Redactable vs. Adobe redaction

Adobe Redaction is a tool that allows you to conceal sensitive information in PDF documents using Adobe Acrobat Pro. This redaction tool is built into the commonly-used PDF software. It lets your workforce remove or black out text, images, and other content.

What are the key features of Adobe redaction?

Adobe's redaction tool comes with redaction options for text, images, batch jobs, and configurable redaction patterns. It offers the following capabilities:

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Adobe vs. Redactable: How to choose the right redaction tool

The choice between Adobe vs. Redactable depends on your specific needs, the volume of documents you handle, and your existing technological ecosystem. Let's look at the most significant factors to consider when choosing between these two options:

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Choose this solution if you need a tool for:

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Choose this tool over Adobe redaction competitors if you need a solution for:

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Redactable vs. Adobe redaction tool

While both Redactable and Adobe Redaction can protect confidential information, they differ quite a bit in their approach, practicality, and overall user experience. Understanding these distinctions will help you make an informed decision about which solution best fits your organization's redaction needs and workflow requirements. Let's look at the key differences of Adobe vs. Redactable:

Specific solutions beat one-size-fits-all

Redactable is purpose-built to solve the problems teams face when they need to redact vast volumes of information as efficiently as possible. Adobe Acrobat, by contrast, was launched in 1993 to edit PDF documents. Although Adobe has redaction features today, they have been tacked on and are frequently prone to glitches and errors. 

To put it another way, a multi-tool like a Swiss Army knife features all sorts of useful gadgets, but none of them are very good at their job. At home, most people reach for the can opener when preparing a quick meal or a screwdriver when it’s time for some DIY instead of a multi-tool. Our focused design philosophy is the key factor behind Redactable being faster, more effective, and easier to use than Adobe. 

A tale of two redaction processes: mind-numbing vs. one-click

‍Manual digital redaction is soul-crushingly slow and highly prone to errors. As you can imagine, when working on a 300-page document, it’s really easy to miss a small piece of confidential information, like a phone number. This is why it’s important to make the right choice when it comes to redaction tools. To put things in perspective, lets walk through two different redaction processes: one using Adobe and one using Redactable.

If you choose Adobe, you’ll have to first download the document from the cloud (if it’s not already on your hard drive) and then open it in Acrobat Pro. Then, you’ll have to manually search for text, images, and any other content that needs to be hidden. It will be a lengthy, highly repetitive process, possibly extending over multiple days. You’ll have to continually go through the cycle of searching for information, identifying it as confidential, and marking it for redaction. At long last, you’ll reach the end of the document. 

The next step will be to go back over the entire document, double-checking for any errors or missed pieces of information. With the double-check complete, you can then finalize the redactions. Don’t forget to also “sanitize” the PDF to remove the metadata. Adobe boasts that their redaction process is only “7 steps long”, but applying those 7 steps to hundreds or thousands of pieces of confidential information requires hours and hours of mind-numbing manual effort. 

Or, you could choose to use Redactable and simply upload the document, select “Auto,” and let Redactable’s artificial intelligence identify every instance of sensitive information automatically. After that, click “Redact” and download your finalized PDF with all metadata eliminated. What might have taken you days is done in just a few minutes. 

Permanent redaction saves embarrassment later

‍Another crucial factor in redaction tools is permanence. In Redactable, you can be confident that every single redaction is irreversible. Redacted content cannot be retrieved or revealed, ensuring sensitive information remains hidden for compliance. With Adobe, you can’t always have that confidence. The Adobe Redact tool is not readily accessible, and users often think it’s acceptable to use other Adobe editing tools (like the Draw tool) to hide information. However, this only conceals or masks data. The original information is still easily accessible, introducing compliance, security, and privacy risks. 

‍Spend less time figuring out menus and more time redacting

‍Being part of the broader Acrobat Pro software suite, Adobe's redaction tools provide redaction capabilities within the traditional desktop environment for PDF editing. However, the redaction process is less intuitive, requires more steps, and leaves a lot of room for human error.

Redactable offers an intuitive cloud-based dashboard and user-friendly wizards that allow you and your employees to easily apply redactions without requiring any code or technical expertise. The modern interface helps streamline the redaction process from start to finish.

Automation support scalability

Adobe Acrobat is desktop-based by default, and without strong automation features, redacting documents with Adobe becomes an increasingly difficult task as you scale up the number of pages to process. 

As a cloud-based solution, Redactable is easily scalable to meet your needs. Whatever the size of your team or your documents, Redactable’s powerful processing power and collaboration features make it easy to get the job done quickly and efficiently. 

Easy importing saves valuable time

Redactable makes loading documents up for redaction straightforward. With integrations for Google Drive, DropBox, and OneDrive, you can easily import your files from cloud storage and immediately start redacting. 

Desktop-based Adobe offers no such integration. Documents from the cloud must be downloaded, converted into PDF format, and then opened in Acrobat Pro. This lack of deeper integration with your other tools and platforms makes the process more inefficient for your business.

Get more done by working together

Redaction rarely occurs in isolation. Different team members often need to weigh in on what information needs to be removed. Lengthy documents are frequently processed by large teams for greater speed and efficiency. Achieving this kind of collaboration is straightforward with Redactable. 

Redactable’s Team Members feature allows you to use email to invite colleagues to collaborate on specific projects and documents. There are access controls for different roles, enabling you to fine-tune access management. Furthermore, Redactable’s Comments feature allows team members to communicate directly with each other while working on a document, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

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Why Redactable is the superior redaction solution for modern teams

Both Redactable and Adobe have their strengths, but Redactable is particularly well-suited to meet the evolving needs of today's teams. 

Redactable's AI automation allows it to handle high volumes of redactions quickly and accurately, making it the optimal choice for powering your redaction workflow. 

Its key benefits include:

• Automatic redaction rapidly finds and blacks out sensitive information with AI, saving you from the drudgery of manual redaction
• Industry-leading accuracy means less risk of human error and ensures document security
• Redacted information, including metadata, is always permanently removed, preventing embarrassing redaction failures
• Effortless collaboration with team management features, role assignment, and commenting features allow you to spend less time playing email tag and more time getting work done

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Learn more about how Redactable enables your business to work more efficiently while minimizing compliance risks by starting a free trial today.