Redax^® Pro is a stand alone Windows application that streamlines the time-consuming task of searching for and deleting (redacting) sensitive or private information from PDF documents. You can use Redax^® Pro to redact text, images, and entire pages from PDF documents.  Redax^® Pro creates a new document in the redaction process. Content marked for redaction in the original document is not part of the new redacted document. Redax^® Pro also has the ability to stamp text onto redacted PDF documents, such as release dates and disclaimers.

 

If you are new to the world of redaction, this section will help you understand the process. Redaction is the process of removing portions of a document so that it can be released in a form reduced from its original. Prior to electronic documents, redaction was accomplished by making a photocopy of each page, applying white ink to the physical page, effectively erasing the confidential content, then photocopying this marked-up document. The result was a document which could be assembled from the photocopied pages and sent to the recipient. With digital files, the equivalent of this process is done with an application like Redax Pro. 

The document is marked by adding boxes (called Redax boxes). These can be added manually, or through one of several dialogs. The document preparer reads through the pages of the file, marking content to be redacted by drawing a rectangle around the text or graphic to be redacted later. 

Each Redax box has several attributes to help the redaction process. The most important attribute is the exemption code. Redaction is often done to release limited versions of government documents. In this context, the reason for the content’s removal is cited as part of the removed content. In the US, exemption codes fall into a couple of groups, US FOIA and US Privacy. The exemption code associated with a Redax box is visible if you examine the properties of the box. This value can be set as a default through Redax Pro preferences. 

After completely marking the document to be redacted, you can save the file with its Redax boxes. Then you redact the file by choosing File | Redact Document (Ctrl-R). Redax Pro will visit each page in the file. For each page containing one or more Redax boxes, the content under that box will be removed from the page. A new page without the removed content will be created. A new document is created from all of the newly redacted pages. This document will open in a new window. 

In summary, to redact a file involves first marking the document, then applying redaction to the document. The rest of this guide will explore the details of how to accomplish the process with Redax^® Pro.

You can mark up or select areas for redaction by:

• Drawing Redax boxes around text and images (bitmap and vector)
• Placing Full-Page tags on entire pages and page ranges
• Automatically finding all text that:
  • Is bracketed
  • Matches words and phrases in a redaction list file you create
  • Matches patterns, including Social Security numbers, telephone numbers, postal codes, email addresses, etc.
  • Matches regular expressions you provide
• Applying a template to documents where the information to be redacted is always in the same location
• From the Search dialog

(If you have Acrobat Pro, you can use Acrobat’s text selection tool, highlighting tools (Highlight, Cross Out/Strikethrough and Underline) or Acrobat redaction markup to mark up the file. Save the changes and reopen in Redax Pro.)

Redaction features

When you redact a document, you can:

• Overlay redacted text and images with rectangles in a color and transparency level of your choice
• Condense redacted page ranges into a single blank page or leave all of the redacted blank pages in the document. The condensed pages can also include a statement regarding the number of condensed pages and the reason.
• Use exemption codes or redact without them
• Redact selected text or images based on a *category”.
  *Categories are classifications that can be defined to selectively redact text and images based upon the intended recipient of the redacted documents. For example, you might have one category of markup to be used when redacting for discovery documents in a legal case and another category to be used when redacting documents for the general public.

You can customize Redax Pro to suit your requirements by:

• Editing the US FOIA and US Privacy exemption code lists in Redax Pro or adding your own custom codes
• Creating redaction list files to automate text markup
• Creating templates to automate markup of documents where the information to be redacted is always in the same location
• Setting preferences for Redax boxes and Full-Page tags, which are used to mark up pages for redaction
• Setting preferences to define the appearance of redacted areas
• Setting preferences for a variety of processing options, such as whether to keep bookmarks from the original file in the redacted document

Throughout the user interface for Redax Pro, tool tips are available. When you hover the mouse over a button in the document window, or a control in a dialog, a brief description of the item will temporarily appear. 

The Welcome window is displayed each time you launch Redax Pro.  

From the Welcome window, you can open a PDF file by going to the File Menu | Open.   You can also open a PDF file by clicking on the plus sign in the bottom left of the window. Once you have been working with the application for a while, recent PDF files will appear on the right side of the window. 

 

Redax Pro provides two special types of annotations for marking up information to be redacted:

Redax box — Marks specific pieces of information for redaction, such as an image, part of an image, or a segment of text, as shown in the figure below:

Full-Page tag — Marks an entire page for redaction, as shown in the figure below:

Redax box preferences define default properties of Redax boxes and Full-Page tags. The following instructions explain how to define Redax box preferences for:

All Redax boxes and Full-Page tags you create from now on in any documents that are open, as well as documents that you open in the future

To define Redax box preferences

1. Edit menu  | Preferences
   The Redax Pro Preferences dialog box appears.  There are four tabs in the dialog:

Options Tab:  Processing options let you customize the way Redax Pro processes information during markup, redaction, and export (template creation) operations. When you define processing options, they are applied to all subsequent processes of the applicable types, regardless of whether the document being processed is currently open or closed.

You can change the processing option preferences as desired.  The following describes the processing option preferences:

Type	Preference	Description
Markup Options	Remove Brackets when Finding Bracketed Text	Check to include bracket characters in redaction when running Find Bracketed Text.   Uncheck if you want to keep the brackets in the redacted file and only redact the text in between them. For example, the string [XYZ] when redacted will be completely gone if brackets are removed, or [   ] if not.
Redaction Options	Preserve Bookmarks	Check to keep all bookmarks from the original file following redaction. Clear the check mark to remove all bookmarks.
	Remove Redax Boxes after Redaction	Check to remove Redax boxes from the redacted file. Clear the check mark to preserve the Redax boxes.
	Allow Redaction without Exemption	Check to allow redaction of information in Redax boxes that do not have any exemption codes.
	Condense Fully Redacted Pages	Check to collapse consecutive, fully redacted pages into a single page. Clear the check mark to retain each fully redacted page as a separate page
Full Page Redaction Options	Position	Choose where to place the Exemption code on a fully redacted page. The location options are the top-left, center, bottom left or bottom of the page.
	Text Color	The color of the exemption code text that will appear on the fully redacted page.
	Text Size	The size of the exemption code text in the redacted area.

 

Redaction Properties Tab: Redaction preferences determine the appearance of redacted areas in a document. When you define redaction preferences, they are applied to all subsequent redactions, regardless of whether the document being redacted is currently open or closed.

