PDF documents are mainly used for business purposes. Because of this, it is sometimes important to hide or remove information in the file or metadata. You can easily select and delete items from a PDF using Adobe Acrobat. You can also use Adobe's "Writing" tool. Edited items will appear as black or colored boxes. Hidden information such as metadata - which contains the author's name, keywords and copyright information - must be removed in another way. To use Adobe Acrobat, you must purchase a subscription. Adobe Acrobat Standard costs $55.00 a month, and Adobe Acrobat Pro $60.00 a month.
Steps
Method 1 of 5: Deleting Individual Items
Step 1. Open Adobe Acrobat
The program has a dark red icon with a triangle design with loops in the three corners. Click on this icon to open it. You can find it in the "Start" menu (Windows) or in the "Applications" folder in the Finder (Mac).
Step 2. Open the file
To open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, do the following:
- click in File in the menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen.
- click in Open in the "File" drop-down menu.
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Select the desired PDF and click on Open.
You can also right click on the PDF, select Open with… and then Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3. Click on the object you want to delete
Doing so will display his editing options. You can select a text box, an image, or any other item.
Step 4. Press the Delete key to delete the item
To exclude specific words within a text box, click on the text in question to display the cursor. Then click and drag the cursor over the desired snippet and press the Delete key or ← Backspace
Step 5. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 6. Click Save to permanently remove the item from the document
Then the file name will be changed with the suffix "_Rendered".
To avoid overwriting the original document, click Save as and choose a new location or name for the file.
Method 2 of 5: Deleting Pages
Step 1. Open Adobe Acrobat
Its shortcut may be saved on your desktop, or you may need to search your computer for it. To do this, the quickest way is using the search bar. On Windows, it can be found in the lower left corner of the screen; on Mac, find it in the upper right corner.
Step 2. Open the file
To open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, do the following:
- click in File in the menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen.
- click in Open in the "File" drop-down menu.
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Select the desired PDF and click on Open.
You can also right click on the PDF, select Open with… and then Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3. Click on the "Pages" button
It has the two sheets of paper icon and is located at the top of the left-hand toolbar.
Step 4. Click on the page you want to delete
They are listed in the left column. Click on a page to select it. To select more than one page, press the Ctrl key and click on them.
Step 5. Click on the trash can icon
It is located above the column with the page list on the left side.
Step 6. Click Ok on the pop-up window
Doing so will confirm the permanent deletion of the selected pages.
Step 7. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 8. Click Save to permanently remove the item from the document
Then the file name will be changed with the suffix "_Rendered".
To avoid overwriting the original document, click Save as and choose a new location or name for the file.
Method 3 of 5: Writing Content
Step 1. Open Adobe Acrobat
Its shortcut may be saved on your desktop, but you may need to search your computer for it. To do this, the quickest way is using the search bar. On Windows, it can be found in the lower left corner of the screen; on Mac, find it in the upper right corner.
Step 2. Open the file
To open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, do the following:
- click in File in the menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen.
- click in Open in the "File" drop-down menu.
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Select the desired PDF and click on Open.
You can also right click on the PDF, select Open with… and then Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3. Click Tools on the secondary menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 4. Click the Compose button
It has the icon that resembles a pink text tag, located under "Protect and Standardize" in the "Tools" menu.
Step 5. Select the items you want to compose
This can be anything from the document, including images. To select and edit an object, do the following:
- Double click on a word or image.
- Click and drag to select a line, text block or area of the document.
- To select multiple areas, Ctrl-click on them.
- If you want an edit tag to repeat on every page - such as a header or footer - right-click on it and select "Repeat tag across pages."
Step 6. Click Apply on the secondary menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 7. Click OK to confirm editing the selected items
If you want to remove hidden information from the document click on Yes in the dialog box.
Step 8. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 9. Click Save to permanently remove the item from the document
Then the file name will be changed with the suffix "_Rendered".
To avoid overwriting the original document, click Save as and choose a new location or name for the file.
Method 4 of 5: Composing Content Using the "Search" Tool
Step 1. Open Adobe Acrobat
Its shortcut may be saved on your desktop, or you may need to search your computer for it. To do this, the quickest way is using the search bar. On Windows, it can be found in the lower left corner of the screen; on Mac, find it in the upper right corner.
Step 2. Open your file
To open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, do the following:
- click in File in the menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen.
- click in Open in the "File" drop-down menu.
-
Select the desired PDF and click on Open.
You can also right click on the PDF, select Open with… and then Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3. Click Tools on the secondary menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 4. Click the Compose button
It has the icon that resembles a pink text tag, located under "Protect and Standardize" in the "Tools" menu.
Step 5. Click Mark writing account on the secondary toolbar
Step 6. Click Find Text
Then a menu bar will open, allowing you to search for the text to be written.
Step 7. Select "In Current Document" or "In All PDF Documents"
To search only the open file, click the "In current document" radio button. To select multiple PDFs, click "On All PDF Documents" and use the drop-down menu below the option to select the folder containing the files you want to compose.
Step 8. Select "One Word or Phrase", "Multiple Words or Phrases" or "Defaults"
Click the radio icon next to the search option and do one of the following steps.
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A word or phrase:
type a word or phrase into the search bar below the options.
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Several words or phrases:
click in Select words and type the word or phrase you want to compose in the bar at the top of the menu. click in Add to add a new word or phrase and type it in the bar at the top. click in OK at the end of editing all the items you want to remove.
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Standards:
. use the drop-down menu to select a pattern. You can use patterns to remove phone number, credit cards, social security number, dates, email addresses and more.
Step 9. Click Search and remove text
Doing so will search for all instances of the search term in the document.
Step 10. Click the checkbox next to each instance you want to edit
All items found are displayed in the menu on the left. Click the checkbox next to each item you want to compose.
Click Check All above the list to select all items
Step 11. Click Mark results for redaction to edit all instances
Step 12. Click Apply on the secondary menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 13. Click OK to confirm editing the selected items
If you want to remove hidden information from the document click on Yes in the dialog box.
Step 14. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 15. Click Save to permanently remove the item from the document
Then the file name will be changed with the suffix "_Rendered".
To avoid overwriting the original document, click Save as and choose a new location or name for the file.
Method 5 of 5: Removing Hidden Information
Step 1. Open Adobe Acrobat
Its shortcut may be saved on your desktop, or you may need to search your computer for it. To do this, the quickest way is using the search bar. On Windows, it can be found in the lower left corner of the screen; on Mac, find it in the upper right corner.
Step 2. Open your file
To open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, do the following:
- click in File in the menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen.
- click in Open in the "File" drop-down menu.
-
Select the desired PDF and click on Open.
You can also right click on the PDF, select Open with… and then Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3. Click Tools on the secondary menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 4. Click the Compose button
It has the icon that resembles a pink text tag, located under "Protect and Standardize" in the "Tools" menu.
Step 5. Click Remove Hidden Information on the secondary toolbar below the "Hidden Information" section
Step 6. Select all the items you want to remove
On this screen, you will see the document's metadata, comments, or attachments. Check the checkbox next to each information you want to remove in the left-hand menu.
By clicking the "+" button next to each entry and sub-entry type in the dialog box, you will be able to view each entry that will be removed. Those that are selected will be removed by following the steps in this method
Step 7. Click Remove above the list of available items in the left sidebar
Step 8. Click OK on the pop-up window that will appear when you click "Remove"
Step 9. Click File in the menu bar at the top of the screen
Step 10. Click Save to permanently remove the item from the document
Then the file name will be changed with the suffix "_Rendered".