A PDF redact tool helps you to block sensitive data from PDFs before sharing them. Such information includes health records, identification documents, serial numbers, and phone numbers.
You have more to learn about text redaction and how to keep sensitive information about your organization, staff members, and business safe before sharing files. Read on and find out more from this post.
How Redaction Works
Redaction helps you conceal personal and sensitive information in a document from the public by ‘blurring’ the part containing sensitive text. You can do this using a PDF redaction tool in your file reader. The editing tool enables you to remove a section of a page or several pages from the file.
To hide text in a file, go to files and tap on TOOLS followed by REDACT. Then, on the dropdown menu, click EDIT and tap on REDACT TEXT AND IMAGES. Highlight part of the info to hide, and the tool will draw a rectangular boundary on the text and blur it when you tap on REDACT.
The three common ways to redact PDF online are:
- Manual redaction involves selecting part of a text to redact and adding an image to the highlighted part to make it blurred. You can apply this method if you are redacted a small section of text in a few files because it consumes time. It is ideal for concealing information such as birth dates and contact addresses in a few files.
- Page redaction involves hiding information from several pages in a PDF. To use this method, open your file and highlight the pages you want to hide. The editor software tool adds a rectangular image on selected pages. Governments use this method to hide confidential data such as financial figures and information in the security docket.
- Automatic redaction is done on several files containing sensitive information, which may be difficult to highlight and hide manually. Text redaction software helps you select personal details in several files before automatically hiding them. This method is ideal for institutional, organizational, and government files containing different pieces of sensitive data in several files.
Note that if you use the wrong method to conceal data in a PDF, the sensitive information you are hiding will get exposed and cause harm to your staff and organization. An example is hiding sensitive data by highlighting it in black, which becomes visible when file viewers highlight the hidden part.
When to Use Redaction
In many situations, you should keep your personal, organizational, and business files confidential. They include:
- When government institutions release their financial statements to the public, any information in the files that the public can use against the government, such as figures, is hidden.
- Before publishing court proceedings of a case, sensitive information about the parties involved is blocked to protect them against the public.
- An employee's medical and psychiatric history in your company's files needs safeguarding to protect them from bullying and public embarrassment.
- The files you share should not expose details of the government intelligence personnel as it may put the security at risk.
- When editing files containing your business secrets, you should hide sensitive data must to keep competitors with malicious intentions at bay.
What Information Needs Redacting?
Any sensitive information that may compromise your security and that of your business, such as health history, business records, government reports, and personal identification details, needs redacting.
- Personal identification details such as birth dates, national identification numbers, and residential addresses, which fraudsters and malicious persons can use fraudulently against you.
- Cyber hackers can illegally use bank account numbers to get funds from financial institutions.
- Financial records that reflect a company's performance which competitors can use to tarnish your business’ reputation.
- You should keep your employees' medical history and mental health information confidential because other employees may use it to stigmatize the victims.
- Keep social security details, cell phone numbers, and addresses secure as they may expose the victims to insecurity when exposed.
It is crucial to safeguard your personal and other persons' sensitive information from the public. When editing files, use the text edit feature and protect your business and staff.
Lumin PDF Can Help With Files Redaction
Lumin PDF is an E text editor that helps you view, create, alter and redact information in PDF files. You can access Lumin through their website or download their app from the Appstore or Playstore for free. To redact PDF files on Lumin, access their site and select the file to edit.
Open the file and select the text you want to block from your audience. You can highlight part of the file on a page or select many pages containing sensitive data. Next, click EDIT and scroll down to REDACT from the actions given. The PDF redact tool will help you highlight the details to hide before blocking them.
If you make an error by selecting parts of the redaction text that you should not block, you can undo the action and select the right part to hide. Note that this PDF redact tool stores files on the cloud and therefore auto-syncs any changes you make on your redacted file. Therefore, before sharing the link to your file with your team, ensure you hide the confidential information correctly.
You can also modify the format of your documents on this online edit PDF tool. Its OCR feature comes in handy when receiving scanned documents containing sensitive information. By customizing the text redaction feature with sensitive information, the tool automatically detects it and hides it.
Bottom Line
The privacy act in many states seeks to protect personal and organizational information, and disclosing it has severe consequences. Thanks to the many software on the market, you can use it to redact PDF online. Before allowing access to your files, learn how to redact PDF and avoid exposing sensitive data.