Situations· Document Protection
Share a PDF with the sensitive passages deleted from the file, then control who can open the redacted copy.
What changes
You mark the passages in your browser and they are deleted from the file. The redacted copy goes to the people you name, until the date you set. The original stays with you.
In short
A black box over text often leaves the text in the file. Redaction has to delete it. NakodaX redacts PDFs in the sender’s browser: marked text is deleted, the file’s properties are blanked and the result is verified. Named people get the redacted copy until an end date.
A law firm sends a draft agreement to the other side. A company sends an audit report to a regulator. An HR team sends an investigation file to an outside lawyer.
Most of each document can be shared. A price, a person’s name, an address or a few paragraphs cannot. Someone opens the PDF in an editor, draws black boxes over those parts and sends the file.
A black box drawn over text usually sits on top of it. The text is still in the file, so the other side can select it, copy it or read it with another tool. The PDF’s title, author and other properties are also still in the file.
This is a known way for redacted documents to leak, and the sender cannot see it from the page.
The price, the name or the clause you meant to keep back is read by the other side, or by someone they pass the file to. If it is a person’s details, you may have a data breach to deal with.
Black boxes in a PDF editor cover the text but may not delete it. Printing and scanning the page removes the text, but the copy is poorer and the work is done by hand each time. Asking the other side to ignore a passage depends on trust.
You open the PDF in your browser and mark the passages. The marked text is deleted from the file and nothing is painted over it. NakodaX blanks the PDF’s title, author and other properties, and checks the result.
You can ask for suggestions that find patterns such as email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers and bank account numbers. Each suggestion needs your approval before it is marked.
You then share the redacted PDF like any protected document: with the people you name, until the date you set, with a record of who opened it. A download is still a protected copy. The original stays with you.
Redaction works on PDF, PNG, JPEG and WebP. A Word or Excel file has to be saved as a PDF first. It does not find sensitive text on its own: there is no AI or name detection, so you or your reviewer decide what to mark. A reader can still photograph the screen.
You mark the passages in your browser and they are deleted from the file. The redacted copy goes to the people you name, until the date you set. The original stays with you.
Answers
Articles and a video on the same problem, and how NakodaX handles it.
Blog
Selective share lets you send only the pages or slides someone should see. Paired with AI-proof .nkxd files, the rest of your document never leaves your hands.
Read moreBlog
A normal PDF cannot be taken back once it is sent. A protected one can. Here is what revoking access actually does, and what it does not undo.
Read moreVideo
Most people only need part of a document. See how Selective Share sends just the pages, slides, rows or columns a recipient needs and nothing else.
Watch (3:15)Document protection. Start where the problem actually is.