Black out text and have it actually gone — in your browser, never uploaded.
Processed on your device
Your files are processed in your browser and never uploaded.
How do you redact a PDF so the text cannot be recovered?
Covering text with a black rectangle does not remove it: the text stays in the file underneath and can be copied out. The content must be destroyed instead. This tool re-renders each page you mark as an image with the mask burnt in, so nothing is left to recover — in your browser, never uploaded.
About Redact PDF
Drawing a black rectangle over a name in a PDF editor hides nothing. The text stays in the file underneath the rectangle, and anyone can select it, copy it, or pull it out with a script — this is how redaction failures reach the news. This tool removes the content instead of covering it: every page you draw on is re-rendered to pixels with your boxes painted in, and that image replaces the page, so there is no text left under the mask to recover. Pages you don't touch are copied through untouched and keep their text layer. All of it happens in this page, on your own machine, which is the only sensible place to redact a document you were careful enough to want redacted.
How to use Redact PDF
1
Open the PDF
Drop it in. The document is opened in the page itself — it is not sent anywhere, which is rather the point for a file you are about to redact.
2
Drag a box over anything to remove
Draw as many boxes as you like, on as many pages as you like. Move between pages with the arrows; your boxes stay where you put them.
3
Apply, and check the result
The redacted pages are rebuilt as images with the boxes burnt in. Open the PDF you get back and try to select the text where a box was: there is nothing there.
Frequently asked questions
Is the text really gone, or just covered?
Really gone, on the pages you redacted. Those pages are re-rendered to pixels with your boxes painted on, and the image becomes the page — the original text, its fonts and any annotations on that page are not carried over. You can verify it: open the result and try to select or search for what you removed.
What does it cost me?
The pages you draw on stop being text. They become images, so they are no longer selectable, searchable or screen-reader friendly, and they are usually larger. Pages you leave alone are untouched and keep everything. That is why the tool rasterises only the pages that need it.
Does it remove information hidden elsewhere in the file?
No. It removes what is inside your boxes on the pages you drew them on. Document properties — title, author, software, dates — are left as they were, and so is anything on the other pages. Run the result through Edit Metadata if the properties matter too.
Is my document uploaded?
No. It is opened, re-rendered and rebuilt entirely in this page. Disconnect from the network and redact a document anyway — it works, because there is no server to send it to. For a document sensitive enough to redact, an online tool that uploads it first is a contradiction.
Can I redact a scanned PDF?
Yes, and this is the case where covering really is removing: a scan is already an image, so painting over it destroys those pixels. If the scan has been through OCR, the recognised text layer on that page goes as well, because the page is rebuilt from the image.
Why is the output a little blurry where I redacted?
A redacted page is re-rendered at 144 dpi and stored as a high-quality JPEG. On screen and in print that is close to the original; next to an untouched text page you may notice the difference. It is the price of there being nothing left to recover.