Search and redact words

Use the Search & Redact tool to find and remove words or phrases in one or more PDFs that contain searchable text.

Note: The Search & Redact tool doesn’t search secured (encrypted) PDFs.
  1. Choose View > Toolbars > Redaction, and select the Search And Redact tool .
  2. In the text box, type the word or phrase you want to remove.
  3. Specify if you want to search the current PDF or PDFs in another location.
  4. Select Whole Words Only and Case-Sensitive if you want to apply these conditions to the search.
  5. Click Search And Redact.
  6. In the search results, click the plus sign next to the document name to see all occurrences of the word or phrase. Then, select the occurrences you want to mark for redaction:

    • To select all occurrences on the list, click Check All.

    • To select individual occurrences, click the check box for each one you want to redact. Click the text next to a check box to view the occurrence on the page.

    • To mark none of the occurrences, close the Search window or click New Search to start over.

  7. If you selected occurrences that you want to mark for redaction, click Mark Checked Results For Redaction.

    The Search window closes, and the items you checked on the list are shown marked for redaction.

    Note: If you haven’t saved the file, you can select redaction marks in the document and press Delete to remove the redaction mark. The redaction marks become permanent after you save the file.
  8. To remove the marked items, click Apply Redactions in the Redaction toolbar, and then click OK.

    The items aren’t permanently removed from the document until you save it.

  9. If you want to search for and remove hidden information in the document by using the Examine Document feature, click Yes. Otherwise, click No.
  10. Choose File > Save, and specify a filename and location. If you don’t want to overwrite the original file, save the file to a different name, location, or both.
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