Redact a PDF securely
Black out names, account numbers, addresses or anything else before you share a document, so the marked text is removed from the page, not just covered up.
How to use it
- Choose your PDF, or drag it onto the box.
- Type words to find every place they appear, or drag across areas by hand.
- Press Redact and save, then open the copy and check it before you share it.
Covering is not redacting
Drawing a black box over text in most PDF editors only hides it: the words are still in the file underneath, and anyone can copy them out. That mistake has exposed confidential details in published court and government documents.
Every page you mark is rebuilt as an image with the marked areas permanently removed. The original text and images underneath those redactions are not carried into the rebuilt page. The document’s title and author details, comments, form fields and attached files are removed too.
This tool redacts page content. If the PDF may contain other hidden information, check it separately before publishing or sharing the document.
The trade-off
Because redacted pages are rebuilt as pictures, their text can no longer be searched or copied, and links on those pages stop working. Pages you do not mark are kept exactly as they were. If you need the redacted pages to be searchable again, run the result through Make PDF searchable, which reads the remaining words back in.
Check before you share
Always open the redacted copy and check every page before sending it. Find text marks every place the words appear as text; it cannot see words inside scanned pages or photographs, so mark those by hand.
Questions
Can the blacked-out text be recovered?
The information underneath the redaction is removed when that page is rebuilt, rather than merely covered by a black box. Always check the saved copy before sharing it.
Are my files uploaded?
No. The work happens inside your web browser, on your own device. Before your file is opened, this page locks itself: from then on your browser refuses to let it fetch, upload or send anything at all. You can check: once the page has loaded, switch off your internet connection and it will still work. How the lock works.