 

Type	Preference	Description
Redaction Area	Fill Color	The interior color of redacted areas. To select another color, click in the Fill Color box. In the Color selector that appears, select a color and then click OK.
	Transparency	The degree of transparency of the fill color. To decrease transparency, move the slider left. To increase transparency, move the slider right. The minimum transparency level is 25% (mid-way between completely opaque and completely transparent), and the maximum transparency level is 100% (completely transparent).
	Frame Color	The border color of redacted areas. To select another color, click in the Frame Color box. In the Color selector that appears, select a color and then click OK.
	Transparency	The degree of transparency of the frame color. To decrease transparency, move the slider left. To increase transparency, move the slider right. The minimum transparency level is 25% (midway between completely opaque and completely transparent), and the maximum transparency level is 100% (completely transparent).
Exemption Code	Position	Exemption code is located at the top-left of the redacted area, centered in the redacted area, at the bottom-left of the redacted area, or at the bottom of the page.
	Word Wrap Exemption Code	Select this option to word-wrap the exemption code string if it exceeds the width of the redacted area. Note: When this option is selected the position will default to top-left.
	Clip Exemption Code to Rectangle	Select this option to truncate the exemption code string if it exceeds the width of the redacted area.
	Entire Exemption Code on One Line	Select this option to place the entire exemption code string on one line, even if it exceeds the width of the redacted area. If you select this option and your exemption code is longer than the redacted area, your exemption code may overflow onto other areas on the page.
	Text Color	The color of the exemption code text in the redacted area. To select another color, click in the colored box. In the Color selector that appears, select a color and then click OK.
	Font Size	The size of the exemption code text in the redacted area.

 

Annot Fields tab: Define an author, category, exemption code and note for Redax boxes.  What is set in this tab, will be applied to every Redax box added to your PDF file. 

Change the properties as desired.  The following table describes the properties in detail:

Property	Description
Author	The name of the author to be associated with Redax boxes and Full-Page tags.
Category	A redaction classification to be associated with Redax boxes and Full-Page tags. For example, you might have one category of markup to be used when redacting for local law enforcement agencies and another category to be used when redacting for the general public. Categories can be used to filter which Redax boxes are redacted.
Exemption	A default exemption code is assigned to Full-Page tags and to Redax boxes that are manually drawn or applied to any of the following: all bracketed text, all text areas, all image areas, and all path areas. Leave this field blank if you do not want to use a default exemption code. Note: The exemption code is the only property that will be visible in the final redacted document.
Note	A note to be associated with Redax boxes and Full-Page tags. This is useful in workgroup environments.
Box Color	The border color of Redax boxes. If more than one person is working on the document, using different box colors is a useful way to keep track of each individual’s markup. To select another color, click in the colored box. In the Color selector that appears, select a color and then click OK.

 

To apply the properties to all Redax boxes and Full-Page tags you create from now on—in any documents that are open, as well as documents that you open in the future—click OK. Your preferences are saved, and the Redax Box Preferences dialog box closes. The properties you defined will be used until you change them.

If at any time you need to change any Redax Box preferences, do the following:

1.  Click Apply Changes to Current Document.  The Change All Redax Boxes dialog appears:  
   
   
   
   
2. Check the properties you want to apply to all applicable Redax boxes in the current document.
   
   Important! If Exemption is checked, all existing exemption codes in Redax boxes will be replaced with the default exemption code. You should only check Exemption if you wish to have all Redax boxes use the same exemption code.
   
3. Click Ok
4. A dialog opens with the message “Changed need to be saved before proceeding.  Save now?  If you click Yes, the properties you defined will be changed to all Redax boxes in the current document. If you click No, no changes are made. 

Reports tab: Select the type of report format for your Redax reports. You can choose a Text file or a Comma-Separated Value (CSV). 

Note: You can always change the properties of an individual Redax box or Full-Page tag. 

To change the properties of an individual Redax box or Full-Page tag

Double-click inside the Redax box or Full-Page tag for which you want to change properties.

The Redax Box Properties opens. From here, you can change the Author, Category, Exemption, Note and Box Color from within the dialog.

 

 

From this menu, you can open a PDF document, redact a document, get file information and more. 

After opening a PDF file, the document window looks like this:

Above the page view is a row of navigation buttons. The first four allow you to display the first, previous, next, and last pages in the document. The next group of three is for zooming out, actual page, and zooming in. Then, two buttons for controlling fit width and fit height. 

The button group in the top right corner controls what is displayed in the list column below it. The default displays the available exemption codes and their group. If you draw a Redax box on the page, it becomes the current selection (drawn with blue circles around the edges). You can add exemption codes to the selected Redax box by clicking on an exemption code in the list. You can add multiple exemption codes by clicking on multiple codes. When you add an exemption code to a Redax box, that code is added to the Recent list in the bottom right corner.

Clicking the middle button updates the column to display all the Redax annotations (Redax boxes) and their page numbers. Clicking on a line in this window will select the associated annotation in the page view, navigating to the page associated with that annotation if necessary.

Clicking the right-most button displays all annotation types in the file. Clicking on a line in this window will select the associated annotation in the page view, navigating to the page associated with that annotation if necessary.

You can filter the list of annotations displayed by entering the annotation type in the text field under the button group and clicking the right button again. For example, you may have a PDF file with hundreds of pages with lots of Acrobat markup. You want to see only the Highlight annotations. Enter “Highlight” in the text field (that says Search in the screenshot above). Then click the right button again. The list of annotations updates, only showing the Highlight annotations in the document.

When you execute menu items that make changes to the document, the results may be summarized in the lower right region of the document window.

Open Recent

As you work with PDF documents, they are added to the Recent file list displayed in the Welcome window. To clear this list, execute File | Open Recent. Scroll to the bottom of the list displayed and choose Clear. 

Redact Document  

This is the final step to redacting a PDF file. If you have added Redax boxes to the currently open file, you can execute File | Redact Document (or hit Ctrl-R). If there are no Redax (or Full Tag) boxes in the file, you’ll see an alert:

Otherwise, a new file is created with the naming convention R_FileName.pdf. Page content that lies behind the Redax annotations you created will be removed from the file. Redax annotations will be removed from the file according to your preference. If not removed, the Redax annotations will be replaced with an appearance based on your preferences (fill color, exemption code, etc.)

Redact by Category

Each Redax annotation you create contains an optional text field to represent a category. This allows you to set up a file to be redacted for different target audiences through the Redact by Category menu item. One set of Redax annotations marks a general level of content to be removed. Another set of markup would remove an increased level of content for removal. Once marked, you could then redact using one category for the first version of the file, then redact using another category for a different result. 

