Affidavi / Notes / True redaction

How to truly redact a PDF

Redaction that removes content, not just hides it

Here is a test you can run on any redacted PDF in ten seconds. Draw a black box over some text. Now select the text underneath the box and copy it. If it comes out, you didn't redact anything — you hid it.

Why the black box fails

A PDF has layers. The words live in the content layer; a black rectangle drawn on top is just an annotation sitting above them. The text underneath is untouched — it can be selected, copied, searched, or read straight from the file's data by anyone who knows to look. Redaction failures exactly like this have exposed privileged and confidential information in documents that were already filed and publicly available.

What real redaction does

True redaction removes the content from the file itself. There is nothing under the box, because there is nothing left — the underlying text and image data are deleted, not covered. Done properly, it also flattens the page so no hidden layer survives.

How to check your output

• Open the redacted file and try to select and copy over the redacted area — nothing should come out.
• Run a text search for a word you redacted — it should find nothing.
• If your tool can't confirm the content is gone, treat the redaction as unverified.

Affidavi redacts by removing rather than covering, then independently verifies the output is actually clean before you file it. What's gone is gone.

Related: See also: Case Center upload requirements