A free solution, is to convert the PDF to an image, then save it as a PDF again. The only drawback is that the PDF will remove any OCR info it might have had. Steps:. Open the PDF file to redact in Preview. Black out text using any method you want (e.g.
Use the rectangle annotation tool with black as the color and choose the thickest border. Then draw the shape as many times as needed until your document is blacked out.). File Save As, and choose an image format such as PNG or GIF. Open the saved image file, then File Save As, and choose PDF. I tried saving my image as an image in preview and this only works if your pdf is one page.
Mar 21, 2013 Learn how to add different pages numbers in different sections in your brief using Mac Word. Video made by Jewel Makda.
If it's multiple pages, exporting as an image will only save the first page. The solution I found was this (it's a bit tedious, but you can get through it pretty fast once you get the hang of it): Open PDF in GIMP (free photo editor) as an image. Only open those pages that need redaction. When you open it as an image, it essentially flattens the pdf so you're no longer able to highlight and copy text. Use tools in GIMP to black out text. Then, file - print. On the print screen, choose 'Print Preview'.
This will bring up the pdf in Preview where you can export/save the file. If you have more than once page, then you can choose the thumbnail view in Preview and drag/drop the pdfs onto one another to form a larger document that you can then print. This is what I do when I have to sign just a few pages of a large pdf document.
Hope this helps! Include redaction.
Using a demo version today: the option to redact is greyed out, so I can't confirm its efficacy. According to: the redaction tool worked pretty well. Actually, it even seemed to muck up the text in a live pdf document so you couldn’t copy what was under the redaction. I can’t say how much I’d trust this feature with sensitive live text.
I scanned all of my documents to PDF with no OCR before I did my redaction. Then, I printed to PDF to add one more layer of separation to make sure nobody could see what was behind the redactions. OK, so the only real solution is to redact a paper copy and then scan it back in! All other methods mentioned here don't work properly.
![Page Page](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Microsoft_Office_Outlook_%282013%E2%80%93present%29.svg/1200px-Microsoft_Office_Outlook_%282013%E2%80%93present%29.svg.png)
Importing the image in to GIMP and editing it there doesn't work, as once the page is put back in to a PDF document, that page is no longer text searchable as the whole page is now seen as an image! Skim just doesn't work for redacting text. Or maybe it's just completely unintuitive with no good help.
![Insert page number with name in word Insert page number with name in word](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125563305/339188416.png)
Most other methods leave the text accessible beneath the redacted 'white outs'. I have given feedback to Apple about this. PDF Studio version 8 has a manual redaction tool built-in its content editing tool. It is real redaction that actually removes content. It can select text and images in the PDF document content and redact them.
PDF Studio version 9 (coming March 2014) will have a full fledged redaction feature where users can select an area on a document, and it will redact any images or text intersecting with this area. PDF Studio works on Mac (including 10.9 Mavericks) but also Windows and Linux and the same license key can be used on 2 different computers with different OS. The subject of redation of PDF files seems to be a difficult subject concerning programming. As Acrobat Pro CD is much to expensive for me as a private non-profit user, I was looking for an alternativ. It took me rather long time to find a real good alternative to Acrobat Pro:. PDF Studio PRO from Qoppa : This tool really gives you virtually the whole functionality of Acrobat Pro.
It is a solid part of software and according to my extensive tests the only tool that is really able to redact safely PDF files. Note that you need the PRO version, as the standard version lacks the ability of redaction. I tried several other possibilities, which all don't work properly:. Apple Preview: this application allows to visually hide parts of a pdf behind a box, but it is always possible to remove the box or copy / paste the text behind as the sensitive information is NOT removed from the file!. PDF Pen: PDF Pen seems to be a nice tool and it offers a nice reaction functionality - seems to at least. Be careful about this tool: it messes up your PDFs completely as you redact.
Therefore the functionality is limited to a files who are by chance compatible with this tool. Especially in PDFs with pictures (i.e. All scanned files) PDF Pen has big problems and messes up your file so it gets irreversibly unusable. My contact with the support never brought a solution so far over a time of several weeks. Nuance PDF Coneverter for Mac: I bougth this tool as it offers a redaction functionality. Unfortunately there is no trial version available, but the refunding worked fine without problems.
As soon as I had the tool installed, I had to realise, that it was nothing else than PDF Pen under a different hood. Now you don't have to wonder, why PDF Pen is using the OCR engine of Nuance:-). For the record: PDF Pen = Nuance PDF Converter for Mac. Same errors while redacting as expected.
Result: equally useless as PDF Pen. As a simple summary I suggest you spend the $129 for PDF Studio PRO from Qoppa.