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Redact tool applies to all pages, I just want to use it on the one page

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
October 2, 2019
7 replies
37485 views

Hi all,

I have an Adobe PDF file with multiple pages and I would like to remove some sensitive information by using the redact tool. When I select some text, mark it for redaction and apply redaction, this redaction is applied on (almost) all pages of my document, while I just wish to have it on the one page. On the other pages I have different areas I wish to redact, not the same one. I know there's a functionality to apply redaction to all pages, but I didn't check this. I don't see an option to uncheck this, so I also can't make sure it's disabled. I've even tried to enable it and then in 'page selection' filled in that specific page. It still applied it to almost all pages. I've read in another post that I needed to save the document as an Adobe PDF instead of just saving as PDF. I've done this, still have the same problem.

I've been trying to make this work way too long now and I feel like I've tried everything! I hope someone can help and let me know how I can get this done.

Correct answer andrea_5991

I had the exact same issue, and just figured it out! You need to sanitize the document first, THEN you can redact without it affecting all pages.

A

andrea_5991Correct answer

Participant

I had the exact same issue, and just figured it out! You need to sanitize the document first, THEN you can redact without it affecting all pages.

AnandSri

Community Manager

Hello Andrea!

I hope you are doing well. Thank you for sharing the steps that worked for you. This will definitely help other community users. For future references, to learn more about the Redaction feature, see this article: Removing sensitive content from PDFs.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

T

Thomas31664734qj86

Participant

One thing that I have found when working with a client is that there can also be "Image" boxes with no image in it. I am assuming that Adobe thinks there is an image and then applies a box to it. Once we removed them it allowed us to apply redactions with no issue

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Hi @Thomas31664734qj86 ,

Thank you for updating the thread.

When you refer to the boxes, are you referring to annotation boxes?

If yes, are able to delete them using the Edit Text & Images tool?

Would you mind sharing a screenshot?

K

knl985

Participant

Have you found a resolution to this issue? I am having the same problem - I mark a section of text for redaction and that markup applies itself to nearly every page. I have looked through these comments and tried printing to PDF, and the option to copy the redaction to all pages, and redacting another random page - none of this works. Any redaction mark I make applies itself in the same place on all the pages.

S

Susan244785526u2u

Participant

Some at my firm are having the same problem! We are using Acrobat Pro Continuous Release V. 2022.002.20212. This is happening on documents with no background - so the solution that worked for the original poster did not help us. We are going to make sure the PDFs are freshly created using the Adobe driver going forward. This is difficult one to pin down as it is seemingly random...

J

JLIM87

Participant

Hey,

I had the same issue and finally figured out why it was doing it only most (but not all) pages. I had a background on a pdf that the redaction was picking up as an image and applying it to all pages that had that same background. I deleted the background and applied the redaction then added the background image back into it afterwards.

ls_rbls

Community Expert

That is great info! Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully marketingt88297251 can update this thread and confirm if your solution is the correct answer to this problem.

ls_rbls

Community Expert

In regards to this concern: " I've read in another post that I needed to save the document as an Adobe PDF instead of just saving as PDF. I've done this, still have the same problem."

See this document: https://www.nuance.com/products/help/NuancePDF/en_US/Setting_Redaction_Properties.htm

I think you can do a combination of saving the PDF document to postcript and applying a redaction by pages. There are some considerations to that approach explain briefly in this link:

https://www.nuance.com/products/help/NuancePDF/en_US/Flatten_Document.htm <-------scrolll down in that page and read where it says "

"Redaction

When a file to be flattened contains real redaction, flattening the file conserves them. The black rectangles that block out redacted content can be selected and moved with the Select Object tool, but the removed content cannot be seen or searched. When a file to be flattened contains elements that are only marked for redaction, flattening the file does not conserve the redaction. The black rectangles that block out content marked for redaction can be selected and moved with the Select tool, but then the underlying content remains visible and searchable."

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/removing-sensitive-content-pdfs.html <-----removing sensitive content how-to

And this is one would probably resolve your issue but coding in javascript is required following the examples referenced in this link: https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/print/auto_redaction_with_javascript

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Hi,

This is what I am thinking of...

1) modify or create a new indexed catalogued for Advanced Searches

2) Clicking individually on the pages displayed using the thumbnails viewer

3) See if modifying any settings shown in the slide below serves as a work around:

marketingt88297251Author

Participating Frequently

Hi ls_rbls, thanks again for taking the time to respond. I have followed your instructions, however it's still happening. I'll tell you what I'm doing exactly to make sure we're on the same page (I don't see the link between what I'm doing and your first piece of advice about advanced searches).

I want to hide some information on multiple pages of my Adobe PDF document. So I click on the Redact tool - mark for redaction - text and images - I select a part of text I want to hide on one page specifically - apply - and then I get a white rectangle on the same spot on almost all pages of my document.

I worked around it and deleted the text I wanted to hide, but it's not ideal and would like to know how to do this in the future! I feel like it should work this way.

Thank you,

Nathalie

ls_rbls

Community Expert

I suggested the indexing of a catlogue because it seems that redaction tool depends on the advanced search engine. I wanted to see if you were able to narrow down a search to exactly wht you are looking for rather than the redaction tool marking stuff automatically.

ls_rbls

Community Expert

Create a new index catalogue for just the type of search function you are trying to accomplish.

Also have you cjecked this link: https://blogs.adobe.com/acrolaw/category/actions/

You will also find a plugin tool for download here:

https://acrobatusers.com/actions-exchange

In this last link there is a plugin action tool that uou can add and it allows you to do what you are looking for.

Also check this additional threads:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/Lightroom-Classic/Exclude-Some-Key-Words-for-Export-Option/td-p/10593647

https://community.adobe.com/t5/Acrobat/Adobe-Redaction-Problems/m-p/10631156#M151541

marketingt88297251Author

Participating Frequently

Hi ls_rbls, thank you for your quick reply. However I can't find what I am looking for in these links. The last thread describes the same problem as the one I encounter, but there's no solution yet.

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