The workshop starts in ten minutes. You need an attendee-facing summary from a PDF that includes an internal booking code. A colleague draws a black rectangle over the code. Another applies a PDF redaction and saves a new copy. On screen, both files look the same.
Which file would you use for the AI summary? Pick A for the drawn rectangle or B for the applied redaction. Then compare your answer with what a text extractor found.
Choose B as your review copy. In this test, Poppler’s pdftotext still returned the fictional code from A. It did not return the code from B, and the public agenda came through in both files. This was a test of text extraction on two synthetic PDFs. An AI service did not receive either file.
1. Decide what the summary actually needs
The attendees need the welcome time, room and agenda. Start with those fields. If you can copy approved passages into a clean note, that may be all the input your approved AI tool needs.
If you need to share a PDF, list the items to remove before editing. In this example, look for the booking code on the page, any repeated instance in a footer or appendix, and any attached internal brief.
2. Apply the redaction and save a separate copy
Use your approved PDF editor’s redaction feature on a copy. Mark the sensitive text or image, apply the redaction, then save the result under a distinct filename. Use the editor’s sanitization or hidden-information review to check for items such as comments, metadata and attachments.
If the document includes scans or screenshots, inspect those pages visually. A text search can miss words that exist only as pixels. Check any searchable OCR text too.
3. Reopen the exact file you plan to share
Search for the removed text and reasonable variants. Try selecting and pasting across the redacted area into a local plain-text editor, or use an approved local text extractor. Check that public information still comes through. A clean search is one check, so review visible pages and hidden items before using the file.
Example review entry · Workshop brief, page 1 · Booking code absent from extracted text after redaction · Public welcome time still present.
Copyable review row · File and page ___ · Item checked ___ · Evidence ___ · Reviewer and date ___
Then ask AI for the attendee version
Use only content cleared for that tool and audience. Give the assistant a narrow assignment and check the result against the cleared input before sending it.
Open the copyable summary prompt
Create a short workshop summary for attendees using the approved text below. Include the start time, location and agenda only when the text explicitly gives them. Put missing fields under “Confirm before sending.” Keep times as written. End with a separate reviewer note listing the source line for each detail. Keep the reviewer note out of the attendee copy.
Approved text
[Paste cleared passages here.]
Related on WorkTool Note. Check whether an AI-generated FAQ invented a rule.
Sources checked November 7, 2026. Foxit’s redaction guide, Adobe’s PDF redaction guide, and Adobe’s current desktop tutorial.