Below is a screenshot of the Redact Categories dialog for a file which has been marked for redaction with three categories, Personal Information, Dates, and Financial Data. The most efficient way to accomplish this is by using the Annot Fields panel in the Preferences dialog to set the Category to Dates. Then mark up all the dates you want to redact throughout the file. Once these are created, reopen Preferences (Ctrl-K), change the Category to Personal Information, OK the dialog and mark all the personal information you want to redact. Then set the Category preference to Financial Data, and mark up all the financial data in the file. 

An alternate workflow would involve creating each markup annotation. Then double-click it to bring up the Box Properties, set the Category field for that annotation. Continue this for each annotation you make. The Category field has a list of all the categories used in the Redax annotations in the file so far.

This screenshot reflects a dialog which has just one instance of each category. 

Marking up a document with categories

1. Create your markups throughout the PDF document
   
   
2. Categories are defined in the Redax Box Properties of a Redax box. Open the Redax Box Properties by double-clicking on a Redax box in the document. The Redax Properties Box will open as shown in the figure above.
   
   
3. Enter a category definition in the Category Field. You can assign one category to each Redax box.
   
   
4. Click OK. Once you add the first category, it will now appear on a list which is available any time you open a Redax Properties Box in this document.
   
   
5. Select Redact by Category from the File Menu. You select which categories you wish to redact in the dialog

Get File Information

This option shows information about the document.  There are four tabs in the dialog:

1. Description Tab: Information such as title, author, creator, producer and more are displayed under this tab
2. Security Tab:  Details encryption setting applied in the document. “True” or “False” will appear under Encrypted depending on whether encryption options are set on the file or not. You can view the document permissions in this tab.
3. Fonts Tab:  List all fonts that are found in the PDF document
4. Annotations: Lists all annotations and the type of annotations in the document

Revert to Saved

This option throws away any changes to the currently open PDF document and reloads it. It is intended to be a fast way to accomplish doing File | Close, File | Open. 

Export Page Images…

This option allows you to export pages from your PDF document to single page images.

From this dialog, you can save to PNG, JPEG, or TIFF formatted files, after picking an output directory. When you hit Export, the export process starts. Once you are finished exporting, click Close to dismiss the dialog.

Edit Menu Options

You set the Redax box and redaction preferences from this menu. 

This menu contains several ways to mark up your PDF documents as well as other options for working with markups.  

The following table details the Markup menu items:

Type	Markup Menu Item	Description
Applying Redax Markup	Draw Box	Lets you manually draw a Redax box around an image, part of an image, or a text area using the Redax Draw Box tool. This is the only method available for marking up individual images, but one of many methods for marking up text. (A Redax box is similar to Acrobat annotations, e.g., Highlight, CrossOut, Underline.) Note: Draw box is selected by default
	Full Page Box	Marks the current page for redaction by placing a Full-Page tag in the upper-left corner of the page.
	Full Page Range…	Displays dialog to get start and end pages along with the exemption code. (See below.) Marks a range of pages for redaction by placing a Full-Page tag in the upper-left corner of each page selected for the range.
Globally Change Exemption Codes	Change All Exemption Codes	This option allows you to change all or some existing exemption codes in a document.   Note: See details below on using this feature.
Convert Acrobat Markups	Convert Markup	Convert Acrobat markup to Redax markup or redact Acrobat markup directly.
Import/Export Markups	Import Markup	Read annotation data from a text file and create annotations from the input
	Export Markup	Save all annotation data from the open file to a text file
Form Fields	Flatten Form Fields	Flatten any form fields in the file to page content
Templates	Import Redax Template	Allows you to quickly mark up information that is located in the same position across pages.   Note: More details on Templates can be found below.
	Export Redax Template	Export a template that is set up to markup information in the same position across pages in a PDF document.

 

Full Page Range Dialog

This dialog is posted when you execute Markup | Full Page Range… You enter the start and end pages to be marked with Full Page tags. If you leave the Exemption code field blank, the Full Page boxes will contain the default exemption code.

Change All Exemption Codes

This option allows you to change all exemption codes in the document from one code to another.  This may be useful to fix mistakes made during the markup phase. You also have the option to set all exemption codes to “blank” and remove what is currently set in the boxes.

To change existing exemption codes, select the radio button next to Exemption in the bottom of the window.  Next select the line that contains the code you wish to change.  Double click in the area below the “To” field. The field becomes an edit field with the cursor blinking. Type the new code. Hit the Tab key to set this To Field.

Once you have updated the To fields desired, click the Ok button.  Redax boxes with exemption codes which match the From field will have their exemption codes changed to the value in the To field. Exemption codes with blank To fields will not be changed. If you wish to change an exemption code to no exemption code,  check the option “Set empty To values to blank” at the bottom of the window.  For example, if you wanted to effectively omit all exemption codes with (b)(3), and leave all the other exemption codes untouched, you’d put the existing From code for all of the lines except (b)(3) in the To field, thus preserving those. Leave the (b)(3) To field blank, and check the Set empty To values to blank checkbox. (If you left all of the To fields blank, and set the Set empty To values to blank checkbox, all exemption codes would be set to blank.)

The figure below demonstrates changing all existing exemption codes in Redax boxes to (b)(6).

NOTE: The steps for changing Categories is the same as for Exemptions, just select the radio button next to Category.

Convert Markup 

You can directly redact an Acrobat markup, that is, text marked with Acrobat Highlight, CrossOut (Strikethrough), Underline, Acrobat redaction markup and/or Rectangle markup. (It isn’t possible to create Acrobat markup in Redax Pro. Users who have Acrobat Pro can create these markup annotations.)

1. Select Convert Markup from the Markup menu.  The dialog box appears (see figure below)
   
   
   
   
2. Select one or more of the markup types to redact
3. Assign an exemption code to each type of markup you are redacting.  Exemption codes are optional
4. Choose Redact markup, Convert Markup to Redax Boxes or Redact Markup and Redax Boxes

• • • • • Redact Markup - This option will only redact Acrobat markups in the document
        • Convert Markup to Redax Boxes - This will not redact the markups but will convert them to regular Redax Boxes
        • Redact Markup and Redax Boxes - This will redact both Acrobat markups as well as any Redax boxes in the document

IMPORTANT:  If you select File | Redact document on a PDF that contains only Acrobat markups, these markups will not be redacted.  A message will open letting you know that nothing was redacted.  Redact Document will only redact Redax boxes and Full-Page tags. It is not designed to redact Acrobat markups (Highlights, Cross Outs, Underlines, Acrobat redactions and Rectangles).

The count of how many annotations are in the document and how many can be converted by Redax Pro is displayed in the region above the OK and Cancel buttons.

