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The Highlight-to-PDF Trap

Every week, attorneys make the same mistake: they highlight text in black, convert to PDF, and assume it's "redacted."

It's not.

That text can be:

• Selected and copied
• Extracted with basic PDF tools
• Revealed by removing the highlighting layer
• Indexed by search engines

Courts have taken notice—and they're not pleased.

Real Sanctions Cases

The "Technical Weakness" Admonishment

In a recent case documented by Nextpoint, a magistrate judge demanded counsel explain why they should not be sanctioned for a memorandum where there was a "technical weakness" in the redaction process.

The attorney had used Word's highlighting feature. Opposing counsel simply selected the "redacted" text and copied it.

The Metadata Exposure

In another case, an attorney produced documents with "redacted" information that remained visible in the file's metadata. Names, dates, and privileged information that appeared blacked out were fully accessible through document properties.

The Copy-Paste Discovery

A paralegal discovered that text could be copied from under black highlighting in a PDF. The firm had produced thousands of documents with this "redaction." All had to be recalled and re-produced—at significant expense and embarrassment.

Why Highlighting Isn't Redaction

When you highlight text in Word or PDF: