Setting up an Action Wizard for Redaction

First, open Adobe Acrobat DC and click ‘Tools’ in the upper left hand corner of your screen.

Scroll down to find Action Wizard under the Customize options.

Click Add and you will see an Action Wizard shortcut appear in the sidebar on the right side of the window. Click the shortcut to begin actually building your action wizard.

At the top of the page, click New Action.

In the pop-up that appears, you will then select each of the tools you need to complete redaction and file optimization in the action wizard.

Click Recognize Text. Under Recognize Text, select Optimize Scanned Pages, then click the add button (between the two boxes) to move the action to the ‘Action steps to show’ box.

Collapse Recognize Text and click Protection. Under Protection, select Mark for Redaction, then click the add button. Next, click Apply Redaction, then click the add button.

Collapse Recognize Text and click Save & Export. Under Save & Export, select Save, then click the add button.

You will now see all of these tools added in the ‘Action steps to show’ box on the right side. Double check that the tools are in the correct order from top to bottom as Optimize Scanned Pages, Mark for Redaction, Apply Redaction, and Save. If they are out of order, or some are duplicated, you can remove steps using the trash icon on the right side of the window, or use the arrows to change the order of the steps.

In this box, we will now customize the steps we have chosen. Click on Optimize Scanned Pages and uncheck Prompt User.

Next, click Specify Settings above Prompt User. A dialog box will pop up. Make sure the Optimization Options are configured as pictured below. Uncheck Recognize Text and click OK.

Next, select Save in the ‘Action Steps to Show’ box and click Specify Settings.

A window will pop up with Output Options. Under File Naming, check the box next to ‘Add to original file names.’ Type “_redacted” into the box below Insert After. Make sure that the output format is set to save the file as an adobe PDF and click OK to save your changes and return to the Create New Action window.

Click on the grey box next to Save then select Save to Local Folder.

This will open a file explorer where you will be able to choose which file to save your redacted packets into on your computer.

Once you select a file, the explorer will close and you will return to the Create New Action window, where you are ready to save your wizard! Do one last check that your steps are in order and click save in the bottom right corner of the window.

Enter in the name of your wizard and a description if you would like. Click Save. You should now see your action in the right sidebar of your Adobe window.

Using your Action Wizard for Redaction

You can only use an action wizard after you have created one and saved one. If you haven’t done that yet, return to the top of the guide and follow instructions on page 1-6.

Organizing Pages

Before starting this action wizard, you will want to organize the pages of your scanned in file. Open the file in Adobe and click Organize Pages in the right sidebar list of tools.

You will see a bird’s eye view of your scans, and will here be able to rotate any pages, change the order of the forms and delete any bad scans.

Hover over each scan to see those options.

Once you have completed organizing, save your file and close it.

Running Your Action Wizard

Now, select Action Wizard from the right sidebar.

Then select your action wizard in the Actions List that takes the place of the right sidebar.

You will then see your wizard title, a field to add files, as well as your action wizard steps listed in that panel.

Click Add Files to open a file explorer and add the packets you would like to redact. At this stage, you can add one packet, or you can add multiple packets to run through the redaction wizard. Once you have selected all of the files you would like redacted, click Start.

You will see the file open. The first step in your wizard is optimization. You will see a progress bar in the bottom right corner of your Adobe window.

A small yellow box will appear in the place of that progress bar asking you to complete marking the file for redaction.

Locate personal identification numbers and any other data that your state requires to be redacted on any form in the packet and use your cursor to draw a box over each field. You only need to draw these boxes on one page in your file. You will be able to automatically add these boxes on the other pages later.

To draw a box, click on the corner of a field and drag your mouse. You will see a blue box when you are drawing, so you will know the size of the box you are creating. Once you finish drawing, you will see a red box around the field.

When you hover your mouse over the field, it will turn black so you will be able to see the size of your redaction box. You want to make sure that your boxes are large enough to cover large handwriting, but also small enough that they don’t obscure other fields.

After all personal information has been covered with a box, right click on each box and select Repeat Mark Across Pages and click ‘Specify pages’ in the pop up that displays. You want to make sure that your range includes all registration forms, but will start on page two because all packets will include a cover sheet that you do not want marked for redaction. Replace the range start (1) with 2.

After you have done this for all boxes, go through each of the other pages of the packet and review to make sure that the boxes are adequately covering all the sensitive information. If the boxes are not big enough, you can just draw a new one on top of the previous box and either select Repeat Mark Across Pages, or leave the new box on just the form you are editing.

If any boxes exist where there is not information, delete that redaction box. For example, if someone did not fill out their social security number, then we do not want a redaction box there so that quality control staff will know the form is incomplete. To delete an individual box, right click, then click Delete.

After checking and verifying each page for correct redactions, you’ll want to click on the yellow box on the bottom right of the screen where it says ‘When completed, click here to proceed.’

The redaction marks will now be applied and the file will save. When the wizard is complete, the side panel will read ‘Completed.’ If you are redacting and optimizing more than one packet, it will not say ‘Completed’ until all the packets have been marked and saved.

You should be able to find your redacted file in the folder on your computer you designated when creating your wizard.

Now you are ready to upload to Blocks!