Import Markup 

Import Markup lets you bring in previously exported markup annotation data. When selected, this menu item displays a dialog in which you can select a folder and file containing previously exported markup annotation data. The preferred extension for this type of markup data is fdf.

Export Markup 

Export Markup allows you to save a representation of all the markup annotations in the open PDF file. When selected, this menu item displays a dialog labeled Export File Markup. You can navigate to a folder, and enter the file name in which to save the text representation of the markup annotations in the file. This can be useful for debugging purposes. Or if you have documents which share the same layout exporting from one file, then importing that markup information to another file may be faster than manually creating the same markup annotations.

Flatten Form Fields
Redax Pro does not support redacting files with active form fields. You must first flatten all form fields in the file before you are able to redact the document. When you select this option, all form fields are flattened and a new dialog opens with a copy of the original document minus any form fields. The file name that appears in the title bar will contain a prefix C_ . Once all form fields are flattened, you will be able to markup the document and redact.

Creating a Redax template

You can create a single- or multi-page Redax template from a PDF document.

1. Mark up the document from which you want to create a template.
   Note: Redax boxes and/or Full-Page Tags are required for Redax templates. You cannot use Acrobat markups.
2. After marking up your document, go to the Markup menu | Export Redax Template.  The Template Repeat Count dialog box appears (see below):

3. Enter the number of pages that make up the template for the Page Repeat Increment.  

IMPORTANT: The template must always have Redax boxes on page 1. If your template has Redax boxes on more than one page, the pages must be consecutive. 

Note: If your template is one page, enter 1 in the Page Repeat Increment box. If your template is three pages, enter 3 in the Page Repeat Increment box.

4. Click OK, a dialog appears that allows you to select an output file. 
5. Specify a name and location for the template file and then click Save. 

Applying a Redax template

You can apply a Redax template to a PDF document that contains any number of copies of the page or set of pages that matches the template. For example, if a document contains 100 copies of a three-page form, a three-page template will be applied 100 times across the document.

Important! The PDF document must meet these requirements:

• Each set of pages that the template will be applied to must have the same formatting, be the same size and orientation as the template document. Otherwise the results will be unpredictable.
• Remove Active form fields, if present, by selecting Finalize Menu | Remove All Form Fields

To apply a Redax template

1. In the document to which you want to apply a template, select Markup | Import Redax Template. A file selection dialog box appears.
2. Locate and open the Redax template you want to use. Redax boxes are applied to the document as specified in the template.
3. Verify the location of the Redax boxes and make manual changes as necessary.
4. Select File | Save to save the marked up document.
   

 

This menu contains options to automate finding and marking up words/phrases, patterns and regular expressions quickly in a PDF document. 

Find Using List:  A redaction list file is a text file that lists words and phrases, grouped by exemption code or reason (if applicable), to be redacted from a document. Applying the redaction list file to a document automates the text markup process. All of the words and phrases in the document matching the words and phrases in the list file are marked with a Redax box. Each Redax box is labeled with the specified exemption code, if any was set.

Creating a redaction list file

List files are plain text (.txt) files that you can create using any word-processor or text editor.

It is best to keep your list files saved in the same directory as the PDF documents for which they have been developed. This makes the files much easier to locate and use. Another option is to create a specific directory in which to save list files and provide specific file names to identify which documents they are to be used for.

To create a list file:

1. Find Menu | Find Using List
2. The Find Using List editor opens:

3. Create an exemption definition by entering an exemption code or reason into the Exemption Code field. Click the plus button (+) to add the exemption code. The code will appear in the Exemption Code list.

 

For example, you could use a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) exemption code:

  Exemption (b)(6)

Or you could make up your own exemption code, such as:

  Exemption CONFIDENTIAL

Or you can create an exemption code with no name by placing your cursor in the Exemption Code field without typing anything and clicking Add. The text ~~No Exemption~~ will appear in the Exemption Code list.

Confidential is added to the exemption list area of the Find Using List editor as shown below.

Once an exemption code has been added to the exemption code list, you can modify it by selecting the exemption code.  When the exemption code is selected, you can make changes to the code, rename the code or hide it. 

• To delete an exemption code, select the code in the list. Click the minus button ( - ) to the right of “Exemption Code”. The code will immediately be deleted as well as any words/phrases associated with that code.
• To rename an exemption code, select the code in the list and type the new name or correction into the field under the list. Click Rename. The code will appear with the new name in the list.
• To disable and enable an exemption code, select the code in the list. Click Hide. The code will be appended with “~~inactive” to indicate that it is disabled

Note: When you need to use a code again that you selected to “Hide”, select the code and click Show. The code is now effective in the list.

4. Create a list of Words or Phrases for exemption codes you have defined by adding them into              the Words or Phrases section in the Find Using List dialog. 

To add words or phrases, select an exemption code on the Exemption Code side of the dialog. Add all of the words and phrases—one word or phrase at a time—for that exemption code. Click the plus sign (+) after each word or phrase. The entries will appear in the Word or Phrase list when the exemption code they correspond to is selected as shown in the figure below.

• To delete a word or phrase, select the word and click the minus button.
• To rename a word/phrase,  select the word/phrase on the right side of the dialog, type the new word/phrase into the field below the word or phrase list. Click Rename.
• To disable and enable words or phrases select the words or phrases that are not used for a particular document, but may be used in other documents. Click Hide. The word will be appended with “~~inactive” to indicate that it is disabled. When you need to use the item later, select the word or phrase. Click Show. It is now active in that list file.

5. Repeat the steps above until you are finished adding your exemption codes and words/phrases to the list.  You can specify an unlimited number of exemption lists (exemption codes associated with words and phrases) in one list file. To begin a new set of exemptions and words/phrases list, click the Clear button to clear out both the exemption codes and words and phrases lists. If you select Clear All by mistake, hit the Cancel button. When you re-open the Find Using List dialog, the exemption codes and words/phrases will reappear.

Importing list files

1. Click the Clear All button if there are any entries in the exemption codes or words and phrases lists. Importing a file without clearing will add the list file entries to the current list displayed.
2. Click Import File to open an existing list file. A file browser window will open. Locate and choose the list file you would like to import. 

Exporting list files

1. Click Export File to create a new list file for future use. A file browser window will open.
2. Choose the directory location, give the list file a new name (“ExemptionList1.txt”) and click Save. You can also modify list files by importing them, making changes, then exporting the file, overwriting the list file that is currently saved.

Redaction list file tips

1. Case. Words are highlighted without regard to case if you do not check the box next to Case-sensitive. For example, if the word “govern” is in your redaction list and the Case-sensitive box is not checked, the words “govern”, “Govern” and “GOVERN” will all be highlighted. If Case-sensitive is checked, only words that are exactly as you have entered them in the words and phrases list will be highlighted.
2. Embedded words. Words in the redaction list will be highlighted in the document even if they are embedded in other words. For example, if the word “govern” is in your redaction list, it will be highlighted even if it is part of the word government or governor.
3. Misspelled words. Misspelled words in the document will not be marked for redaction unless you add possible misspellings to your redaction list.

Find Patterns

There are many built in patterns that allow you to quickly search through a PDF file to find dates, social security numbers, email addresses, etc.

To select a Pattern for Redax to search, click on the Pattern name under Inactive Pattern Groups > click on the right arrow. The Pattern will appear under Active Pattern Groups. Redax will search for all Patterns in the Active Pattern Group in the open, active document.

Available patterns

The patterns provided with Redax Pro include:

 

• Credit Card
• Date
• Date numeric space-separated (12 08 2022)
• Email
• EmailUserName         (This pattern redacts just the username@ instead of username@company.com)
• Postal Code Australia
• Postal Code Brazil
• Postal Code Canada
• Postal Code Denmark
• Postal Code France
• Postal Code Denmark
• Postal Code France
• Postal Code Germany
• Postal Code India
• Postal Code Netherlands
• Postal Code Russia
• Postal Code Spain
• Postal Code USA
• Postal Code United Kingdom
• Social Security Number
• Telephone # Australia
• Telephone # NA – 7 digit (555-1212)
• Telephone # North America (888) 555-1212
• Telephone# United Kingdom
• URL

Find Regular Expression

The “Find Regular Expressions” dialog works in the same manner as the “Find Using List” Dialog, but in addition to adding specific words to an exemption code, a regular expression may be used. Additional information about regular expressions can be found in Appendix A: Regular Expressions.

As in the Find Using List, after you click the Find button, Redax draws a Redax box around all text matched by the regular expression. Each box contains the corresponding exemption code. If a regular expression matches part of a word, the whole word will be covered by the Redax box.

A regular expression search example

1. Open the Redax sample document sample_base.pdf (located in the c:\Appligent\Redax Pro\Samples directory)
2. Find Menu | Find Regular Expressions dialog
3. Import the sample file, sample_regex_list.txt, by selecting Import Saved Find Using List. You should see the exemption, Year, listed in the exemption window on the left with two lines in the right-hand window:

See Appendix A: Regular Expressions for an introduction to the concept and references to additional resources.

4. Click the Find Button.  Redax will go through and mark all 4-digit numbers between 1900 and 2049, with the exemption code of Year.

Find Bracketed Text

Redax Pro can draw Redax boxes around text surrounded by brackets. This method is frequently used in legal offices where brackets are used to denote confidential or privileged information.

Before you begin, make sure to indicate whether you want the brackets to be marked for redaction, as well as the enclosed text. In addition, if you want to apply an exemption code or reason to the bracketed text, define it in your preferences before running this operation.  Edit menu | Preferences | Annot Fields tab.  Enter the exemption code you wish to assign to bracketed text areas in the Exemption field. 

To mark all text between square brackets 

1. Select Find | Find Bracketed Text.  Redax searches through the document and each time it finds text between square brackets [text], it draws a Redax box around the text and overlays it with the default exemption code if one has been defined. 
2. Select File | Save to save the markup.  

Search

Redax Pro can search for text. Use Ctrl-F to invoke the Find | Search… menu item. The Search dialog will appear:

This example illustrates a search for the word nation. It was found on pages 1 and 2 (first column). Clicking on a line in the Results window will cause Redax Pro to navigate to that page and draw a red rectangle around the text. You can create a Redax box by clicking the Create button. The Redax box will be created with the exemption you specify in the Exemption field. This Search function searches the entire document. A simple search exists for when you want to find a string on the current page. You can enter a text string in the text field on the right side of the document window (above the exemption code list). Clicking in this box will remove the Search string, allowing you to type in your string. Hit Enter and the instances of that text will be highlighted on the current page. (This is a case sensitive search.) 

 

This menu contains options for removing Redax boxes and annotations as well as running Reports. 

Redax Report To File

This option creates a report of the Redax boxes and Full Page Tags present in the document.   The summary lists the page number the of the box/full page tag, the type of annotation (box or full page tag), the creation date and time, the location on the page (top, left, bottom, right), exemption code assigned (if any),  category assigned (if any), author, and any notes associated with the box/full page tag.   The report also gives totals for boxes and/or full page tags, authors, categories and exemption code counts in the document.  This file can easily be imported into a spreadsheet for further customization. The format of this file is controlled by the Reports tab of the Preferences dialog.

Redax Report To Window

This option creates a report of the Redax boxes and Full Page Tags present in the document and displays the result in a window. You can export this report by clicking the Export button. The Report File save dialog which comes up allows you to set the file type to csv or txt. If you click on a line above the summary section, Redax Pro will navigate to that page (if necessary) and highlight the corresponding Redax box or full page tag.

Remove Redax Boxes From Page

This removes Redax boxes only from the current page

Remove All Redax Boxes

This removes ALL Redax boxes in the entire document

Remove All Form Fields

Redax does not allow you to redact files that contain active form fields.  This option will flatten all form fields in the document. 

Remove All Annotations

This option deletes ALL annotations from a PDF document, all Redax boxes, exemption codes and any other annotations, including links, Acrobat notes and those added by other plug-ins.

Remove Full Page Tags

This will remove Full Page Tags within the document.  You have the option of selecting which pages or page ranges you want to remove the Full Page Tags.

Export Document Text

This will export ALL text within a PDF document.  When you run this option on a redacted file, the information that was marked up and redacted will not be present in the exported file.

The following menu items can be used as a way to evaluate a document to see what type of file you are working with (All text, some image, all images etc). These menu options could result in many Redax boxes being created. For this reason, you may want to try this on a clean version of the file. These items may be useful for diagnostic purposes, but it’s unlikely that you will want to remove all text, images or graphics from a file.

Find Text Areas

This option can be used to find and uncover hidden text. When you run this option, Redax draws boxes around all text areas and tells you how many Redax boxes have been created. This is also useful to determine whether your file has searchable (redactable) text. PDF files created by a scanner may consist of image-only pages. Such files will only be searchable if OCR has been performed on the file.

Note: If you see text that is not enclosed in a Redax box after you run Find Text Areas, it could be an image or drawn with graphics operators.

Find Image Areas

This option will add a Redax box around all areas in the PDF document that contain images.  If a box is added around an area that looks like “text”, that area is actually an image of text or an inline character image and not actual text. 

