How can I add obfuscating stripes to a PDF or Word document?
I wish to take a PDF or Word document and run stripes through the text to obscure it so that complete confidential information is not revealed, but one could compare against an unstripped other file to detect whether the unstripped version was a copy of the original file in at least some parts.
How can such stripes be added? I searched Google and couldn't find anything using the terms like stripe pdf tool obfuscator
. I created a zebra stripped PNG file like this:
But using it as the watermark in Microsoft Word 2011 without any washout gives grey strips that reveal the text underneath. Exporting to PDF does show in Adobe as black stripes, however, the text under the black stripes remains and can still be copied, for security, I'd like to convert the file to an image based PDF and not contain any text under the black stripes. I tried exporting images from PDF, but that only gave me the zebra stripping, no image of the text. I don't want to just print it all out and scan it back in again due to the document being 1,500 pages long, and so do not want to waste the paper, nor deal with scanning that many pages.
Taking the PDF exported from Word with Zebra stripes, I can select a single character under the zebra stripes on each page of the document for redaction, once I've touched every page, I can then apply the redaction and remove hidden information to convert each page to an image of the page, no text remaining.
While this works, it requires each page to be touched to redact at least a character on each page in order for Adobe to convert that page to an image.
Is there an easier way to tell Adobe to convert each page to an image of the page without having to touch every single page?
microsoft-word pdf
add a comment |
I wish to take a PDF or Word document and run stripes through the text to obscure it so that complete confidential information is not revealed, but one could compare against an unstripped other file to detect whether the unstripped version was a copy of the original file in at least some parts.
How can such stripes be added? I searched Google and couldn't find anything using the terms like stripe pdf tool obfuscator
. I created a zebra stripped PNG file like this:
But using it as the watermark in Microsoft Word 2011 without any washout gives grey strips that reveal the text underneath. Exporting to PDF does show in Adobe as black stripes, however, the text under the black stripes remains and can still be copied, for security, I'd like to convert the file to an image based PDF and not contain any text under the black stripes. I tried exporting images from PDF, but that only gave me the zebra stripping, no image of the text. I don't want to just print it all out and scan it back in again due to the document being 1,500 pages long, and so do not want to waste the paper, nor deal with scanning that many pages.
Taking the PDF exported from Word with Zebra stripes, I can select a single character under the zebra stripes on each page of the document for redaction, once I've touched every page, I can then apply the redaction and remove hidden information to convert each page to an image of the page, no text remaining.
While this works, it requires each page to be touched to redact at least a character on each page in order for Adobe to convert that page to an image.
Is there an easier way to tell Adobe to convert each page to an image of the page without having to touch every single page?
microsoft-word pdf
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
add a comment |
I wish to take a PDF or Word document and run stripes through the text to obscure it so that complete confidential information is not revealed, but one could compare against an unstripped other file to detect whether the unstripped version was a copy of the original file in at least some parts.
How can such stripes be added? I searched Google and couldn't find anything using the terms like stripe pdf tool obfuscator
. I created a zebra stripped PNG file like this:
But using it as the watermark in Microsoft Word 2011 without any washout gives grey strips that reveal the text underneath. Exporting to PDF does show in Adobe as black stripes, however, the text under the black stripes remains and can still be copied, for security, I'd like to convert the file to an image based PDF and not contain any text under the black stripes. I tried exporting images from PDF, but that only gave me the zebra stripping, no image of the text. I don't want to just print it all out and scan it back in again due to the document being 1,500 pages long, and so do not want to waste the paper, nor deal with scanning that many pages.
Taking the PDF exported from Word with Zebra stripes, I can select a single character under the zebra stripes on each page of the document for redaction, once I've touched every page, I can then apply the redaction and remove hidden information to convert each page to an image of the page, no text remaining.
While this works, it requires each page to be touched to redact at least a character on each page in order for Adobe to convert that page to an image.
Is there an easier way to tell Adobe to convert each page to an image of the page without having to touch every single page?
microsoft-word pdf
I wish to take a PDF or Word document and run stripes through the text to obscure it so that complete confidential information is not revealed, but one could compare against an unstripped other file to detect whether the unstripped version was a copy of the original file in at least some parts.
