ℹ️ This feature is only accessible to Admins.
Our redaction tool in the Room has been having some upgrades, check out how to bulk redact multiple PDF documents here: Bulk redaction 🐿️
Redaction is the process of editing or preparing a document by obscuring or removing certain content to protect sensitive or confidential information. We understand that redacting documents can be a tedious and time-consuming task, but it's also crucial to do it right to maintain your firm's and client's reputation.
Ansarada's built-in redaction tool streamlines this process, enabling you to manage redactions directly within your Room.
⚠️ Good to know
The redacted document is larger in size. We have optimised this process and the document can be between 2x to 4x bigger than the original document depending on the number of pages and number of redaction marks within the document.
Your room size report or data gauge measures redacted documents based on their original PDF document size.
Please note that redaction may not work on PDF documents containing secured digital signatures. If you encounter any issues with your PDF document, please follow the guide here to re-save it and then attempt the redaction process again.
How to redact single PDF document
To redact single PDF document please follow the steps below:
Go to Manage Document (also available within Manage Submissions for Procure platform).
Select the PDF document you want to redact and select the Item Menu (three lines icon) on the right.
Select Redact.
The redaction tool will appear on new tab, you have the ability to create redaction marks in four ways:
a. Redact text
Redact text lets you highlight any text in the PDF document and create redaction marks over the top of that text. Here's how you can do it:
Press "T" for shortcut.
Locate the text you want to redact and and highlight them.
b. Redact area
If you're looking to redact an entire paragraph or an image, here's how you can do it:
Press "R" for shortcut.
Redact area lets you create a box a over any area in a PDF document.
You can also change the background colour of that redacted area, and add a redaction reason.
c. Redact keywords
We understand that sometimes you simply want to add specific keywords into the search box and remove those results found. Here's how you can do it:
On the left hand menu of the redaction tool, add the keywords into the search box. You can add multiple keywords to redact them simultaneously.
The results and individual instances will be underlined with a green citrus-colored line.
You can choose to redact specific instances or redact all instances by checking the checkbox and then clicking on Redact.
d. Redact pattern
Our redaction tool is integrated with Microsoft Azure Cognitive service to automatically identify PII patterns from document. We've introduced this feature to reduce the need for manual searches, but we still recommend to run your eyes across it 😉.
ℹ️ Note: To learn more about our AI pattern redaction, please refer to this page: AI Pattern Redaction
Here's how you can do it:
On the left hand menu of the redaction tool, you will see a list of of AI pattern found.
The results and individual instances will be underlined with a green citrus-colored line.
You can choose to redact specific instances or redact all instances by checking the checkbox and then clicking on Redact.
You can also add a redaction reason.
How redaction saving works
You have two options to save your newly redacted document:
a. Save
This will replace the current version of the document with the new redacted version.
Don't worry, you can edit or remove redaction marks at any stage of your deal.
b. Save as
This will create a new copy of the document.
Edit the number and name of the document as needed.
Select the desired location in your document index to save the new document.
You have the option to choose Security settings for the new document, either using folder security settings from or using security settings from the opened document.
💡Tip: When you opt for the Save as option, all newly redacted documents will be saved as disabled by default. Keep in mind that only enabled documents are visible in the document index. It's essential to retain the original PDF document for ongoing redaction editing. You can disable the original and enable the redacted version to ensure that only the redacted version is shown in the document index.
👉 Learn how to edit redaction here: Edit redacted documents.