Find Path Areas

At times an area on a page can appear to be an image, but may be a vector graphic that contains many “paths” or parts to the graphic. When you mark a vector graphic for redaction, it is important to know where the paths are.

Panel Menu 

From this menu, you can set what appears in the side panel of the Redax Pro window.  

Show Exemption Codes

All the exemption codes that you have setup will display in the panel

Show Redax Boxes

Displays the page number the Redax box can be found on

Show Annotations

Displays all annotations, including Redax boxes, in the document and the page number where they can be found

Edit Palette

When you select this menu item, the Palette Editor dialog is displayed.  The image below shows the editor with the default US FOIA and US Privacy exemption codes that are shipped with Redax Pro:

You can create as many palettes as you need, each with its own unique set of exemption codes or reasons. To add a new palette:

To delete a Palette, select the name in the list. Click the minus (-) button to the right of ”Palette”, the code will immediately be deleted as well as any words/phrases associated with that code.

Enter Exemption Codes to the right side of the dialog:

Once an exemption code has been added to the exemption code list, you can modify it by selecting the exemption code.  When the exemption code is selected it will appear in the “white box”,  and you can make changes to the code, rename the code or hide it. If you select “Hide”, it will not appear in the side panel with the other exemption codes.  To unhide the exemption code, select the name and click “Show”.  In addition, if you need to remove the Palette name, you can highlight the name in the list and click on the minus (–) button. 

If you need to rename a Palette or Exemption Code, be sure to highlight or click on the Palette or Code.  The name will appear in the “white box” beneath the list.  Remove what is currently in there, type the new name and click on “Rename”.

Import Palette: If you have customized palettes from a previous version of Redax, you can save time by importing, rather than re-creating them. You can also export your customized palettes to share with others.

Click on Import Palette from the menu. Browse to where you stored your custom palette on your computer, select the file and click Open. The Palette along with the exemption codes should display in the side panel of the Redax Pro window. 

NOTE:  If you need to export a Palette file, from the Panel menu, select Edit Palette, then Export Palette File. The Palettes File dialog box opens and you can type in a file name.  All Palettes in the list are saved to the new file you created. 

 

 

 

 

Redax Pro has the ability to apply stamps to PDF documents.  You do not need to redact the file in order to apply stamps. Stamps can be added before or after a file is redacted. You can stamp a PDF document with any kind of text –watermarks, page numbers, dates, disclaimers, etc. in the style and positioning that you require.  The stamped text becomes a permanent part of the document. 

You can customize the appearance and position of stamped text.  You can specify any of the following for stamped text:

• Text attributes such as font, size, and color
• Position — top, bottom, diagonal or vertical center
• Justification — left, right, or center
• Layer — on top of or underneath the original content of a page
• Pages to stamp — stamp every page, page range, odd pages, even pages.

Variables — built in variables that access dynamic information such as date,time, bates numbering and much more. 

Single Stamp - How to apply a stamp

1. Go to the Tools Menu | Single Stamp
2. Text to Stamp -  Enter the text that you wish to stamp in the “Text to Stamp” box.  
3. To make a new line, use the newline variable %n.  The %n code is a variable for a new line and is listed in the Variables drop-down list. To enter codes from the drop-down list, select the item to insert and click the “Insert Variable” button when you have made your selection. 
   
   Choose your font - choose the font and font size you wish to stamp your text with. 
4. Choose the stamp position - There are five position choices available from a drop-down list.  They are: Top, Bottom, Diagonal from Bottom Left, Diagonal from Top Left, and Vertical Center. The Top and Bottom positions are generally used for headers and footers, respectively, and the diagonal positions are good for watermarks. This sample stamp is a header, so choose Top for the position.
5. Choose Justification - There are three choices for justifying your stamp: Left, Right, and Center. If you are using a diagonal stamp, you will probably want to have it centered on the page, so be sure that Center is selected. For your sample stamp, set the justification to Left.
6. Choose Stroke - For Stroke, there are two choices: Underlay and Overlay. Underlay places the stamp underneath the PDF content on the page.  This is useful for watermarks and other stamps that should not obstruct the body of the document.  Underlaid stamps are not visible under images or otherwise opaque pages. Overlay is best for stamping documents that have images and/or the text page has been scanned so that it is effectively an image. 
7. Choose your color - Stamps that you create can be grayscale (black, white or somewhere in between) or a color.  To make gray stamps, make sure the Grey radio button is selected and use the slider to set the degree of gray that you would like. The text will be more black if the slider is to the left and white if it is all the way to the right. To make color stamps, select the Color radio button and click inside the color field.  Clicking on the color brings up the Color window:

You can choose one of the ‘basic colors’ or click on Define Custom Colors.  This option expands the color window to include an area to design your own colors either by setting values for Red, Green and Blue, or by adjusting the cursor in the color panel.  You may save colors that you like by adding them to Custom Colors. In the illustration, two colors have been added to custom colors.

The example below shows you how to create a multi-line stamp using variables that represent the Date (%x) and Time (%X). 

Variables - choose any built-in variable that you may need.  Below is a table of all variables available showing the variable name, what it does, and an example:

Variable	Drop-down list	Description	Example output
%A	Weekday Name	full weekday name	Friday
%a	Short Weekday Name	abbreviated weekday name	Fri
%B	Month Name	full month name	October
%b	Short Month Name	abbreviated month	Oct
%c	Local Date & Time	local date and time	Friday, October 01, 1998 7:36:24 PM
%d	Day of Month	day of month	15
%D	Ordinal Day of Month	adds an ordinal suffice to day of month (“th”, “st” etc)	20th
%G	Number of Pages	total number of pages	20
%<number>g	Page Number	number to use for the start of page numbering	2
%H	Hours (24 Hour Clock)	hours, 00-23	13
%I	Hours (12 Hour Clock)	hours, 01-12	01
%i(<info field name >)	Title Author Subject	PDF Document Properties values: Author, Title, Subject, Keywords	Sample.pdf (Title) Jane Smith (Author) Security (Keywords)
%<page number>J	Bates Number	Bates page numbering up to 999999	000001
%j	Day of Year	day of the year, 001-366	099
%M	Minutes	minutes, 00-59	25
%m	Numeric Month	month, 1-12	10
%N	File Name	document filename	file.pdf
%n	Newline	Use for multi-line stamps	sample stamp, line 1 sample stamp, line 2 sample stamp, line 3
%P	File path	full document pathname	c:\My Documents\Stamp1.pdf
%p	AM/PM	local equivalent of AM or PM	PM
%r	Roman Numerals	lowercase roman numerals for page numbers	xii
%R	Roman Numerals (caps)	uppercase roman numerals for page numbers	XII
%S	Seconds	seconds, 00-61	10
%U	Week of the Year (Sun 1st)	week of the year, 01-53 where Sunday is the first day of the week	36
%W	Week of the Year (Mon 1st)	numeric week of the year, 00-53 where Monday is the first day of the week	36
%w	Numeric Weekday	numeric weekday, 0-6 where Sunday is 0	5
%X	Time	local time representation	05:35:10
%x	Date	local date representation	10/02/98
%Y	Year with Century	year with century	1998
%y	Year without Century	year without century, 00-99	98
%%	Percent Sign	% (use when stamp must include a percent symbol)	%

