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zma1013
New Participant
March 9, 2011
Answered

Black text out in Adobe Reader X and make it uneditable?

  • March 9, 2011
  • 6 replies
  • 229508 views

I want to be able to black out certain text lines from some PDFs and then send the PDFs to people without them being able to remove the blacked out bars.  I do not want them to see the text that is being blacked out.  Is there anyway to do this within Adobe Reader X?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Bernd Alheit

In Adobe Acrobat Pro (not Adobe Reader) you can use the redaction tool.

6 replies

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tuscanbeark923
New Participant
September 10, 2017

This is what I did earlier to protect my personal information on a document I needed to upload:

1. In Adobe Acrobat, on original PDF, highlight the text that you want hidden (yes I know, this is not removing the sensitive info since they can remove the highlights, but stay with me)

2. Change color of highlight to black (View>Tools>Comment>Open) select the highlighter button on the top left and change the color with the bucket icon on the top right

3. Rotate document so that the whole page will show on your computer screen (View>Rotate View>Counterclockwise)

4. Exit out of your tool bar in Adobe Acrobat

5. Show document full screen while it's still rotated horizontally (View>Full Screen Mode)

6. Press the "PrtSc" button on your keypad to take a screenshot of your edited document

7. Open up the paint application on your computer

8. Select "paste" to paste the screenshot

9. Save the document

10. Rotate back to original

11. Save again (Tada!)

Bernd Alheit
Bernd Alheit
Adobe Expert
September 10, 2017

It is better and faster when you redact the information with Adobe Acrobat.

A
austino58694400
New Participant
August 25, 2017

Unfortunately it seems in order to properly redact the information you need Pro. I personally only redact documents a few times a year so and I use redactpdf.com for those occasions. It removes the text and meta data, is completely free, and doesn't even require registration. A pretty great tool, I am surprised Adobe charges for redaction.

try67
try67
Adobe Expert
August 25, 2017

So instead of spending money on a proper application that does it correctly you prefer to upload files with sensitive information to some unknown website and redact it there? Do you know whether they keep the files you send them, or what they do with them? Do you have any guarantees that the redaction they apply really does prevent the data from being extracted later on?

By the way, it's possible to apply redactions using Adobe Acrobat Standard too, although it requires using a script.

D
durika26
New Participant
August 3, 2017

Comments > Rectangle tool> Right click > Properties > Fill color > OK > File > Print > Printer: Print to PDF > Print

Bernd Alheit
Bernd Alheit
Adobe Expert
August 3, 2017

This will not remove the sensitive information.

R
robyncoolum
New Participant
June 10, 2011

If you highlight the text you want to black out and then change the highlight colour to black (right click & go to properties) it works for me.

    try67
    try67
    Adobe Expert
    June 10, 2011

    If you highlight the text you want to black out and then change the highlight colour to black (right click & go to properties) it works for me.

    That's a very bad advice. It is extremely easy to remove those highlights, or change their color, or read the text underneath them programatically.

    The only real solution is to use the Redaction tool, as mentioned above.

      R
      robyncoolum
      New Participant
      June 10, 2011

      You can use the free trial version for 30 days.


      Thanks. I don't like to do that too often.

      Bernd Alheit
      Bernd AlheitCorrect answer
      Adobe Expert
      March 9, 2011

      In Adobe Acrobat Pro (not Adobe Reader) you can use the redaction tool.

        Claudio González
        Claudio González
        Brainiac
        March 9, 2011

        Not with the free Reader.

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