Redact a PDF
Find every match of a name, an email or an account number, add boxes by hand, and save a copy where the covered text is gone, not just hidden.
Drop your PDF here
or browse your files
One PDF file, no sign-up.
Nothing is uploaded. Author, software and other hidden details are removed from the saved file.
- No ads
- No sign-up
- No watermark
- No daily limit
- Nothing uploaded
Several steps, or a whole batch? Chain this with other tools in a Workflow and run them in one go.
Why a black box isn’t enough
A rectangle drawn over text in most PDF editors covers it on screen, but the text is still in the file. Select it, copy it, or run the file through a text extractor and it comes straight back. A 2019 court filing in the Manafort case gave up 325 hidden words exactly this way.
How this tool redacts
Every page with a box on it is redrawn as a picture with the boxes painted in, and its original text, drawings and pictures are thrown away. Pages without boxes keep their text. After saving, the tool searches the new file for every term you redacted and tells you if any is still there.
What changes on redacted pages
Their text can no longer be selected or searched, and links and form fields on them are removed. Each one adds weight: one redacted page of an IRS W-9 took the file from 141 KB to 562 KB at the default setting. The accessibility tags for the whole document are removed too, since they can repeat the hidden words.
Your files stay with you
Your PDFs are opened and saved on your own device. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and you don’t need an account. Close the tab and they’re gone.
From our tests
- Black boxes don’t redact: the text we recovered from “redacted” PDFs
The Manafort filing’s black bars, our own box-only test, and what true redaction does to file size.
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