How to redact in Word(and check it before you send it)
Word doesn't have a dedicated redaction tool the way Acrobat Pro does, so redacting in Word means removing the text yourself and being careful about what gets left behind. The thing to avoid is the obvious trick of highlighting text in black, which hides the words without removing them. Anyone can change the color back or just copy the text out.
Do it by deleting
- Delete the sensitive text. If you need to keep the layout, drop in a placeholder like
[REDACTED]. - Turn off and accept tracked changes, and delete comments, so the original text isn't kept in the revision history.
- Run Document Inspector (File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document) and clear hidden text, metadata, and personal info.
- Save a copy and keep your original separately.
The surer finish: Redact the PDF
Even a cleaned Word file is easy to get wrong, and Word can't flatten and remove content the way a PDF redactor can. So export to PDF and redact there. Download as PDF, open it in a browser redactor, box anything still visible, and apply. Now the content is deleted from the file rather than dressed up to look gone.
Either way, do the check: open the final file, select all, copy, paste somewhere plain. If a redacted value shows up, it was only hidden. Why covered text comes back.