"Whiteout" Tool

Acrobat already has a tool. Use the Redaction Tool. Properly used (see Acrobat Help), it completely "redacts" what is marked.

Thanks. I should have explained that I've tried this tool, but you have to draw rectangles to make it work, whereas it there were a freehand "whiteout" type of tool available (similar to paint), you could simply "erase" the graphics you wish to delete. Many of our drawings have diagonal type graphics in close proximity to lines/text we wish to save.

this is a pointer in right direction. expriment with touch up object tool (select and delete the object), may want to zoom big on the object to be deleted so that the select action can be precise. also, experiment with selecting and deleting from the content tree. however, if the PDF is an image, you may want to experiment with redacting in photoshop (or PS elements). you may also get desired results with acrobat's redaction tool if you zoom in on the target to be removed. there's big learning curve for all the above; you'll have to teach yourself.

Thanks. It appears then that this (the "long way") is the only way available at this time (Hint, hint, hint). Sure seems like a natural tool add-on in Adobe though. Thanks again for the thoughts.

I meant as a natural add-on tool in Actobat Pro or X . Thanks again.

A couple more things to add: redaction and touch-up object tools are great to use because they completely remove information from the PDF so that they cannot be found again. Although the shape of the redaction tool may be limiting, at least users cannot dig up metadata.

If you are not concerned about metadata, however, another option that gives you a lot of control is using the pencil tool with modifications made to it. Do this:

1) Open the Comment & Markup toolbar from VIEW > TOOLBARS > COMMENT & MARKUP

A couple more things to add: redaction and touch-up object tools are great to use because they completely remove information from the PDF so that they cannot be found again. Although the shape of the redaction tool may be limiting, at least users cannot dig up metadata.

If you are not concerned about metadata, however, another option that gives you a lot of control is using the pencil tool with modifications made to it. Do this:

1) Open the Comment & Markup toolbar from VIEW > TOOLBARS > COMMENT & MARKUP
2) Select the Pencil tool and draw a simple line somewhere.
3) Use the Hand tool to right click your pencil line, then select PROPERTIES.
4) Change the thickness to whatever you like (you can go up to 12pt), change the color to white, and change opacity to 100%.
5) Select MAKE PROPERTIES DEFAULT, then click OK.

(This method has been adapted from a tip from Rick Borstein)

The caveat to this method is that 12pts doesn't cover a lot of space all at once, but at least you can free-form cover things with white! If you decide later that you don't want people to uncover what you've covered, you will have to reprint the resulting PDF to PDF again so that your changes become permanent, or you can flatten the document. (There is a *great* little javascript file you can use to add this functionality to Acrobat 9 Pro! Although I don't recall where I got this from, here are the instructions:)

1) Exit from Acrobat if it is open.
2) Download the Javascript program by following this link: http://www.linetype.com/advice/cad/flatten.js
3) At the File Download dialog box, click Save and save the file to the Javascripts folder in the Acrobat directory.
4) Restart Acrobat
5) There will now be two new menu items under the Document menu in Acrobat. Flatten page will flatten and embed all annotations (form fields, stamps, markups, notes, digital signatures) on the current page. Flatten document will do the same for the entire document.

I am not concerned about metadata, and don't know why I didn't think of this solution. Thanks so much to all of you for your suggestions. Between the redaction and pencil tools, I can make it work.

Did you know you can redact images by drawing a rectangle around them too?

Yes, but sometimes that is not easily done with diagonal or circular images on drawings, etc. What I got from all of the great responses is that I can use a combination of the redaction and pencil drawing tools to accomplish what I need to do. Thanks again for the help.