Redact PDF for Arbitration or Mediation Case — Free & Permanent
Prepare mediation briefs and arbitration exhibits without handing the other side every extra identifier in your PDF dump.
Arbitration and mediation packets are not the same as a public court filing, but they are still adversarial shares. You send a brief, a timeline, bank statements, medical summaries, contracts, and texts exported to PDF to a mediator, an arbitrator, opposing counsel, or an insurance adjuster sitting in the session. Those people need the facts of the dispute. They do not automatically need a parent's Social Security number on an attached tax page, a child's school ID in a photo exhibit, or every vendor account number in a 90-page 'financial picture' export.
HidePDF is for scoping the PDF you email before the session — permanent black boxes on extras — while complete files stay with your attorney. This is not a substitute for a protective order or for rules of a particular forum. It is the practical step of not volunteering surplus identity data in an informal exhibit binder. Legal-discovery and court-filing pages on this site cover those adjacent tracks.
How HidePDF works
Inventory exhibits with counsel
Know which PDFs are 'for the mediator only,' which go to the other side, and which stay in your file.
Load each share PDF
Open the file in the redaction tool. Work locally; do not send the unredacted binder to a website.
Hide surplus identifiers
Black out unrelated SSNs, account numbers, and third-party names that are not the dispute.
Label session copies
Save mediation_exhibits_redacted separately from counsel_complete. Confirm you attach the right one.
Mediation vs arbitration vs court PDFs
Mediation is often confidential as a process; the PDFs you send are still copies that live in other people's inboxes. Confidentiality of discussion does not erase an attachment. Redact extras before the email.
Arbitration can produce a reasoned award and a more court-like exhibit practice. Follow the arbitrator's procedures. Redaction of surplus PII is still appropriate on courtesy copies to a co-mediator or a client relative who is 'just sitting in.'
Public court e-filing has its own rules (and this site's court-filing guides). Do not assume a mediation redaction set is the same set you would file. Ask counsel before reusing exports.
Related guides
Explore more ways to redact PDFs privately, or use the redaction tool above:
Frequently asked questions
Is mediation confidentiality a reason I can skip redaction?
No. Confidentiality governs the process; it does not unsay an SSN you emailed. Hide surplus identifiers anyway.
How is this different from discovery redaction?
Discovery productions follow rules, Bates numbers, and privilege logs. Mediation/arbitration courtesy packets are often informal PDFs. Still redact third-party PII. See the legal-discovery guide when you are in production, not in session prep.
Can I redact facts that hurt my case?
That is a counsel question. This page is about identifiers and extras, not about hiding the dispute. Do not use HidePDF to secretly alter exhibits you represent as complete.
Does the other side have to use HidePDF?
No. You control the copies you send. Their tools are their problem; your unredacted dump is yours.
Private dispute resolution is still a document exchange. Mediators ask for a short brief and 'any key statements.' Parties respond with everything they have, because they are afraid of leaving out a helpful page. The helpful page is stapled to twenty unhelpful pages of identifiers. Opposing counsel will keep the PDF. An adjuster will forward it. A spouse sitting in mediation will photograph a table exhibit. Surplus PII travels.
HidePDF helps you send the dispute, not the entire identity graph. Use it alongside legal discovery redaction when you are in a production, and court-filing redaction when a later filing is public. Session packets are the middle track: less formal than a docket, more exposed than a folder on your lawyer's desk.
What to redact on arbitration and mediation PDFs — and why
Social Security numbers, ITINs, and taxpayer ID headers on tax returns attached as 'income proof.'
Full bank and brokerage account numbers on statements used only to show a balance or a transfer date.
Children's names, school names, and medical record numbers on exhibits that are about an adult financial dispute.
Unrelated employees' or customers' identities in a workplace exhibit when the case is about one contract.
Personal addresses and phone numbers of witnesses who will attend by Zoom and do not need their home address in the other party's PDF.
Settlement floor notes and attorney work-product comments accidentally left in a PDF export from a draft. Those are not 'identifiers,' but they do not belong on a session copy either.
How to use the tool
- Make a list of PDFs that will actually be emailed or loaded on a shared screen. Do not redact the entire case file on day one.
- Open each share file in HidePDF. Check headers, footers, and the last page — account numbers hide there.
- Apply permanent black boxes to surplus identifiers. Leave the dates, amounts, and contract clauses the session needs.
- Export, search for a covered string, and try to copy it. If it copies, you did not redact.
- Send the redacted set. Keep complete files with counsel under whatever protocol your matter uses.
Realistic scenarios
Scenario A — Divorce mediation: A spouse shares redacted bank PDFs showing transfers at issue, without full account numbers, with a mediator who asked for a financial snapshot.
Scenario B — Construction arbitration: A contractor redacts other customers' names on a 'similar jobs' PDF before the other side sees it.
Scenario C — Employment mediation: An employee hides coworkers' identities in a chat export PDF, leaving the manager messages the claim is about.
Scenario D — Insurance mediation: A claimant redacts a child's unrelated clinic number from a merged medical PDF used to show injury dates.
Common mistakes
Emailing 'the whole dropbox ZIP' the night before. That ZIP is not a session brief. Curate, then redact.
Redacting the key exhibit because it felt sensitive. Mediators cannot evaluate a black page. Hide identifiers, not the dispute — unless counsel directs otherwise.
Using sticky-note redaction in Preview. Notes move. Burn in boxes and verify search.
Reusing a court-redacted set without checking forum rules. Mediation and docket rules differ. Ask counsel before recycling.
Why browser-only session-packet redaction matters
Arbitration and mediation PDFs are still other people's copies of your life. A cloud redaction site would receive the unredacted binder first. HidePDF keeps exhibits on your device while you hide surplus identifiers and send a session-sized set.