This new PDF tool might be the best way to keep your confidential data safe

Foxit PDF Editor Smart Redact hides sensitive data
(Image credit: Foxit)

Foxit has announced the release of Smart Redact - an AI-powered tool that can detect and redact sensitive information contained within PDF documents. 

The new tool promises to provide businesses with a more efficient way to stay compliant with global data laws and regulations like GDPR. Now, firms can search and hide sensitive data without having to exit the PDF editor and disrupt the workflow. 

Smart Redact comes as an optional add-on. However, it’s built directly into Foxit PDF Editor - considered one of the best PDF readers for Windows - so unlike other PDF plugins, you won’t need to install it. You just need to switch it on. 

 Smart, sensitive, secure

Privacy-conscious Foxit users are no strangers to redaction. The PDF editor, which we champion as one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives, included the option to manually locate and mark text, images, areas, and even whole pages for redaction. 

Now, Foxit claims that Smart Redact “builds upon the redact capability in PDF Editor by expanding the number of automatic sensitive data pattern searches, including those without static patterns, such as person names, organization names, personal roles.”

Alongside the AI tool, user profiles are also now available. Profiles let you set certain types of confidential data that are always to be obscured. That means you won’t have to constantly search and scrub protected information across multiple documents and document types, as Smart Redact will automatically do it for you. 

With cybersecurity front of mind, Smart Redact is TAA compliant and SOC 2 Certified. Data transferred between the software and the Foxit cloud server deploys AES-256 encryption. 

Frank Kettenstock, Foxit CMO, said “By leveraging artificial intelligence, Foxit Smart Redact dramatically improves the productivity of knowledge workers involved in redaction. Users will save time and reduce the potential for errors.”

Steve Clark
B2B Editor - Creative & Hardware

Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He explores the apps and devices for individuals and organizations that thrive on design and innovation. A former journalist at Web User magazine, he's covered software and hardware news, reviews, features, and guides. He's previously worked on content for Microsoft, Sony, and countless SaaS & product design firms. Once upon a time, he wrote commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.