This article introduces how to use HeSoft Doc Batch Tool to batch delete keywords in multiple PDF files through wildcard or formula-based fuzzy search. In the example, 4 PDFs need to be processed to uniformly delete the month words and four-digit year in dates, leaving only the day number in the middle. The article will combine before-and-after effects and software interface screenshots to explain how to import PDFs, select the find and replace function, set fuzzy matching rules, leave the replacement content empty to achieve deletion, and remind users about issues such as PDF text layers, case sensitivity, and backups.
When organizing contracts, reports, thesis materials, public documents, or archived files, a highly repetitive task often arises: many PDF files contain similar dates, numbers, names, version numbers, or fixed descriptive text that need to be uniformly deleted or redacted. For example, a folder might contain dozens or even hundreds of PDFs, each with a date like April 13, 2017 on its cover. Opening each PDF, manually selecting the text, deleting it, and saving the file is not only time-consuming but also prone to missed deletions or deleting the wrong part.
This article aims to solve this batch processing problem: using the "Find and Replace Keywords in PDF" function in the office software " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", with wildcard/formula fuzzy search, to batch delete keywords in multiple PDF files. In the example, we will process 4 PDF files simultaneously, removing the month words April or May and the four-digit year to achieve the goal of batch cleaning variable text.
It is important to note that "deletion" here does not mean removing entire PDF pages or cropping them, but rather performing a batch find and replace on specified text within the PDF file content. When the replaced keyword list is left empty, it achieves a "find and delete" effect. For content like dates and numbers, which are structured but not completely identical, using wildcards or formulas for fuzzy searching is more efficient than listing fixed keywords one by one.
Applicable Scenarios: Which PDFs Are Suitable for Batch Keyword Deletion Using Wildcards
"Using wildcards to batch fuzzy delete keywords from many PDF files" is suitable for processing PDF files where the text rules are relatively clear, but the specific content varies. Common scenarios include:
- Batch deleting dates from PDF covers, e.g., April 13, 2017, May 5, 2020, etc.
- Batch deleting years, numbers, report version numbers, serial numbers, and other fixed-format content from PDF body text.
- Batch cleaning specified English words, department names, old project names, or temporary markers from multiple PDFs.
- Batch replacing or deleting sensitive fields in PDFs for initial redaction before sending files externally.
- Processing a large volume of PDFs generated from the same template, such as reports, certificates, notices, inventories, audit materials, etc.
If the content to be deleted is utterly consistent, an exact text search can be used; if the content follows a pattern, such as four-digit numbers, different months, or different numbers, it is more suitable to use "Use formula for fuzzy text search". The example in the screenshot uses a formula to match April or May, and uses \d{4} to match a four-digit year, thus processing similar text in multiple PDFs at once.
This type of requirement demonstrates the core value of batch file processing in office software: transforming the manual, repetitive operations of opening, finding, deleting, and saving into a single rule configuration and batch execution, significantly reducing repetitive labor.
Effect Preview: Multiple PDFs Before Processing, Containing Date Keywords to be Deleted
Before processing, there are 4 PDF files in the folder, named 1.pdf, 2.pdf, 3.pdf, and 4.pdf. These are the targets for this batch processing. In actual office work, this number could be much larger—dozens of client files, hundreds of reports, or a batch of PDFs archived by date in a certain folder.
Opening one of the PDFs reveals the date content April 13, 2017 on the cover. The screenshot uses red boxes to mark the two parts to be processed: the month word April and the four-digit year 2017. The middle part, 13,, is not within the deletion scope and therefore should be retained after processing.
If processing only one PDF, manual deletion might be acceptable; but if these dates are distributed across multiple PDFs and the months or years are not all the same, it becomes very troublesome. Especially when the year could be any four-digit number, listing all possible years is impractical. In this case, using wildcards or a formula for fuzzy search allows you to uniformly identify "text that fits the rule".
Post-Processing Effect: Month and Four-Digit Year Deleted, Only Unmatched Content Remains
After completing the batch process, open the PDF again to see that the position where April was displayed has been deleted, and the position showing 2017 has also been deleted, while the middle part, 13,, remains. The red-outlined areas in the screenshot show blanks, indicating the corresponding keywords were successfully cleaned.
This effect illustrates two points: first, the software does not simply delete entire lines but locates the specified text based on the configured search rules; second, when the replace content is left empty, a batch keyword deletion effect is achieved. For date-type content, you can delete only the month and year, or expand the rule based on actual needs to delete full dates, numbers, specific words, etc.
Operation Steps 1: Enter the PDF Tool and Select the Find and Replace Function
Open " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ". From the top left corner of the screenshot, you can see the software name and version information. This software is positioned as a batch document processing office tool, with categories on the left including File Name, Folder Name, File Organization, Word Tools, Excel Tools, PowerPoint Tools, PDF Tools, Text Tools, Image Tools, Video Tools, Audio Tools, etc. The task in this article is to process PDF text content, so we need to enter "PDF Tools" on the left.
In the PDF tools list, select item 1, "Find and Replace Keywords in PDF". The function's description is to batch find and replace keywords in PDF file content, which exactly matches the requirement of this batch PDF keyword deletion.
The purpose of selecting this function is to enter the batch find and replace workflow. Unlike a common PDF reader, here you don't open a single file for manual editing, but first select a batch of PDFs, then uniformly set search and replace rules, and finally execute the process once.