 

Stamping page Numbers

The variable %<page number>g is the one you will need to use to stamp page numbers. On the first page that you stamp using %g StampPDF will stamp a 1. If you do not want to start stamping at page 1, you may modify the page stamp variable by placing a number in front of the g, the number of the page at which you want stamping to begin.
For example, if you would like page numbering stamps to begin on the 5th page with a page-number of 7, you need to tell StampPDF two things:

1. The first page to get the stamp — enter 5 in the Start Page field.
2. The number to use when stamping that page — enter %7g in the Text area.

In the event that you would like pages to start numbering at 5 from the first page, simply change the Start Page field to 1 and set the Text parameter as %5g.
Using a number with %g is not required. To start stamping with the number 1, use %g with no numeral before the g.

Using Bates Notation for Page Numbering

With Bates notation, six digits are used for each page number. Any number less than six digits is filled with leading zeros. For example, page 2 will be written as 000002 and page 4145 will be written as 004145.

Bates numbering works similarly to regular page numbering as described in the above section. The variable used for Bates numbering is %J. If you would like to start numbering at a number other than 000001, place the number in between the % and J characters. For example, to start numbering at page 000501 use %501J in the Text field. Leading zeros will be added before the number to make it size digits.

Adding a Prefix to Bates Numbers

You may add a prefix to Bates numbers by including the prefix before the variable. For example, CaseABCD%J will stamp the StartPage with CaseABCD000001, the next page with CaseABCD000002, and so on.
Prefixes may be combined with custom start pages. CaseABCD%501J will begin stamping with CaseABCD000501.

Creating Multi-line Stamps

The %n variable is used to create a new line (or carriage return) wherever you would like to have one. 

Below is an example of setting up a multi-line text stamp:

Listed below is the stamped text as it appears on the PDF document:

Apply Stamp From File

If you have an existing stamp file that you want to use, then select Apply Stamp From File. When you select the Apply Stamp From File option from the Tools menu, you are requested to select a stamp file. Once this file is selected, no window will come up to confirm your choice. The stamp file will be read  and applied directly to your document. 

 

 

This menu has two options:

Welcome

Selecting this option will bring you to the Redax Pro Welcome window

Console

This option will bring up a console window where troubleshooting information can be found.  Support may ask you to copy the information in this window and send it to them if you are experiencing any issues

Help Menu

Users Guide

This menu item opens your browser and displays this file.

Getting Started

This menu item opens your browser to a page with the Redax Pro Getting Started page.

Enter Serial Number

To change your serial number, choose this menu item. If you are running Redax Pro as an end user, you won’t be able to change the serial number without a warning.

To run Redax Pro as administrator, right-click on c:\appligent\redaxpro\redaxpro.exe (or its icon in File Explorer) and choose Run as Administrator. Then choose Help | Enter Serial Number, enter the new serial number and hit OK. The new serial number will be read the next time you launch Redax Pro.

Send Feedback

This menu item will launch email with a message window for sending Appligent support messages (support@appligent.com).

Redax Pro handles page navigation using keyboard shortcuts to menu items as well as with controls on the document window. 

To open a file, select File | Open. Navigate to the desired file, select it and hit OK. A document window will be opened displaying the first page of the document.

The document window has three button groups above the page image. The first group controls which page is displayed. There are four arrow icons, for First page, previous page, next page, and Last page. You can see the current page number in the text field labeled Page #: under the page image. You can enter the desired page number here as well. There are several keyboard shortcuts useful for page navigation. Ctrl-N will take you to the next page in the file. Ctrl-P will take you to the previous page. If you have added Redax boxes to your file, Ctrl-Shift-N will take you to the next marked page and Ctrl-Shift-P will take you to the previously marked page. 

The second group controls the zoom level. The three buttons cause decrease zoom, 100% zoom and expand zoom level. The current zoom level is displayed in the text field labeled Page Scale: to the right of the Page # field at the bottom of the document window. If you have a scroll wheel, you can zoom in or out by holding the Ctrl key down. Rolling the scroll wheel up will zoom in, rolling it down will zoom out (reduce the zoom level.)

The last button group of two buttons control fitting the page width-wise and height-wise.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts allow experienced users to navigate Redax Pro more efficiently by entering key combinations which execute menu items. These shortcuts are not customizable.

Here is a summary of keyboard shortcuts in Redax Pro: 

File Menu:

Ctrl-O	Open
Ctrl-W	Close
Ctrl-R	Redact Document
Ctrl-Shift-R	Redact by Category
Ctrl-S	Save
Ctrl-Shift-S	Save As

 

Edit Menu: 

Ctrl-Z	Undo
Ctrl-Shift-Z	Redo
Ctrl-X	Cut
Ctrl-C	Copy
Ctrl-V	Paste
Ctrl-A	Select All
Ctrl-K	Preferences

 

View Menu:

Ctrl-N	Next Page
Ctrl-P	Previous Page
Ctrl-Shift-N	Next Marked Page
Ctrl-Shift-P	Previous Marked Page
Ctrl–	Zoom Out
Ctrl-+	Zoom In

 

Markup Menu:

Ctrl-Shift-F

Full Page Box

 

Find Menu:

Ctrl-F

Search…

Introduction

Redax regular expression is a flexible pattern used to match (describe) a set of characters. Redax Pro includes the ability to search PDF documents for matches to regular expressions.

This page includes some examples, a basic syntax for regular expressions, background information, and links to additional resources.

Simple Examples

A period matches any character.

.at

Matches any three character string ending with “at”, including “hat”, “cat”, and “bat”.

Brackets are used for a set of available characters, called a character class. A dash can indicate a range of characters or numbers.

[hc]at

Matches “hat” and “cat”.

[c-h]at

Matches “cat”, “eat”, “fat”, and “hat”.

A pipe symbol “|” is used for “or”. Parentheses are used to show grouping.

(19|20)th

Matches “19th” and “20th”: the numbers 19 or 20 followed by “th”.

