COMPLETE USER GUIDE

Private PDF Redaction User Guide

A complete reference for selecting PDFs, choosing the correct redaction method, reviewing every pending region, exporting a secure copy and checking the result.

Manual redaction Native PDF text search Local OCR for scans Flattened secure export Post-export verification

Find a button or setting

Quick start

The shortest safe workflow from opening the tool to completing the job.

1 Open PDF(s)

Use Select PDFs in Premium or drag PDFs onto the landing area.

2 Mark sensitive content

Drag manually, use Find Text, or use OCR Search for scanned pages.

3 Review pending regions

Inspect page thumbnails and the Pending Redactions list.

4 Export secure copy

Optionally add a REDACTED label, then run Export Secure Copy.

5 Verify

Review verification results and visually inspect the exported PDF before sharing.

Opening PDFs and the Premium queue

Controls for loading one or more PDFs.

Select PDFs / Select PDF

Opens PDF files for redaction.

Premium shows Select PDFs and can queue multiple PDFs. Free mode accepts one PDF at a time.

Useful to know: You can also drag PDF files onto the landing area.

PDFs queued / Open Next PDF

Processes multiple selected PDFs one at a time in Premium.

After finishing the current document, choose Open Next PDF to continue with the queue.

Useful to know: If the current PDF still has pending redactions, FilesStayLocal requires you to export or clear them before opening the next queued PDF.

Open PDF

Chooses another PDF from the workspace.

Use this when you want to replace the current document after resolving any pending redactions.

Useful to know: The original PDF remains unchanged.

Page thumbnails

Navigates between pages and shows where pending redactions exist.

Select a page thumbnail to review that page and its pending regions.

Useful to know: Review every relevant page before export.

Three ways to mark sensitive information

Choose the method that matches the PDF content.

Manual drag redaction

Lets you draw a redaction rectangle directly over any visible content.

Press and hold the mouse, drag across the complete sensitive area and release. Use this for signatures, handwriting, images, irregular content or anything search cannot reliably identify.

Useful to know: Drag slightly beyond the first and last sensitive character rather than drawing an extremely tight box.

Text to find

The search field used by both text-search workflows.

Enter the exact word, name, number or phrase you want FilesStayLocal to locate.

Useful to know: Review every returned match before adding it to the pending redactions.

Find Text

Searches the PDF's real selectable text layer.

Use this first for ordinary PDFs created by Word, browsers or business systems where the words can normally be selected or searched.

Useful to know: If Find Text returns no useful result and the page is a scan or image, try OCR Search.

OCR Search

Reads visible text from scanned or image-only PDF pages locally on the Mac.

Use OCR Search when the PDF is a scan/photo or when Find Text cannot see the text layer.

Useful to know: OCR can miss handwriting, unusual fonts, low-resolution scans and text inside complex graphics. Always verify visually.

Search matches

Lists the locations found by Find Text or OCR Search.

Review individual matches and add only the ones that should be redacted.

Useful to know: A search result is a proposed region; visual review remains important.

Redact All

Adds all currently returned search matches to the pending-redaction list.

Use it only when every result for the current query should be removed.

Useful to know: For names or numbers that also appear in legitimate public text, add matches individually instead.

Reviewing pending redactions

Nothing is permanent until the secure copy is exported.

Pending Redactions

Lists the manual and search-derived regions scheduled for redaction.

Use the list together with page thumbnails to review the location of every pending region.

Useful to know: Remove any region that covers information you intend to keep.

Undo Redaction

Removes the most recently added pending redaction.

Use it immediately after drawing or adding a region you did not intend.

Useful to know: Undo affects the pending workspace, not the original PDF.

Remove individual region

Deletes one chosen pending redaction from the list.

Use the remove control beside a region when only that one mark should be discarded.

Useful to know: The rest of the pending redactions remain.

Clear Redactions

Removes all pending redactions from the current document.

Use this when you want to restart the marking process for the current PDF.

Useful to know: Clearing pending marks does not alter the original PDF.

Add REDACTED label

Optionally prints a visible REDACTED marker inside sufficiently large black redaction areas.

Enable it when you want readers to see that information was intentionally removed.

Useful to know: The label is cosmetic; the secure export method is what makes the redaction permanent in the exported copy.

Secure export and verification

Controls used when the review is complete.

Export Secure Copy

Creates a new flattened redacted PDF rather than overwriting the source.

After reviewing all pending regions, export the secure copy. The current engine rebuilds pages from rendered pixels so the source text layer is not copied into the output.

Useful to know: The default output naming uses a -redacted.pdf style name and FilesStayLocal refuses to overwrite the original PDF.

What secure flattened export means

Permanently incorporates the pending black redaction regions into newly rendered PDF pages.

The approach intentionally favors conservative redaction over preserving the source PDF's selectable text layer.

Useful to know: After export, treat the redacted copy as the shareable document and retain the original separately if needed.

Verification

Checks the newly exported PDF after creation.

FilesStayLocal checks exported pages again. Search-derived sensitive terms are tested against any native text and local OCR results.

Useful to know: Verification assists review but does not replace visually inspecting every page.

Reveal Output in Finder

Shows the exported redacted PDF in macOS Finder.

Use it after verification to open and visually inspect the final document.

Useful to know: Do not share until the exported PDF itself has been reviewed.

Close Document

Clears the current PDF from the redaction workspace.

Use this after you have completed or intentionally abandoned work on the current document.

Useful to know: Resolve pending redactions first if you still need them.

Cancel

Stops an active OCR, export or other cancellable long-running operation when the control is shown.

Use it when you no longer need the current processing step to finish.

Useful to know: Cancelling processing does not overwrite the original document.

No matching control found. Try a shorter word such as “OCR”, “Trash”, “Finder”, “Clean” or “Verify”.

Safety and privacy notes

Important behaviour to understand before sharing, cleaning or exporting files.

Manual redaction

Best for signatures, handwriting, images, irregular areas and content that search may not identify.

Find Text

Best for ordinary PDFs containing a real selectable/searchable text layer.

OCR Search

Best for scanned or image-only pages, but OCR results must always be visually checked.

Permanent result

Redaction is permanent in the exported secure copy. Confirm the correct information was selected before sharing.

Ready to return to the tool?

The guide remains available whenever you need to look up a button or setting again.

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