Whiteout and redaction
Two tools hide content, and they are not the same.
| Tool | Key | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Whiteout | W | Covers an area with white. It does not remove what is underneath. |
| Redact | X | Marks an area to be removed. Nothing is removed until you apply the redactions. |
Important
Whiteout only covers. The text or image under it is still in the file and can be copied or recovered. To remove content for good, use Redact.
Redact content
- Choose Redact: mark areas to remove, or press X. In the app: Help ▸ Show me
- Drag a rectangle over each area to remove. Each one becomes a mark you can still move or delete.
- Click Apply redactions… in the options bar, or choose Document ▸ Apply redactions….
- Choose how to fill the areas: Black, White or None.
- Tick Also remove document metadata if you want the title, author, subject, keywords and XMP data cleared too.
- Click Apply.
Text, image pixels, vector shapes and annotations under the marks are removed, as are typed form values and unsaved annotations in those areas.
Mark every search result
To redact a word or phrase wherever it appears, search for it (see find and search), then click Mark all for redaction in the results list. Each hit becomes a mark in one undoable step. You still have to apply the redactions.
Before you apply
- The dialog tells you how many marks there are and on how many pages.
- If the file has digital signatures, a warning says they will become invalid.
- Encrypted documents cannot be redacted.
- With no marks, nothing happens.
Important
Redaction is permanent once you save. You can undo until then (see undo and redo). The next save rewrites the whole file, so the old content is not left behind.
Tip
Use Document ▸ Apply redactions… only after checking each mark. Zoom in to make sure the whole word is covered.