How can such stripes be added? I searched Google and couldn't find anything using the terms like stripe pdf tool obfuscator
. I created a zebra stripped PNG file like this:
But using it as the watermark in Microsoft Word 2011 without any washout gives grey strips that reveal the text underneath. Exporting to PDF does show in Adobe as black stripes, however, the text under the black stripes remains and can still be copied, for security, I'd like to convert the file to an image based PDF and not contain any text under the black stripes. I tried exporting images from PDF, but that only gave me the zebra stripping, no image of the text. I don't want to just print it all out and scan it back in again due to the document being 1,500 pages long, and so do not want to waste the paper, nor deal with scanning that many pages.
Taking the PDF exported from Word with Zebra stripes, I can select a single character under the zebra stripes on each page of the document for redaction, once I've touched every page, I can then apply the redaction and remove hidden information to convert each page to an image of the page, no text remaining.
While this works, it requires each page to be touched to redact at least a character on each page in order for Adobe to convert that page to an image.
Is there an easier way to tell Adobe to convert each page to an image of the page without having to touch every single page?
microsoft-word pdf
microsoft-word pdf
edited Apr 5 '16 at 23:32
WilliamKF
asked Mar 18 '16 at 22:17
WilliamKFWilliamKF
3,9213287129
3,9213287129
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
add a comment |
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
Even if you add stripes on top of text in a PDF, the original text content is still present in the document and can still be revealed.
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
|
show 1 more comment
Here is how to do this efficiently:
- In Microsoft Word, add the zebra watermark as described in the original question.
- Save-as that word document to Adobe PDF format.
- In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Export To -> Image -> PNG
and to create a PNG file for every page of the document, uniquely named by their page number. Place the files into a new temporary folder to make later alphabetical selection of them all easier. - In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Create -> Combine Files into a Single PDF...
- From the resulting
Combine Files
dialog, selectAdd Files...
menu item in upper left of dialog. - In the choose file dialeg, navigate to the folder where the exported PNG images are located from step 3, ensure they are sorted alphabetically, and then select all the files to add in alphabetical order by first selecting the alphabetically first file and then (on a Mac) shift clicking the last one alphabetically, to select the whole range in alphabetical order. Press the
Add files
button to add the selected files. - Double check the files are in the correct numerical order in the
Combine Files
dialog by page number in the title of each image. - Click Combine Files button in the lower right of
Combine Files
dialog. - Save the resulting PDF document.
You now have a PDF with zebra stripes and no text, just an image of text, so the characters under the stripes are not present anymore.
add a comment |
The rather pedestrian but un-hackable method would be to print it, then scan the print.
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
add a comment |
Another way you could do this is to create your word document, save it as a pdf, and then run it through free PDF Redactor. You would have to draw the marks you require, however, it would completely flatten the image to remove text and sanitize any information in the pdf.
Full disclaimer, I built this.
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "3"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1054681%2fhow-can-i-add-obfuscating-stripes-to-a-pdf-or-word-document%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Even if you add stripes on top of text in a PDF, the original text content is still present in the document and can still be revealed.
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
|
show 1 more comment
Even if you add stripes on top of text in a PDF, the original text content is still present in the document and can still be revealed.
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
|
show 1 more comment
Even if you add stripes on top of text in a PDF, the original text content is still present in the document and can still be revealed.
Even if you add stripes on top of text in a PDF, the original text content is still present in the document and can still be revealed.
answered Mar 19 '16 at 6:36
EdiEdi
49039
49039
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
|
show 1 more comment
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
That's an important point. Acrobat Pro contains a redaction tool to help with that.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:32
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@DanielB I used the redaction tool, but it warns other tools may allow text to be copied and I saw this first hand, when viewed in dropbox, the text was copyable.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:42
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@WilliamKF Then you didn’t use it correctly. The redaction tool physically removes completely covered characters from the file. That is after applying the redactions, of course.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:49
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
@DanielB Correct, I used the secure document feature to prevent text from being copied etc. The redaction tool does not recognize the zebra stripes as being redacted text. The tool requires you manually mark text for redaction in the flow the text reads. That means each intersection of a line of text with zebra strip would have to be manually marked. Partial characters cannot be redacted that straddle a zebra line. Each page would take about 30 seconds per line, 60 lines per page, 1,500 pages, total 750 hours of labor.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:59
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
That's not true. You can also draw rectangles. Text will be removed where they overlap. However, instead of asking about the solution, ask about the problem.
