Draw Redacting Areas

Help Index › Markup Methods

The Draw Redacting Areas tool lets you manually draw rectangular redaction areas directly on document pages. This is useful when you need to redact content that cannot be found automatically by dictionary or pattern search, such as images, signatures, or irregularly formatted text.

Extensions > Mapsoft Redactor > Draw Redacting Areas

Using the Drawing Tool

  1. Open a PDF document in Adobe Acrobat.
  2. Choose Extensions > Mapsoft Redactor > Draw Redacting Areas.
  3. In the Draw Redact dialog, select an exemption code group and code to assign to the annotations you are about to draw.
  4. Optionally check Apply to All Pages if the drawn area should be replicated on every page.
  5. Click OK. The cursor changes to a crosshair drawing tool.
  6. Click and drag on the document page to draw a rectangle over the area you want to redact.
  7. Repeat to draw additional areas. The drawing tool remains active until you switch to another tool.

Dialog Options

OptionDescription
Exemption Code GroupSelect the exemption code category (e.g., FOIA, Privacy Act, Discovery). The Code dropdown updates to show codes in the selected group.
Exemption CodeThe specific exemption code to embed in each drawn annotation (e.g., "b(6)" for personal privacy under FOIA).
Apply to All PagesWhen checked, each drawn rectangle is automatically replicated to the same position on every page of the document.

Tip

You can draw areas across multiple sessions. Each time you activate the drawing tool, you can select a different exemption code. Previously drawn annotations remain on the document.

The Floating Toolbar

While the drawing tool is active, the standard Acrobat toolbar reflects the active tool state. You can:

After Drawing

Drawn annotations are redacting markup only — the underlying content is not removed until you execute redaction. After drawing your areas:

Warning

Save the document before executing redaction. Once content is redacted, it cannot be recovered.

See Also