In this chapter…

…you will learn how to prepare for redaction before you start using Redax Enterprise Server.

• Establishing preferences describes the preferences you should define and tells you where to define them.
• Creating list files shows how to create and edit list files that can be used to automatically redact words, phrases and regular expressions in your document.
• Using Acrobat to select text for redaction shows how to select text for redaction using Adobe Acrobat. After the text is selected in Acrobat, you can use Redax Enterprise Server to redact the documents.

Establishing preferences

Before you run Redax Enterprise Server, you should establish preferences to specify:

• The properties of Redax boxes and Full-Page tags, which are used to mark information for redaction.
• The appearance of redacted areas in the final redacted document.
• The way information is processed during markup and redaction.

You establish preferences in a preferences file that you create using the RedaxESconfig utility, supplied with Redax Enterprise Server. You can create as many preferences files as needed for the different markup and redaction scenarios in your organization. When you run Redax Enterprise Server, you specify which preferences file you want to use with the -pref command-line option.

For information about using RedaxESconfig, see the online help supplied with the utility. For information about using the -pref command-line option, see Marking Text for Redaction and Redacting Documents.

Creating redaction list files

Redaction list files are text files containing lists of words, phrases or regular expressions grouped by exemption. With a list of words and the -flist command-line option, for example, you can mark a PDF document for redaction in just one step. Regular Expression (-fregex) searches provide powerful text-finding to meet a wide variety of requirements.

When you use a list file, Redax Enterprise Server searches through the document, draws a Redax box around each “hit”, and applies the corresponding exemption code if one is specified.

Creating or editing a redaction list file

The redaction list file is a plain text file.

1. Create a new list file, or open the list file you want to edit in the text editor of your choice. You can use the sample file, sample_find_list.txt, which can be found in the Samples directory where Redax Enterprise Server was installed.  The default location on Windows is C:\Appligent\RedaxServer\Samples. For Unix, the Samples directory is in the location you selected on your server.
2. At the beginning of the file, type any comments or notes you want to include. You can have any number of comment lines, as long as they do not begin with the word “Exemption”.
3. To begin making a list of words and/or phrases for redaction, enter the word “Exemption”, followed by the exemption code you wish to use. If you do not wish to use an exemption code, then the word “Exemption” should be on the line by itself.  Each word or phrase in the redaction list must appear on a separate line.
4. Underneath the exemption definition, add all of the terms that you want to redact with that exemption code.
5. By default Redax Enterprise Server performs a case-sensitive search, but you can have it ignore case by adding -ignorecase on the command line when running -flist or -fregex. See Marking Text for Redaction for details. If you use the case-sensitive default, the text you enter in the list file must contain the proper upper- and lowercase letters. For example, “govern” will not find “Govern”, “GOVERN”, or “GOVERN” set in small caps, so you must include them in the list if you want them to be marked for redaction in a case-sensitive search.
6. Repeat the process of adding exemptions and lists until you are finished.
7. Save the file and close it.

Sample redaction list files

Sample redaction list files, sample_find_list.txt and sample_regex_list.txt are included in the samples folder of the directory where you installed Redax Enterprise Server. (In Windows, the default location is C:\Appligent\RedaxServer\samples\.) You can use any of these files as the basis for your own redaction list files. Remember that each word, phrase, pattern or regular expression to be redacted must appear on a separate line following an Exemption heading.

Using redaction list files

When using any list file (-flist or -fregex) on the command-line, if you choose to have exemptions without codes in the list file, make sure to use either -pref followed by the name of a preferences file that allows redaction without exemption, or -noexempt.

Key Considerations

• You cannot specify an image for redaction in a redaction list file.
• Words you enter will be found even if they’re embedded in other words. For example, the word “govern” will be marked for redaction from the word “government”.
• Misspelled words in the PDF document will not be marked for redaction unless you add possible misspellings to your redaction list.

Appligent Document Solutions recommends that you check each redaction individually to confirm that Redax Enterprise Server processed the list as intended. Any misspellings, unexpected hyphenations, or other irregularities may cause Redax Enterprise Server to miss information you intended to redact.

Using Acrobat to select text for redaction

You can use Adobe Acrobat’s commenting tools — Highlight, Underline, and Cross Out/Strikethrough — to select the text you want to redact.  Redax Enterprise Server will also redact Acrobat redaction annotations.

How Redax Enterprise Server uses Acrobat-selected text

Once you have used the commenting tools to select text you want to redact, then run Redax Enterprise Server, and have it do one of the following:

1. Convert the selected text to Redax-marked text, which can then be redacted with any other text you have marked for redaction. Command-line options are available to either convert all Acrobat-selected text or to convert only text selected using a specific Acrobat tool (-cm, -ch, -chc, -cs, -csc, -cu, -cuc, -ca, -cac). These options are described in detail in Marking Text for Redaction.
2. Redact the selected text directly, without prior conversion to Redax-marked text, using the -rmarkup command-line option described in Redacting Documents.

Redax Enterprise Server’s capability to utilize Acrobat-selected text provides the following advantages:

• Members of your workgroup who do not have Redax can select text for redaction, or use Acrobat’s redaction tools to mark up documents.
• You can assign a different exemption code to each type of markup: Highlight, Underline and Cross Out/Strikethrough.

Selecting text with Acrobat tools

To select text for redaction using the Acrobat selection tools:

1. If you are using exemption codes, decide which code you want to assign to each tool. You can assign one exemption code to each tool, for a maximum of three exemption codes if you are using all three tools.  (You do not have to use exemption codes.)
2. Use the Acrobat tool(s) of your choice — Highlight, Underline, and/or Cross Out/Strikethrough — to select the text in your PDF document that you want to redact. If you use the underline tool, you must select the straight (default) mode; the squiggly mode does not work with Redax Enterprise Server. (For information about Acrobat’s selection tools, refer to Adobe’s online help.) If you assigned different exemption codes to different tools, make sure to use the appropriate tool for each piece of text. (You will apply the exemption codes later when you run Redax Enterprise Server.)
3. Save the file.