Summary
If you cannot redact (remove) sensitive information in Adobe Acrobat Pro, the file may have security restrictions, be image-only, or have been created in a way that interferes with redaction. Use the steps below to resolve the issue.
Who This Article Is For
Any Gwinnett County employee using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Symptoms
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The Redaction tool is unavailable or grayed out.
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You can mark text or images for redaction, but clicking Apply does nothing.
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An error appears when trying to redact a PDF created outside Adobe Acrobat.
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After saving, sensitive content still appears to be present.
Cause
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PDF has security settings enabled by the author (not “No Security”).
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PDF is an image-only scan with no searchable text (OCR not yet run).
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PDF was created in a non-Adobe tool that produced incompatible formatting/encoding.
Resolution Steps
Step 1 – Check security settings
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Open the PDF in Acrobat Pro.
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Go to File > Properties > Security.
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If Security Method is anything other than No Security, ask the document owner to provide a version without security restrictions.
Step 2 – If the PDF is an image-only scan
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Go to Tools > Scan & OCR.
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Choose Recognize Text > In This File and run OCR.
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Retry the redaction process.
Step 3 – Re-save the PDF in Acrobat
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Open the file in Acrobat Pro.
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Go to File > Save As Other > PDF, or print to Adobe PDF.
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Open the new PDF and retry the redaction.
Step 4 – Apply and sanitize
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Go to Tools > Redact, then mark the text or images to remove.
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Click Apply to permanently remove the content.
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Select More Options > Sanitize Document to remove hidden metadata and unmarked sensitive content.
Known Limitations or Alternatives
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If the document owner has applied security restrictions, redaction will be blocked until an unsecured version is provided.
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For highly sensitive documents, verify final output after sanitizing and follow your department’s records handling policy.
Next Steps if Issue Persists
Contact the IT Service Desk at 770.822.8915 for assistance.