Cua Docs

Redact and annotate a PDF

Use Preview and LibreOffice Writer with Cua Driver to prepare a fictional review copy and check the saved redactions.

Remove four fictional production details from a two-page PDF in Preview, add a review annotation, and create an editable handoff in LibreOffice Writer. Verify the saved review copy by inspecting both pages and checking extracted text.

The clip shows selected redaction and annotation steps in Preview. The prompt below also includes the handoff and saved-file checks.

Redact and annotate a vendor proof in Preview

Recorded on macOS with GPT-6 Astra + Cua Driver. Selected gestures play at 1x; setup, waits, retries and intervening edits are cut. These examples include foreground/desktop input and fictional data. Clip duration is not task completion time.

Prepare the apps and source file#

Use a Mac with Preview and LibreOffice Writer installed. Follow Install Cua Driver, grant the required macOS permissions, and connect your agent. Keep the desktop available while the agent works.

Download the fictional vendor proof (PDF) into a working folder. The two A4 pages contain invented workshop details and four marked redaction targets. All organizations, figures, and contacts are fictional; the addresses use the reserved .invalid domain. The source is intentionally unredacted so you can practice on a duplicate.

Ask the agent to prepare a review copy#

Give the agent the working folder and this task:

Use Cua Driver to prepare a local review copy of willowfen-vendor-proof-SOURCE.pdf
in Preview. Preserve the original. Duplicate it before editing, and confirm that
the active document is the copy before applying any irreversible redaction.
 
Use Preview's actual Redact tool to remove the complete line below each marker:
- Page 1, R1: Supplier cost.
- Page 1, R2: Internal reference.
- Page 2, R3: Supplier contact.
- Page 2, R4: Internal contingency.
The R1-R4 markers may remain. Do not substitute shapes or highlights for Redact.
If Redact is unavailable, stop and report the limitation.
 
Keep the title, date, time, location, participant count, public fee, materials,
booking address, schedule, access notes, and complete room diagram. Add REVIEW
COPY in page 1's outlined annotation area without covering other text. Save as
willowfen-vendor-proof-REVIEW.pdf, then close and reopen it in Preview.
 
In LibreOffice Writer, create a one-page handoff with the workshop title,
review-only status, source and review filenames, the four removed categories
without their values, retained public facts, page count, and verification results.
Save willowfen-release-handoff.odt and export willowfen-release-handoff.pdf.
 
Inspect both review PDF pages and the handoff PDF in Preview. Report the files
and the checks that passed. If extraction has not been checked, state that it
remains unverified. Keep all outputs local; do not send or publish them.

Verify removal and the handoff#

Check the saved PDF itself before treating the review copy as complete:

  1. Compare the original file's hash before and after the task to confirm that the source is unchanged. Confirm that the review PDF still has two A4 pages.
  2. Reopen the review PDF in Preview and inspect both pages at readable zoom. The four complete target lines must be absent, while the public facts, room diagram, and REVIEW COPY annotation remain legible.
  3. Extract text from the saved review PDF with a PDF inspection tool, such as Poppler's pdftotext. Search for each original target line and its value from the source. Any remaining target text is a failed redaction check.
  4. Inspect the handoff ODT and PDF. Confirm one page, correct filenames, and the four removed categories without their values. Record unperformed or failed checks accurately.

Text extraction is one check, not proof by itself: image content can remain visible without appearing in extracted text. A black rectangle can also hide text while leaving it recoverable. Use actual redaction, inspect rendered pages, and check extraction together. For documents beyond this synthetic exercise, also inspect metadata, annotations, and attachments for information that should not be shared.

Related workflows#