In short: Nitro Smart Redact is Nitro's AI-assisted redaction tool. It detects more than 30 categories of personal data, including in scanned documents and images, groups suggestions by category for review, and permanently removes visible and hidden data. It is licensed per user with a document allowance, topped up in packs of 100 shared with Nitro Automate.
What Nitro Smart Redact is
Redaction is slow and risky when it is done by hand: reviewers miss a name in a footnote, or black boxes are drawn over text that can still be copied out of the file. Nitro Smart Redact uses AI to read a document in context, suggest everything that looks like personal or sensitive data, and then permanently remove what you approve.
Nitro states that it detects more than 30 categories of personally identifiable information, including unstructured data that simple pattern searches miss, and that it works on scanned documents and image files. Every suggestion is checked against confidence thresholds and grouped by category, so a reviewer can accept or reject whole groups quickly.
Key capabilities
| Capability | What it does |
|---|---|
| AI detection | Finds 30+ categories of personal data in context |
| Scans and images | Finds and redacts sensitive data in scanned files and images |
| Grouped suggestions | Organises suggested redactions by category for faster review |
| Confidence validation | Checks suggestions against confidence thresholds to cut false positives |
| Search and redact | Finds and redacts specific terms across the document |
| Custom terms | Always flag, or always ignore, repeated items |
| Drawing tools | Freeform redaction of images, signatures and other visual elements |
| Preview | Check the redacted version before creating the final file |
| Permanent removal | Strips visible and hidden data, plus relevant metadata and scripts, from the output |
Nitro states that documents are encrypted, held only temporarily during processing and deleted when the task is complete, and that customer data is never used to train generative AI.
How Nitro Smart Redact is licensed
Nitro Smart Redact is licensed per user, with an allowance of documents. When a team needs more, add a Nitro Documents for Smart Redact and Automate 100 pack at any point in the term. Each pack adds 100 documents, shared across Smart Redact and Nitro Automate, and unused documents expire at the end of the term, so size top-ups to your expected volume.
If the same users also need a PDF editor and e-signature, Nitro PDF Pro+ includes Smart Redact with its own document credit allowance. We confirm the commitment term and allowances in your quote, so ask us for a quote.
Where it fits
Most UK organisations redact documents to meet UK GDPR and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, typically when:
- responding to subject access requests, where third-party personal data must be removed before disclosure
- answering FOI requests and publishing records
- sharing HR investigation files, tribunal bundles or legal disclosure
- sending case files, medical or care records to other organisations
- publishing board papers, planning documents or reports
Smart Redact does not replace the judgement of the person deciding what should be disclosed, but it removes most of the manual searching and makes it far harder to miss something.
Who it suits and how we help
Smart Redact suits data protection officers, information governance and FOI teams, HR, legal and compliance teams, and local authorities, schools, housing associations and health and care providers that handle disclosure requests.
We supply the licences on your Forever Systems account, arrange a trial on real (non-live) examples, and monitor document usage so you can top up before you run out. Compare other tools in PDF software.
How Forever Systems supplies your software licences
Forever Systems Ltd supplies business software subscriptions to UK organisations from one account, with one monthly invoice and a UK team who know the products.
- The right edition first time: we check what you need before you buy, so you are not paying for features you will never use
- Monthly or annual terms where the vendor offers them, and help timing renewals and commitments
- Licence changes handled for you: add or remove users, upgrade editions and true-up without starting a new contract
- Deployment and support from engineers who run these products every day, not just a reseller account
- Consolidated billing and renewal reminders so nothing lapses unexpectedly
We work with businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations of all sizes.
Need a licence quote or a second opinion on your renewal?
Tell Forever Systems what you need and we will come back to you by email with options, not a hard sell.
Contact usFrequently asked questions
Can Nitro Smart Redact redact scanned documents?
Yes. It finds and redacts sensitive data in scanned files and images, as well as in digital documents.
Are Nitro Smart Redact redactions permanent?
Yes. Published redactions permanently remove the visible content along with hidden data and relevant metadata and scripts, so the redacted information cannot be recovered from the output file.
Does Nitro use our documents to train its AI?
Nitro states that documents are encrypted, held only temporarily during processing, deleted when the task is complete and never used to train generative AI.
Is Smart Redact included in Nitro PDF Pro+?
Yes. Nitro PDF Pro+ includes Smart Redact and Nitro Automate with a document credit allowance. Smart Redact can also be licensed on its own.