Microsoft Office Word Redaction Add-in: Overview

The Microsoft Office Word Redaction Add-in makes it easy for you to mark information (words, other keystrokes, or graphics) for redaction and create a new, redacted version of the document in which the redacted information is unavailable. In the redacted version, the hidden information is removed, and the position of the original information is marked with a black bar in both the screen and print versions of the document.

Parts of a Word document that can be redacted

The Office Word Redaction Add-in supports the redaction of text in:

• The body of your document
• Tables
• Headers
• Footers
• Endnotes
• Footnotes
• Fields
• Table of Contents
• Table of Authorities
• Index
• Table of Figures
• Graphics

The Microsoft Office Word Redaction Add-in does not support redaction of:

• Comments
• Content in textboxes or frames

Help safeguard confidentiality

Important The Office Word Redaction Add-in preserves the look of the original document in the redacted version. The black bar that replaces redacted text fills the same amount of space as the original text, so line spacing and line breaks are unaffected. To protect your redacted document from attempts to recover information (for example, by using word length), avoid redacting single words.

If you need to redact a single word, you can replace it with a longer or shorter word before you select it for redaction.

Be sure to carefully review any documents redacted using this tool to confirm that all the information you intended to redact was successfully redacted.

Using the Office Word Redaction Add-in

Learn to:

• Mark items for redaction
• Remove redaction marks
• Show and hide redaction marks
• Create, finish, and save a redacted file

Redaction is the careful editing of a document to remove confidential information. To redact a document, you must download the Microsoft Office Word Redaction Add-in.

Send feedback about the Microsoft Office Word Redaction Add-in.