How can a line or letters or numbers, such as a social security number, be redacted or covered in a pdf so no one else can uncover it? If its covered with an annotation in Preview, some one else can uncover it after its emailed.
Why not just get them to Typex it out on the screen then? :-P
Meanwhile:
Use a white hilight over the text (black leaves an outline)
and:
Menu > File > Print > PDF (bottom left corner) > Save PDF to folder as JPEG
Peter
Unfortunately not true fruhulda.
There are nefarious individuals like me who crack open pdfs on a regular basis and who could easily remove any covering object.
The only safe method is to not include it in the first place or to scramble it, using a key that only you know.
Peter
The information shouldn't be there if it is hidden in Pages, but of course if the PDF retain information that isn't shown you would be able to crack it. Tell me why the information should be in the code somewhere?
A pdf is just a collection of objects. If it is in Pages, it is in the exported pdf.
Hiding it doesn't make it go away.
If on the other hand you converted the page with the covered detail to a single bitmap such as a jpeg or tiff, then the information would not be visible in the pdf.
pdfs can contain bitmaps as well as vectors and text.
Peter
Peter your solution is also fine but many of the people who need to redact are often not very technical(Like attorneys) so may not fully understand what you mean. By printing it out you remove the software and digitial data from the equation and reduce the risk of the software you are using storing something you did not want it to.
You can cover up a number you wish to be secure with a white shape box and border as fruhulda mentioned. Upon exporting this to PDF, nothing I could use to peer into the PDF would reveal the ascii or octal number sequence.
Then I wrote a two item automator application, based on standard Automator library actions, that extracted that hidden number to a text document. No where to hide.
Peter,
It took 90 seconds to construct that Automator app and retrieve the hidden number (999-99-9999) from the PDF exported from Pages v5.1.
What I didn't do previously was the Preview technique for revealing the number. Even quicker. Takes 15 seconds.
In Pages you can hide it with a white shape with white border. Then you can export to PDF and no one can unhide it!
The white shape is just an object and easily deleted to reveal what is under.
Covering the number is too basic a protection to be of any use against the very people who would misuse it.
Peter
If it is still in Pages I do understand it but when exported to PDF? Tell me why the information should be in the code somewhere in the pdf?
When redacting any document it is best to print it out and then scan it back in to remove any chance digital data contains things you do not want to share.
Why print? You can easily save a pdf as a bit map such as a jpeg if that is what you want.
Peter
Hagar!
Want to try it on me? 😀
Click on my blue name and give me your best shot. I'll have it cracked in less than ten.
Peter
I was allowing time to open the app. 😀
Peter
You were talking about Preview, and not Pages right?
Acrobat Reader will also cooperate with TextEdit in revealing hidden strings. Time to add another rotor to the enigma...
how can i redact or cover a line or letters or numbers, such as a social security number from a pdf so no one else can uncover it
