If you need to remove text from a document from a PDF before sending it-and you can’t simply eliminate information in the source document used to create the PDF and make a fresh one-you can turn to several apps to snip secret, legally prohibited, embarrassing, or proprietary text out of a PDF before sending it on its way. Three notable incidents: the accidental release of information in a filing in 2011 in long-running litigation between Apple and Samsung, the disclosure of key allegations in the Paul Manafort prosecution in 2019 alleging his connection to a purported Russian-connected associate-and on May 25, 2021, when information was revealed when CNN performed a copy and paste in filings by attorneys for a defendant in a case that involves former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani. These black-box overlays have led to embarrassing and legally disastrous situations stretching back a couple of decades. How to open, edit, and convert documents. You can also save your documents in a different format, so they’re compatible with other apps. With TextEdit, you can open and edit rich text documents created in other word processing apps, including Microsoft Word and OpenOffice. While the text appears removed in places, a reader can select the range, copy it, and paste it into another document to read it in full. Convert rich text documents to other formats. Proper redaction can prevent embarrassing, proprietary, or secret information from leaking out, as in a court case involving an associate of Rudolph Giuliani.
