Redaction before sharing
Short answer: Pre-sharing redaction removes personal information and hidden data the other party should not see before a file leaves your organization. EnjoyPDF recognizes, deletes and rewrites the file on your own computer, then reopens it after saving and checks for residue item by item.
Common sharing situations
- Giving copies of documents to clients, suppliers or auditors.
- Copies of litigation or complaint materials provided to the other party.
- Internal reports before public release.
- Sample files given to a software vendor to investigate a problem.
Three steps
- Choose the work mode “Secure redaction”: tick the ID types to search for, and add custom keywords such as names.
- Find and review: the results list shows each match partly masked; confirm them one by one. Scanned pages are fully recognized with the standard model, and both text layers and scanned images are searched.
- Save: text and hidden layers are deleted, pixels are covered, and the whole file is rewritten. The residue check then runs automatically, and the results appear in the save banner.
Check beyond the file
Redaction handles only the file contents. Before sending, take another look at:
- whether the file name contains a name, case number or ID number;
- the email body and the CC list;
- other attachments in the same email.
You can tick through the pre-sharing redaction checklist item by item; PDF Text Replacer completes the first 10 items automatically.
Compliance reference
China’s Personal Information Protection Law, Thailand’s PDPA and the EU GDPR all require personal information to be processed on a minimum-necessary basis. Redaction is a common way to put this principle into practice, but whether specific legal requirements are met is for your legal counsel to decide.
FAQ
Why not use an online redaction tool?
An online tool needs the file uploaded to a server first, and the content you want to redact is exactly what should not leave. EnjoyPDF works on your own computer, and documents are not uploaded.
What else should I check before sending?
The file name itself, the email body and the attachment list can also contain personal information. Use the pre-sharing redaction checklist to go through them item by item.