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Redacting PDF Scans
JennyB:
I have some PDF Scans of old computer magazines from the 1990's that I'd like to put online, but they contain some names and addresses and other private and probably out-of-date info that I'd rather not display.
Is there any easy way to black that out without rescanning?
mouser:
That's a more interesting question than it may first appear -- there are surely easy ways to put a black bar over the information from within a pdf editor -- but you need to be very careful that the original text isn't still recoverable and contained within the pdf -- something that might be quite hard to figure out just on a casual examination of the file. Lots of stories about how people thought they removed/hid some information in a document but found that the information was still present in the file.
JennyB:
I don't have them to hand, but I think that most of them are image scans from pre-PDF days, not even OCRed. Does that make a difference?
kunkel321:
If they started as paper docs and got converted to a PDF, I'll bet you can use a PDF tool to black out the parts, then REprint as a new PDF file and the blacked out info would be permanently gone. I saw a PDF tool at dottech recently
http://dottech.org/freebies/27354/free-investintechs-sonic-pdf-creator-v3-0-limited-time-offer/
that probably can do the blocking.
I'm not sure if it does virtual printing, but you probably already can do that. If not, check out the free http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
EDIT: I'm not positive, but I think that even a Word file saved as pdf, then redacted as above and sent through a virtual printer would be secure.
cmpm:
not even OCRed. Does that make a difference?
--- End quote ---
Yes, that would make it easy, if it's converted to a .png or .jpg.
Use ScreenshotCapture's editor or another editor that can blackout sections.
Then to be sure, take a screenshot of the finished product.
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