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 17:27
|
show 1 more comment
Here is how to do this efficiently:
- In Microsoft Word, add the zebra watermark as described in the original question.
- Save-as that word document to Adobe PDF format.
- In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Export To -> Image -> PNG
and to create a PNG file for every page of the document, uniquely named by their page number. Place the files into a new temporary folder to make later alphabetical selection of them all easier. - In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Create -> Combine Files into a Single PDF...
- From the resulting
Combine Files
dialog, selectAdd Files...
menu item in upper left of dialog. - In the choose file dialeg, navigate to the folder where the exported PNG images are located from step 3, ensure they are sorted alphabetically, and then select all the files to add in alphabetical order by first selecting the alphabetically first file and then (on a Mac) shift clicking the last one alphabetically, to select the whole range in alphabetical order. Press the
Add files
button to add the selected files. - Double check the files are in the correct numerical order in the
Combine Files
dialog by page number in the title of each image. - Click Combine Files button in the lower right of
Combine Files
dialog. - Save the resulting PDF document.
You now have a PDF with zebra stripes and no text, just an image of text, so the characters under the stripes are not present anymore.
add a comment |
Here is how to do this efficiently:
- In Microsoft Word, add the zebra watermark as described in the original question.
- Save-as that word document to Adobe PDF format.
- In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Export To -> Image -> PNG
and to create a PNG file for every page of the document, uniquely named by their page number. Place the files into a new temporary folder to make later alphabetical selection of them all easier. - In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Create -> Combine Files into a Single PDF...
- From the resulting
Combine Files
dialog, selectAdd Files...
menu item in upper left of dialog. - In the choose file dialeg, navigate to the folder where the exported PNG images are located from step 3, ensure they are sorted alphabetically, and then select all the files to add in alphabetical order by first selecting the alphabetically first file and then (on a Mac) shift clicking the last one alphabetically, to select the whole range in alphabetical order. Press the
Add files
button to add the selected files. - Double check the files are in the correct numerical order in the
Combine Files
dialog by page number in the title of each image. - Click Combine Files button in the lower right of
Combine Files
dialog. - Save the resulting PDF document.
You now have a PDF with zebra stripes and no text, just an image of text, so the characters under the stripes are not present anymore.
add a comment |
Here is how to do this efficiently:
- In Microsoft Word, add the zebra watermark as described in the original question.
- Save-as that word document to Adobe PDF format.
- In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Export To -> Image -> PNG
and to create a PNG file for every page of the document, uniquely named by their page number. Place the files into a new temporary folder to make later alphabetical selection of them all easier. - In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Create -> Combine Files into a Single PDF...
- From the resulting
Combine Files
dialog, selectAdd Files...
menu item in upper left of dialog. - In the choose file dialeg, navigate to the folder where the exported PNG images are located from step 3, ensure they are sorted alphabetically, and then select all the files to add in alphabetical order by first selecting the alphabetically first file and then (on a Mac) shift clicking the last one alphabetically, to select the whole range in alphabetical order. Press the
Add files
button to add the selected files. - Double check the files are in the correct numerical order in the
Combine Files
dialog by page number in the title of each image. - Click Combine Files button in the lower right of
Combine Files
dialog. - Save the resulting PDF document.
You now have a PDF with zebra stripes and no text, just an image of text, so the characters under the stripes are not present anymore.
Here is how to do this efficiently:
- In Microsoft Word, add the zebra watermark as described in the original question.
- Save-as that word document to Adobe PDF format.
