Redact PDF

How to redact a PDF

1. Drop your PDF onto the box or tap to choose it. Every page is shown so you can see what you are hiding.
2. Drag across anything you want to hide to draw a box: names, addresses, signatures, account numbers, faces.
3. Or type a word or name and press Redact matches to box every occurrence. Tick Emails, Phone numbers or Long numbers to find those automatically.
4. Tap a box to select and delete it if it is wrong. Choose black or white boxes and the output quality.
5. Press Apply redactions, download the result and check it before sharing.

Real redaction, not just black boxes

Drawing a black rectangle over text in most PDF editors only covers it: the text is still in the file and can be copied, searched or revealed by deleting the shape. Courts, governments and companies have leaked confidential information this way. This tool turns every page that has a redaction into a flat image with the boxes burned in, so the hidden text, and every other bit of text on that page, is removed from the file. Pages without redactions are copied unchanged, and the document title, author and keywords are cleared.

Flattened pages are no longer selectable or searchable, and they make the file larger; choose 150 dpi for smaller files or 300 dpi for crisp printing. Automatic search only works on PDFs that contain real text, not scanned images, so always look through every page yourself. Everything happens in your browser, which matters for exactly the documents people redact: HR files, legal discovery, medical records, bank statements and FOI responses.