Redax 3.5 - Dec/Jan '04

Redax 3.5

For practitioners who frequently find themselves having to redact large documents, Appligent Redax might prove to be a useful tool. Redax is a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat (you will need the full version of Acrobat 5 or 6).

Redax 3.5 is a special-purpose program. With it, you can edit documents with sensitive or trade-secret information before they are made public. It automatically will redact a Portable Document Format document. You automatically can mark up a document based on a predefined list of terms in a text file. You then can redact the document with a single click. What is substituted can be specified by the user, such as “Name of Seller” (for those answering Freedom of Information Act requests, the codes are supplied). The Full Version also can redact scanned images.

Depending on your workflow, there are a couple of ways to use Redax. One method is to open a document and draw Redax boxes around it. Alternatively, you can open a document in Acrobat and let Redax search it and tag the words you specified in the prepared text file. Redax then overlays the selections with corresponding exemption codes (user customizable or FOIA standard codes can be used). The redacted text is replaced with the exemption codes and deleted. Your new, redacted document is ready for public viewing.

For litigators, Redax is useful because it can produce a report of just what was redacted and where.

In the Full Version, you can produce customized palettes of exemption codes to suit your particular needs. The Lite Version only has limited customization. The palettes can be docked in windows and used while you manually select text and choose a code to redact your document. Exemption code palettes are simple text files that can be edited as you wish, so you can change exemption codes or create exemption codes customized to your practice.

Like many automated processes, the program can hiccup if you are not careful. Take, for example, a purchase and sales agreement. Redax doesn’t automatically equate “ABC ENTERPRISES” with “ABC Enterprises” or with “Abc enterprises.” Nor will it find misspellings of intended-to-be-redacted text. So if your selected text to redact is “ABC Enterprises, ” Redax will simply ignore the other variants. The program is helpful, but there is no substitution for line-by-line review of the document.

You can use Acrobat’s standard mark-up features (highlight, underline and strikethrough.) to select text and review selections in the comment pane. It’s also possible to use the Export document feature to check that content has been deleted.

Redax offers collaborative features such as assigning different colors to individual authors redacting a document. The Full Version also is able to redact all or portions of images contained in a document.

The Lite Version is a streamlined version of Redax and includes features such as:

Replace Blank/White space
Preserve bookmarks
Find bracketed text
Pre-defined Exemption Codes (limited).

Other features of the Full Version include:

Redax toolbar buttons
Automated templates
Reports
Prints Redax boxes
Removes annotations.

Aside from Redax requiring you work in Acrobat PDF files, Redax is expensive for what it does. For now, I prefer to redact my documents in Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect, and simply export my document to a PDF file if needed.

Appligent Inc.
(610) 284-4006

www.appligent.com

Price: $349 for Full Version; $199 for Lite Version

Windows 98/NT/2000/XP

Reviewed by Daniel S. Coolidge, a patent and intellectual property attorney and frequent lecturer and writer on legal technology issues.

Dec/Jan '04 Issue

PROS
It does what it’s supposed to do well. There is a good tracking report to show what was redacted.

CONS
It’s limited to PDF documents and requires a full version of Adobe Acrobat to run. It’s only marginally better than the basic word processor search and replace features. It’s also pricey.

VERDICT
On a scale of one to five (five being the best), I give it a 1.5.