- In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Export To -> Image -> PNG
and to create a PNG file for every page of the document, uniquely named by their page number. Place the files into a new temporary folder to make later alphabetical selection of them all easier. - In Adobe Acrobat Pro,
File -> Create -> Combine Files into a Single PDF...
- From the resulting
Combine Files
dialog, selectAdd Files...
menu item in upper left of dialog. - In the choose file dialeg, navigate to the folder where the exported PNG images are located from step 3, ensure they are sorted alphabetically, and then select all the files to add in alphabetical order by first selecting the alphabetically first file and then (on a Mac) shift clicking the last one alphabetically, to select the whole range in alphabetical order. Press the
Add files
button to add the selected files. - Double check the files are in the correct numerical order in the
Combine Files
dialog by page number in the title of each image. - Click Combine Files button in the lower right of
Combine Files
dialog. - Save the resulting PDF document.
You now have a PDF with zebra stripes and no text, just an image of text, so the characters under the stripes are not present anymore.
answered May 26 '16 at 20:02
WilliamKFWilliamKF
3,9213287129
3,9213287129
add a comment |
add a comment |
The rather pedestrian but un-hackable method would be to print it, then scan the print.
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
add a comment |
The rather pedestrian but un-hackable method would be to print it, then scan the print.
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
add a comment |
The rather pedestrian but un-hackable method would be to print it, then scan the print.
The rather pedestrian but un-hackable method would be to print it, then scan the print.
answered Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
TetsujinTetsujin
15.7k53362
15.7k53362
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
add a comment |
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Yes, considered that, but would rather not waste 1500 sheets of paper.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:29
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
Then your alternative is to export each page as a pure image file, jpg, tif, png etc... which will be colossal compared to the original file
– Tetsujin
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
I tried that, but only the zebra stripes were exported by Acrobat, not the image of the text.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:41
add a comment |
Another way you could do this is to create your word document, save it as a pdf, and then run it through free PDF Redactor. You would have to draw the marks you require, however, it would completely flatten the image to remove text and sanitize any information in the pdf.
Full disclaimer, I built this.
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
add a comment |
Another way you could do this is to create your word document, save it as a pdf, and then run it through free PDF Redactor. You would have to draw the marks you require, however, it would completely flatten the image to remove text and sanitize any information in the pdf.
Full disclaimer, I built this.
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
add a comment |
Another way you could do this is to create your word document, save it as a pdf, and then run it through free PDF Redactor. You would have to draw the marks you require, however, it would completely flatten the image to remove text and sanitize any information in the pdf.
Full disclaimer, I built this.
Another way you could do this is to create your word document, save it as a pdf, and then run it through free PDF Redactor. You would have to draw the marks you require, however, it would completely flatten the image to remove text and sanitize any information in the pdf.
Full disclaimer, I built this.
edited Jan 31 at 8:17
answered Jan 31 at 7:42
levinologylevinology
1113
1113
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
add a comment |
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
The OP discusses the document being 1500 pages. These kinds of free web services won't typically accept a document of more than a relatively small size. Do you know what its limits are?
– fixer1234
Jan 31 at 8:01
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
It's limited to 100mb at the moment, but if the file is 1500 pages at 300dpi under the best circumstances you'd be looking at 300kb/page*1500 = 439mb which would then get recompressed, but the file size returned to the user would be quite large. I actually built this- if someone has a file that is 1500 pages and personally needs help, reach out to me via intercom on freepdfredactor.com and I will see what I can do for you.
– levinology
Jan 31 at 8:13
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1054681%2fhow-can-i-add-obfuscating-stripes-to-a-pdf-or-word-document%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Have you tried using a PDF printer instead of saving or exporting as PDF?
– fixer1234
Mar 19 '16 at 8:06
@fixer1234 I tried that and got the same results and same file size. In word, the print dialog has special PDF handling that appears to result in the same code path as save as PDF.
– WilliamKF
Mar 19 '16 at 15:28
I don't really understand what the point is. These stripes won't really obscure the content, not even visually. What's the goal here?
– Daniel B
Mar 19 '16 at 15:34