Sometimes you may have information that may need to be private or blacked out. This is also called redacting text. So, how can you redact text in WordPress when you need to. In this article, you’ll learn how to redact text in WordPress.
What Does it Mean to Redact Text?
To redact text or redaction is a way to edit or remove parts of a document, text, or image, specifically for concealing sensitive information, classified information, or confidential information. It's most often used to protect an individual’s or organization’s privacy, or a means to or make sure that classified information remains secure.
An example of redacted text is usually marked with a black bar or box, or switched with a generic term such as "[redacted]" or even "XXXXX." Redactions are usually done by government agencies, legal organizations or sometimes even businesses, as many of them encounter confidential information on a daily basis. For the most part, redactions have been known in the past to be done manually on printed documents. To redact text, the individual doing the marking out would either use a marker or pen.
However, these days, since there’s a lot of sensitive documents online, you can digitally redact. This is done with content editing or image software that you can accurately edit text or images. As a note, with digital redacting, some software allows for uncovering redacted text. This means that if the sensitive information is approved by whatever party is in an authoritative role concerning the info, it can be uncovered at a later stage.
Why Would You Want to Redact Text in WordPress?
In most sites, you probably won’t need to redact any text. Also, as a precaution, don’t mistake redacting text for crossing through text, also known as strikethrough. Redaction is the total masking of the text that it is covering, not a simple line through it. An example of needing redaction is covering information about individuals or specific information that is private.
As a note, if you aren’t approved to post specific sensitive information that is from a government agency, individual, or business, then it’s best not to post about it on your website. You could face being approached by any of those individuals or organizations and sued, or depending on your country, charged with a criminal act. Make sure to brush up on laws in your country before posting sensitive information.
Aside from the serious example, a lighter example of needing to redact, is if you’re posting a resume example and need to mask specific information, like someone’s name and address on the document.
5 Steps to Redact Text in WordPress
For this tutorial you’ll be using the Eyes Only plugin. This plugin is simple and allows you to redact text.
Install and Activate the Eyes Only plugin
Go to the page or post you wish to redact text
Copy the text you wish to redact
Open Settings > Eyes Only in WordPress in another browser tab or window
Add the word you want to redact and the word you wish to replace it with.
