You can find and remove content either in a single PDF file or in multiple PDF files under a specified folder that contain searchable text with the Search & Redact command.

1.        Select Protect > Mark for Redaction > Search and Redact. (Or click the Search or replace  icon in the upper right corner of the application window, and choose Search & Redact.) Then specify what you want to redact in the Search panel. Please do one of the following:

²  To search and redact an exact word or phrase, select Match exact word or phrase. Then type the text you wish to find and redact into the search dialogue box.

²  You can search and redact multiple words or phrases at the same time. Select Multiple words or phrase, and click Select Words…. In the pop-up dialog box, enter the word or phrase you want to search and redact, and click Add. Repeat until you add all the words/phrases you want to search for. Or you can click Import to import a text file with the list of words or phrases to search for. For the words you have added, click Export to export them to a text file.

²  To search and redact a predefined redaction profile, select Redaction Profiles and then select an existing redaction profile you want to use. See also Create and manage redaction profiles.  

²  To search and redact patterns (such as phone numbers and credit card numbers), select Looks like search pattern. Then select the pattern you want to search from the Select your pattern drop-down list, and choose the specific country or region from the Country/Region drop-down list.

2.        Click Search.

3.        Check the results you want to redact, and choose Mark whole word(s) for redaction to mark all characters of the word(s) you search, or choose Mark partial word(s) for redaction to mark the specified characters of the word(s).

If you choose Mark partial word(s) for redaction, the Settings dialog box pops up and allows you to specify the characters you want to mark. To change your character settings, click the Settings button in the Search panel.

4.        Click the button Mark Checked Results for Redaction at the bottom of the search dialogue box.

5.        Click the Apply Redactions button. Or Choose Protect > Mark for Redaction > Apply Redactions.

Note: This operation cannot be undone and the selected content will be removed permanently after you apply redactions. It is recommended that you save a backup copy of this document before you apply the redaction.

Create and manage redaction profiles

A redaction profile specifies the text to be redacted, the new text that you want to overlay the redacted text with, and the search criteria. When you need to search and redact content in documents that require the same protection, using a redaction profile can improve the productivity in your document workflow.

To create a redaction profile, do as the following:

1.      Select Protect > Mark for Redaction > Search and Redact, and the Search panel opens. (Or click the Search or replace command  in the upper right corner of the application window, and choose Search & Redact.)

2.      From the search criteria drop-down list, choose Redaction Profiles. 

3.      Click Create.

4.      In the pop-up dialog box, input a name for the profile to be created.

5.      In the New word or phrase box, type the text you want to redact. In the Overlay text box, type the text that will be displayed on the redacted text. Then click Add. Repeat as needed. The redacted text and the Overlay text you add will be listed as groups in the Word/Phrase and overlay text list box. To remove a group, select it and click Remove.

6.      (Optional) Select any of the following options to specify the search criteria as needed.

a)      To limit the search to match only whole words, check Whole Words Only. For example, if you search for the word Read, the word Reader will not be found. This criterion is only available for text search.

b)      To make the search case-sensitive, check Case-Sensitive. For example, if you search for the word text, the words Text and TEXT will not be found. This criterion is only available for text search.

c)       To highlight all the text search results, please check Highlight All Text.

d)      To make the size of the Overlay text fit the redacted area, select Always Auto-Size text to fit redaction region. For example, if the Overlay text is too long, the part that exceeds the redacted area will not be displayed. With this option selected, the text size will automatically shrink and all of the Overlay text will be displayed on the redacted area.

7.      Click Save & Search to save the profile and search the document immediately, after which you can select the found instances and apply redaction. Or just click Save to save the profile.

To manage existing redaction profiles, do as the following:

1.      Select Protect > Mark for Redaction > Search and Redact, and the Search panel opens. (Or click the Search or replace icon  in the upper right corner of the application window, and choose Search & Redact.)

2.      From the search criteria drop-down list, choose Redaction Profiles. 

3.      Click Manage.

4.      In the pop-up dialog box, select a profile and do any of the following:

·         Choose Edit to modify the selected profile. For details, please refer to Create a redaction profile.

·         Choose Delete to remove the selected profile.

·         Choose Import to import a redaction profile.

·         Choose Export to export the selected profile.