Tools that can instantly detect and redact sensitive data, how reliable are they really?

I’ve been seeing more tools lately that claim they can automatically detect and redact sensitive data (PII, PHI, financial info, etc.) across PDFs and even scanned documents.

On paper, that sounds like exactly what most teams need, especially if you’re dealing with high document volumes or tight turnaround times. The idea of identifying everything instantly instead of manually searching through pages is obviously appealing.

But I’m trying to understand how reliable this actually is in practice.

For example:

• How well do these tools handle messy scans or low-quality OCR?
• Can they catch context-specific data, or is it mostly pattern-based (emails, SSNs, etc.)?
• How much manual review is still needed after the “automatic” pass?

We’ve mostly used Adobe Acrobat so far, which is solid but very manual. I’ve also been looking into tools like Redactable that focus more on detection + batch redaction workflows, but I’m curious how they compare in real-world use.

For anyone who’s actually used automated redaction tools at scale, how close are they to “set it and forget it” vs. still needing heavy human review?