Operation Steps 2: Add the PDF Files to be Batch Processed
After entering the "Find and Replace Keywords in PDF" interface, the first step is to "Select the records to be processed". The upper right part of the interface provides buttons like "Add File", "Import Files from Folder", "Clear", and "More". For a small number of PDFs, you can click "Add File" to select them one by one; if the PDFs are already centralized in a single folder, using "Import Files from Folder" is more convenient.
The screenshot shows 4 PDF files have been imported, with the list displaying the serial number, name, path, extension, creation time, modification time, and an operation column. You can see the 4 records correspond to D:\test\1.pdf, D:\test\2.pdf, D:\test\3.pdf, D:\test\4.pdf, all with the extension pdf, and the bottom summary shows the record count as 4.
The expected result of this step is: all PDFs to be processed appear in the list. If you find extra files were selected, you can remove them via the delete button in the operation column; if the list is incorrect, you can also use "Clear" and re-import. After confirming the files are correct, click "Next" at the bottom to enter the processing options settings.
Operation Steps 3: Enable Formula Fuzzy Text Search and Fill in Wildcard Rules
After entering the second step, "Set Processing Options", you can see the "Set Keyword Options" area. The key setting here is "Search Mode". The interface provides two options: "Exact Text Search" and "Use Formula for Fuzzy Text Search". Since this example deals with content following a pattern rather than a single fixed word, you should select "Use Formula for Fuzzy Text Search".
In the "Keyword List to Find", the example screenshot provides two rules:
- April|May: Used to match April or May. The vertical bar signifies selection among multiple candidates, suitable for batch deleting different month words.
- \d{4}: Used to match four-digit numbers, commonly for finding years, e.g., 2017, 2020, 2026, etc.
On the right is the "Replacement Keyword List", with a clear prompt "Leave empty to delete". Therefore, if the goal is to batch delete keywords from PDFs, do not fill in any replacement content on the right. When the software finds text matching the left-side rules, it will replace it with nothing, effectively deleting it.
The operational goal of this step is to clearly describe "what to delete" using rules. Unlike inputting April, May, 2017, 2018, 2019 one by one, formula fuzzy search can cover a whole category of text in one go. For example, \d{4} covers all four-digit years, making it suitable for handling cases where years are inconsistent across many PDFs.
Operation Steps 4: Continue Setting Save Location and Start Batch Processing
After setting the search and replace rules, click "Next" at the bottom of the page. The process bar shows subsequent steps including "Set Save Location" and "Start Processing". When batch-modifying PDF content, it is recommended to save the processed files to a new folder for easy differentiation from the original files and for verifying the results.
Although the screenshot doesn't show the specific options on the save location page, the process makes it clear that the software will guide the user to confirm the save location before executing the start of processing. After completion, you can open the output PDFs for spot-checking, focusing on whether the keywords intended for deletion have been cleared and whether content not set for deletion remains unchanged.
For this example, the expected result is that month text matching April or May in the 4 PDFs is deleted, and years matching the four-digit number rule are deleted, while the non-matching 13, is retained. This completes the batch fuzzy deletion for multiple PDF files.
Frequently Asked Questions and Notes
1. Why use formula fuzzy search instead of exact search?
If you are deleting only completely identical words, like removing April from all files, exact search will work. But if the content to be deleted varies, such as years being 2017, 2018, 2020, or months being April or May, formula fuzzy search is more suitable. It matches a category of content based on a rule, reducing the effort of entering keywords one by one.
2. Why should the replacement keyword list be left empty?
The prompt on the right side of the interface says "Leave empty to delete". This means if the content matched on the left has no corresponding replacement text, it gets replaced with nothing. This article's goal is to delete keywords from PDFs, so the right side should remain blank. If you want to change an old word to a new one, you need to fill in the replacement content on the right.
3. Will using \d{4} accidentally delete other four-digit numbers?
That is possible. \d{4} means match four consecutive digits. If the PDF contains other four-digit codes, page numbers, or identifiers, they might also be matched. Therefore, before formal batch processing, it's recommended to test with a few files first to confirm the rule only covers the target content. If necessary, refine the rule to be more specific to avoid accidental deletion.
4. Can scanned PDFs have text deleted this way?
If the text in a PDF is essentially an image and cannot be selected or copied, standard text find and replace usually cannot target it directly. The PDF text in this article's example belongs to recognizable text, hence it can be found and replaced. Before processing, you can open a PDF and try selecting the text to determine if it has a text layer.
5. Is backing up necessary before batch processing?
Backup is recommended. The advantage of batch processing is speed, but once a rule is set incorrectly, it can affect multiple files at scale. The best practice is to keep the original PDFs, save the output files to a new directory, and replace the formal files only after confirming the results are correct.
Summary: Use Wildcards to Batch Delete PDF Keywords, Reducing Repetitive Editing Work
Through the "Find and Replace Keywords in PDF" function of " HeSoft Doc Batch Tool ", fixed text and patterned text in multiple PDFs can be uniformly deleted. In this article's example, first importing 4 PDFs, then selecting "Use Formula for Fuzzy Text Search", filling the keyword list with April|May and \d{4}, and leaving the replacement keyword list empty, ultimately achieved the result of batch deleting months and years.
For users who frequently process PDF reports, contracts, notices, archived materials, etc., this batch find and replace method can significantly improve efficiency, avoiding the repetitive labor of opening files individually, searching page by page, and deleting manually. It is recommended that before processing a large volume of files, you first select a few sample PDFs to test the rules, confirm the effect, and then execute the batch procedure. This ensures both speed and accuracy in file processing.