A question mark makes the previous item optional.

Mrs?\.

Matches “Mr.” and “Mrs.” The backslash is added to escape the period character. Without the backslash, the period character means “any character”. To override this meaning, precede it with the backslash.

Braces indicate a repeat of the previous item.

A{2,4}

Matches “aa”, “aaa”, and “aaaa”

An asterisk repeats the previous item 1 or more times.

a+

Matches “aa”, “aaa”, and “aaaa”

Sample Regular Expressions

From the sample file sample_regex_list.txt, the following two regular expressions (together) will find dates from 1900 to 2049.

19[0-9]{2}

Matches 1900-1999: the number 19 followed by a digit from 0 to 9 twice

20[0-4][0-9]

Matches 2000-2049: the number 20 followed by a digit from 0 to 4 and a digit from 0 to 9

Regular Expression Basic Syntax Reference

Character	Description	Example
Any character except [\^$.|?*+()	All characters except the listed special characters match a single instance of themselves. (and) are literal characters, unless they’re part of a valid regular expression token, e.g., the {n} quantifier.	a matches a
\ (backslash) followed by any of [\^$.|?*+(){}	A backslash escapes special characters to suppress their special meaning	\+ matches +
\xFF where FF are two hexadecimal digits	Matches the character with the specified ASCII/ANSI value, which depends on the code page used. Can be used in character classes.	\xA9 matches  © when using the Latin-1 code page
\t	Match a tab character. Can be used in character classes
[ (opening square bracket)	Starts a character class. A character class matches a single character out of all the possibilities offered by the character class. Inside a character class, different rules apply. The rules in this section are only valid inside character classes. The rules outside this section are not valid in character classes, except for a few character escapes that are indicated with “can be used inside character classes”.
Any character except ^ - ] \ add that character to the possible matches for the character class	All characters except for the listed special characters.	[abc] matches a, b, or c
\ (backslash) followed by any of ^ - ] \	A backslash escapes special characters to suppress their special meaning	[\^]] matches ^ or ]
(hyphen) except immediately after the opening [	Specifies a range of characters. (Specifies a hyphen if placed immediately after the opening square bracket.)	[a-zA-Z0-9] matches any letter or digit
^ (caret) immediately after the opening [	Negates the character class, causing it to match a single character not listed in the character class. (Specifies a caret if plated anywhere except after the opening square bracket.)	[^a-d] matches x (any character except a, b, c, or d)
\d, \w and \s	Shorthand character classes matching digits, word characters (letters, digits, and underscores), and whitespace (spaces, tabs, and line breaks). Can be used inside and outside character classes	[\d\s] matches a character this is digit or whitespace
\D, \W and \S	Negated version of the above. Should be used only outside character classes. (Can be used inside, but this is confusing.)	\D matches a character that is not a digit
[\b]	Inside a character class, \b is a backspace character	[\b\t] matches a backspace or tab character
. (dot)	Matches any single character except line break characters \r and \n. Most regex flavors have an option to make the dot match line break characters too.	. matches x or (almost) any other character
\Z	Matches at the end of the string the regex pattern is applied to. Matches a position rather than a character. Never matches before line breaks, except for the very last line break if the string ends with a line break	.\Z matches f in abc\ndef
\z	Matches at the end of the string the regex pattern is applied to. Matches a position rather than a character. Never matches before line breaks	.\z matches f in abc\ndef
\b	Matches at the position between a word character (anything matched by \w) and a non-word character (anything matched by [^\w] or \W) as well as at the start and/or end of the string if the first and/or last characters in the string are word characters	.\b matches c in abx
\B	Matches at the position between two word characters, i.e., the position between \w\w, as well as at the position between two non-word characters, i.e., \W\W.	\B.\B matches b in abc
| (pipe)	Causes the regex engine to match either the part on the left side, or the part on the right side. Can be strung together into a series of options.	Abc|def|xyz matches abc, def or xyz
| (pipe)	The pipe has the lowest precedence of all operators. It instructs the engine to alternate part of the regular expression	abc(def|xyz) matches abcdef or abcxyz
? (question mark)	Makes the preceding item optional. Greedy, so the optional item is included in the match if possible	Abc? matches abc or ab
??	Makes the preceding item optional. Lazy, so the optional item is excluded from the match if possible. This construct is often excluded from documentation because of its limited use	Abc?? Matches ab or abc
*(star)	Repeats the previous item zero or more times. Greedy, so as many items as possible will be matched before trying permutation with less matches of the preceding item, up to the point where the preceding item is not matched at all	“.*” matches “def” “ghi” in abc “def” “ghi” jkl
*?(lazy star)	Repeats the previous item zero or more times. Lazy, so the engine first attempts to skip the previous item, before trying permutations with ever increasing matches of the preceding item.	“.*?” matches “def in abc “def” “ghi” jkl
+(plus)	Repeats the previous item once or more. Greedy, so as many items as possible will be matched before trying permutations with less matches of the preceding item, up to the point where the preceding item is matched only once.	“.+” matches “def” “ghi” in abc”def””ghi” jkl
+?(lazy plus)	Repeats the previous item once or more. Lazy, so the engine first matches the previous item only once, before trying permutations with ever increasing matches of the preceding item	“.+?” matches “def” in abc “def” “ghi” jkl
{n} where ni is an integer >= 1	Repeats the previous item exactly n times	A{3} matches aaa
{n,m} where n >= 0 and m >= n	Repeats the previous item between n and m times. Greedy, so repeating m times is tried before reducing the repetition to n times	A{2,4} matches aaaa, aaa, or aa
{n,m}? Where n >= 0 and m >= n	Repeats the previous item between n and m times. Lazy, so repeating n times is tried before increasing the repetition to m times.	A{2,4}? Matches aa, aaa, or aaaa
{n,} where n >= 0	Repeats the previous item at least n times. Greedy, so as many items as possible will be matched before trying permutations with less matches of the preceding item, up to the point where the preceding item is matched only n times.	A{2,} matches aaaaa in aaaaa
{,,}? where n>= 0	Repeats the previous item n or more times. Lazy, so the engine first matches the previous item n times, before trying permutations with ever increasing matches of the previous item.	A{2,}? Matches aa in aaaaa

Other Resources

Learn more about regular expressions from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression

RegexBuddy is an inexpensive Windows utility that make is easy for non-technical users to develop regular expressions.

http://www.regexbuddy.com

The International Components for Unicode (ICU) provides an excellent User Guide for regular expressions.

http://userguide.icu-project.org/strings/regexp

RegExLib is a regular expressions catalog.

http://www.regexlib.com