7 Easy Ways to Redact a PDF Without Adobe Pro

Redaction of a PDF file is very important in privacy and confidentiality, as well as ensuring that the law is observed. Although Adobe Acrobat Pro is a common tool, it is very costly. Fortunately, one can redact PDFs even without the Adobe Pro software. The following article shows seven different methods that use different approaches to securely redact PDF content.

Removing Scanned Personal Information with OCR Software

The process of redacting scanned PDFs becomes difficult because scanned PDFs contain content that remains uneditable. The process of redacting scanned PDFs becomes simpler through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, which enables users to convert scanned documents into editable text. The extracted text from scanned images through OCR technology becomes editable for standard redaction and editing processes.

Following is the use of OCR software in redaction:

Scan the PDF and upload it into an OCR software (there are numerous programs, such as ABBYY FineReader or Tesseract, which provide OCR services).The OCR software will allow the scanned document to be converted to editable text.After extracting the text, apply safeguard editors to conceal or delete the content of the text.Revert the redacted document as a PDF.

OCR works best with scanned documents or those that have a lot of images within the PDF, as there is easy text redaction and makes the document fully editable for future use.

Use a Secure Redaction Software Online

For instance, PDFized redaction software uses AI-driven automation to handle batch redaction at scale, helping organizations remove sensitive information and meet compliance and data privacy requirements with ease.

This software has the following key characteristics:

Permanent redactions – once applied, content is irreversibly removed.User-friendly interface – simple and interactive for all skill levels.Secure processing – encrypted connections safeguard your documents.Batch redaction – redact multiple files at once to save time.

This is a great application that can please those users who require a simple, safe, and inexpensive solution to redact documents in PDF format online.

Using Online Whiteout Tools

Whiteout tools are easy-to-use online programs that are helpful in concealing sensitive information. The tools do not necessarily delete the documents; they just conceal the information in a white box or rectangle so that the text or picture cannot be read.

How to use an online whiteout tool:

Open a web-based PDF editing program such as PDFescape or Sejda.Upload your PDF document.Cover the sensitive text or image with the use of whiteout or blackout tool.Download the redacted PDF.

It is necessary to stress that the technique may not be as safe as permanent redaction since a person with technical expertise can potentially reveal the concealed information.

Microsoft Word (Text-Based PDFs) Should Be Used

For PDFs consisting mostly of text, one of the simplest methods for redaction is to convert the PDF to a Word document, redact the information, and then save it back as a PDF. The method functions optimally for PDFs containing text content, but it might not work effectively with documents that have many images.

The following is a way of redacting a PDF using the Microsoft Word program:

Use a free PDF-to-Word converter to convert the PDF into a Word document.The converted file is saved in Microsoft Word.Substitute the sensitive information with the word “REDACTED” or any alternative.Click on the save button and save the document as a PDF in Word’s “Save As” button.

This approach is free, simple, and efficient when dealing with simple text-based documents, but it fails to operate effectively with scanned documents and PDF files that have pictures.

Image Editing Software is Also Used (When the PDF is Scanned)

Where the scanned PDF is composed of images, image editing software may be applied to redact the information. For this task, image editing software such as Gimp, Photoshop, or Paint.NET can be very helpful, as you can fill in certain sensitive information in scanned PDF files manually.

Let’s see how the photo editing software is used:

Change your scanned PDF into an image (e.g., JPG or PNG) with an online PDF-to-image converter.Load the picture into a picture editing software.Apply the paintbrush or shape tools to paint the sensitive parts with either black or white.The image is saved and changed to PDF again.

This is the best way to redact scanned documents, but it involves additional processes to convert the document back to PDF format. It also can’t be applied to PDF files that have textual data.

The Print and Scan Method for Physical Documents

In case you possess the hard copy of the document, or if there is some sensitive information in a scanned PDF, you can use the print and scan method. The method used here will include printing the document, redacting the file manually, and scanning it back to PDF format.

The following is the procedure of the print-and-scan method:

Print the PDF document.Manually redact the sensitive information with a black marker or permanent ink.Re-scan the document in the PDF format.

This is most effective with physical documents and is the simplest way of managing documents that you might be required to maintain in hard copy format. It may be time-consuming, yet it can be relied upon to ascertain that data is well redacted.

Converting PDF to an Image and Redacting

In the event that you are working with scanned files or PDFs that are images, you can also convert your PDF into an image and manipulate it, which can be a good strategy. Once converted, the redacting of the content can be done using any image editing software.

The following is a redaction process of a PDF done via PDF-to-image conversion:

Using a free online converter, convert the PDF to an image file (JPG or PNG).Open the picture in a picture editor such as Gimp or Paint.The sensitive data can be covered or erased with the help of the drawing tools.Edit the image and save it as a PDF file with the help of an image-to-PDF converter.

It is the most suitable way to redact a scanned PDF or one that contains a lot of pictures because it does not allow one to select the text. It is a good method to delete sensitive information, but it is more strenuous than redacting text.

Conclusion

It is possible to redact PDFs without Adobe Pro in several different ways; each of these methods applies to a type of document and is appropriate for a particular user. You can opt for an online redaction software or OCR software to work with Scanned PDFs, or you may convert your PDFs into images to redact them; you can have a lot of different methods to keep your documents safe. Depending on the type of document and the level of security required, you are responsible for making sure that the sensitive information is secured.

The post 7 Easy Ways to Redact a PDF Without Adobe Pro appeared first on Entrepreneurship Life.