Drawing a black rectangle over words in a PDF may only hide them from view. The text underneath can often still be searched, copied or recovered by opening the file in a different reader.
Use the redaction feature
Proper redaction removes the selected information from the file rather than covering it. Adobe Acrobat and Bluebeam Revu both have a dedicated redaction tool. It's the one that asks you to apply the redactions and save a new copy.
Test it
After saving the redacted copy, search the document for the words you removed. Try selecting and copying the covered area. Open it in a different PDF reader and check again. Only then send it.
Where practices get caught
Contract documents, fee schedules shared with a contractor, planning submissions with personal details, and drawing sets where a client's name or a neighbour's address should have been removed.
If you handle this regularly and want the tooling set up properly across the team, ask us.
Want a hand with this? Talk to us.