Unredacted meaning: What does unredacted mean?
Unredacted means a document that has nothing removed or hidden. The full original, sensitive parts and all. It's the opposite of redacted, where the sensitive bits have been taken out before sharing.
You often see both versions of the same file. A court keeps the unredacted copy under seal and releases a redacted one to the public. Same document, one complete and one with the private details removed.
The part that trips people up
A document that looks redacted can still be unredacted in practice. If someone "redacts" by drawing a black box over the text without removing it, the original is sitting underneath, ready to be copied straight out. So the file reads as redacted but behaves like an unredacted one.
The test is simple. If you can highlight the text under a black bar and copy it, you're looking at an unredacted document wearing a disguise. Why this happens so often.
Making sure yours is actually redacted
Use a tool that removes the content rather than covering it, then check: open the file, select all, copy, paste. Nothing you removed should appear. Ours does the removal in your browser and never uploads the file.