properties. 

How can I protect the student information if I can't use the redact tool on a signed document?

[try67 · Accepted solution]

You can't. You will have to remove the signature first, then apply the redaction, then sign the file again.

[MikelKlink]

How "real" do the "real samples" for the accrediting body need to be? If they require the original digital signature to remain and to remain valid, you cannot effectively remove the student identifying information.

If on the other hand they merely need a view of the document, simply export the PDF as bitmap images and redact them. That way you can additionally be pretty sure that you overlook no student identifying information in metadata.

If the requirements are somewhere inbetween, please explain them.

[susan_9772]

They need to be visually real and should have the redacted signatures with the dates. Also, removing the signatures isn't even an option due to the database in which the original documents exist. The only workaround I could come up with was highlighting in black and then taking screenshots of each page to include in our submission document. This isn't ideal, but it might work. 

To my knowledge, if I want a bitmap, I export in an image format and then convert to a bitmap, but I don't have the software needed to then "paint over" the identifying information. However, I may be misunderstanding the process you are suggesting.

I really don't want to have to do this the old-school way, printing out the documents, redacting with black marker, and then scanning them.

[try67]

If you do it like that the new files are not digitally signed, though.

[susan_9772]

I'm not sure I follow you. The screenshots show that they were signed and dated with the date of the signature, even though the signature is blacked out.

The goal is to de-identify the student, but they have to be completed documents. So, we are showing that they were completed, but protecting the student identity.

[try67]

The visual appearance of a digital signature is meaningless. The only thing that matters is the actual signature object itself and the ability to validate it. Without it, it's nothing more than an image, like a stamp or a hand-written signature. If that's fine in your case, then that's OK, but I just wanted to clarify that what you will end up having is not a digital signature in the original version of that term.

[susan_9772]

Since we would be providing the accrediting body with "copies" of documents, regardless of the method we used to protect student identifying information, validating a signature is not relevant here. 

[MikelKlink]

They need to be visually real and should have the redacted signatures with the dates. Also, removing the signatures isn't even an option due to the database in which the original documents exist. The only workaround I could come up with was highlighting in black and then taking screenshots of each page to include in our submission document. This isn't ideal, but it might work.

Instead of taking a screenshot you could also export to bitmaps after "highlighting in black". A screenshot after all also is merely a bitmap...

(I originally thought about blackening in the bitmap graphic after export, but blackening in the PDF before export should do the job as well.)

Concerning the "redacted signatures with the dates": What @try67 wants to point out is that for a digital signature you should always check details like who signed, when they signed, why they signed, etc. in the Acrobat signature panel. The information you see in that panel is backed by digitally protected verified data while the information in the signature visualization in the document can be arbitrary. This protected verified data is lost in this process. But as this data also is the data best identifying the signer (i.e. the student I assume), it actually makes sense to remove it for your purpose.

[susan_9772]

Thanks for the follow-up. I tried exporting as a TIFF and this worked really well. It's much cleaner and quicker to do. The "highlighting" in black was intact. I appreciate you suggestion!