Redact PDF
Permanently remove sensitive text from a PDF.
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About Redact PDF
A black rectangle drawn over text in a PDF editor often leaves the words underneath, still selectable and searchable. Here you preview each page, drag boxes over what must go, and the server removes the text under those boxes, paints them black, then re-reads the saved file and refuses to return it if any of that text survived. It is a manual, area-based tool: nothing is searched for you, and it has not been audited for legal use.
Features
- Page previews to mark areas on any page of the document
- Text under each rectangle is removed from the file, not only covered
- Metadata and attachments dropped, and matching notes, form fields, links and bookmarks scrubbed
- The saved file is re-read, and the job fails rather than return a file that still holds the text
- Areas follow page rotation and crop boxes
Limitations
- Areas are drawn by hand with a mouse drag. The tool cannot search for words, and the drawing area listens for mouse events only, so a touch screen may not work.
- It has not been independently audited for legal or compliance-grade redaction, so verify sensitive documents yourself.
- Files can be up to 50 MB and are uploaded to our server; password-protected PDFs are refused until unlocked.
- Downloading the redacted copy needs a free account.
How it works
- Drop a PDF onto the upload area, or browse for it. A password-protected file has to be unlocked first.
- Read the redaction notice at the top, then use Prev and Next to move between pages if the file has several.
- Drag a rectangle over each area to remove. Click a rectangle to delete it, or use Clear all areas to start over.
- Select the Redact PDF button, which shows how many areas are marked, and wait for the server.
- Select Download to save the file as redacted followed by the original name.
Frequently asked questions
- The text under each box is removed from the page content, and the saved file is read back to confirm it is gone before you can download it. It has not been audited, so open the result and try selecting and searching the redacted area.
- Yes. The document's metadata and XMP data are cleared, and embedded attachments are deleted, because none of that is visible on the page for you to check. Notes, fields and bookmarks that contain redacted words are removed or masked.
- No. You mark each area yourself, page by page. The tool then scrubs notes, bookmarks and links that repeat words from under your boxes, but it does not find other occurrences in the page text.
- After redacting, the server checks its own output. If text remains under a box, or a redacted word is still in a note or bookmark, the job fails with a message and the file is not changed. Enlarge the box, or remove that note, and try again.
- Yes. The page previews are drawn from the file you chose, but the redaction itself runs on our server. The result is stored for a limited time, 24 hours for a guest, then deleted.