Applies to: Pro and Enterprise
Purpose
Strict Privacy extends External Sharing for cases where residual navigation and hidden text should be minimized while the application still preserves normal PDF page structure wherever possible.
Default actions
Strict Privacy uses Preserve Quality mode. It removes everything selected by External Sharing plus:
- Hyperlink annotations and external navigation actions;
- Bookmarks;
- Hidden or completely off-page text detected by PDFSanitize.
Automatic verification and SHA-256 calculation are enabled by default.
Optional-content layers
Strict Privacy does not automatically remove arbitrary optional-content layers in Preserve Quality mode. Removing those structures safely while preserving the original page structure is not guaranteed.
If optional or layered content must be eliminated structurally, use the Maximum Assurance profile. If a custom Pro or Enterprise policy requests layer removal while Preserve Quality is active and the PDF contains optional content, PDFSanitize blocks that combination and instructs the operator to disable layer removal or use Maximum Assurance.
Hidden-text reconstruction
When Strict Privacy detects hidden or completely off-page text selected for removal, the affected pages are reconstructed from rendered content. Other pages remain in normal Preserve Quality form.
This can make text on reconstructed pages non-selectable as original source text and can increase output size. Review the resulting PDF visually when fidelity is important.
Hyperlink behavior
Removing hyperlinks removes PDF link annotations and supported external navigation actions. Visible URL text remains visible and some PDF readers can automatically recognize plain URL text as a clickable link. Hyperlink removal therefore controls PDF structures, not viewer-side link inference.