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Redact PDF Online

Permanently remove sensitive text, images and page areas from a PDF in your browser. Mark regions by hand or search for repeated terms, apply irreversible redactions, and download a verified copy.

  • Runs in your browser

    Files are never uploaded — they stay on your device.

  • No page limit

    Any document size, no per-page caps or quotas.

  • No watermarks

    Clean output with no branding added.

  • No sign-up

    Just open the tool and use it — no email, no account.

All processing happens in your browser. Your files are never uploaded.
How to verify

Verify in 3 steps

No promises to take on faith — check it yourself in about 30 seconds.

  1. 1Open DevTools → Network tab
  2. 2Add a file and run the tool
  3. 3Confirm: no request carries your file

Once the page has loaded you can also unplug the network — every tool keeps working.

Full method & limits

Key Features

Draw Redaction Areas

Drag a box over any text, image, signature or table cell. Marks can be moved, resized, deleted or undone until you apply them.

Search and Mark Every Match

Enter a name, number or phrase and mark every occurrence across the document at once — instead of hunting for it page by page.

Permanent, Not a Black Box

Marked pages are rebuilt from pixels: the marked areas are burned into the image and the original text layer is never written into the new file.

Verification Report

Every export comes with a report listing which pages were redacted, which pages still have a text layer, and which pages were skipped.

Optional Metadata Cleanup

Clear author, title, producer, dates and the XMP stream in the same pass, so the file itself stops naming you.

Untouched Pages Stay Intact

Pages you did not mark are copied as they are — text stays selectable, searchable, and links and annotations are preserved.

No Upload at All

Redaction runs in your browser. There is no endpoint that receives your file, and the exported report contains counts and page numbers only — never the text you removed.

See How the File Changes

Before
contract.pdf
18 pages
After
contract-redacted.pdf
18 pages
Change
5 pages rebuilt

An 18-page signed contract is going to an outside reviewer: the client name appears 14 times, two account numbers sit in the payment section, and the last two pages carry signatures. After marking and applying, pages 1, 4, 9, 17 and 18 are rebuilt from pixels while the other 13 pages are copied unchanged. The verification report lists exactly which pages were rebuilt and confirms that no text layer remains on them — the removed content is gone from the file, not covered by a black box.

contract.pdf
Runs locally in your browser. No upload.
Download sample PDF
Keep an unredacted copy — contract.pdf → contract-redacted.pdf
1. Keep an unredacted copy
Add the PDF — contract.pdf → contract-redacted.pdf
2. Add the PDF
Mark what has to go — contract.pdf → contract-redacted.pdf
3. Mark what has to go
Review every mark — contract.pdf → contract-redacted.pdf
4. Review every mark
Apply and verify — contract.pdf → contract-redacted.pdf
5. Apply and verify

How to Use

1

Keep an unredacted copy

Save the original file somewhere safe first. Applied redactions are meant to be permanent, so this should not be your only copy.

2

Add the PDF

Drop the file in or pick one from your device. The first page renders immediately and nothing is sent anywhere.

3

Mark what has to go

Drag boxes over sensitive areas, or type a term into the search box and mark every match at once. Move, resize or delete marks freely — nothing has changed the document yet.

4

Review every mark

Page through the document and check each mark. Marks are reversible at this stage; after applying, they are not.

5

Apply and verify

Apply the redactions and download the new PDF together with its verification report. Search the result for the removed term, try to copy it, and open it in another viewer to confirm.

How to Redact a PDF

How to Redact a PDF

Redacting a PDF means permanently removing sensitive information from the document, not merely drawing a black box over it. Upload the PDF, mark the text or areas that must go, review the marks, apply them, and download a new PDF together with a verification report.

Quick Answer

Add a PDF, drag boxes over sensitive content or search for a repeated term and mark every match, review the marks, then apply them. Marked pages are rebuilt from pixels with the marked areas burned in, so the removed content cannot be searched, selected or extracted from the new file.

How to Redact a PDF Online

  1. Keep an unredacted copy of the original PDF in a safe place.
  2. Add the PDF — it opens in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
  3. Drag boxes over sensitive text, images, signatures or areas.
  4. Use search-and-mark when the same name, number or phrase appears more than once.
  5. Review every mark before applying — this is the last point where it is reversible.
  6. Apply the redactions and download the new PDF and its report.
  7. Verify: search for the removed term, try to copy it, and open the file in another viewer.

Redaction Is Not the Same as Blacking Out Text

A black rectangle placed over text may hide it while leaving the original characters underneath, which is why covered text can often still be copied out of a PDF. Redaction removes the underlying content instead. Because a browser cannot reliably rewrite a PDF content stream, this tool takes the verifiable route: pages with marks are rebuilt from pixels, so there is no text layer left under the marked areas to extract.

The Trade-off You Should Know About

Rebuilding a page from pixels removes everything in the marked areas — and it also means that page no longer has selectable, searchable text. Pages you did not mark are copied unchanged, so their text stays searchable. Mark only what has to go, and keep the original for anything you may need to search later.

What Can Be Redacted?

  • Names, addresses and personal identifiers.
  • Account, invoice and reference numbers.
  • Signatures, logos, photographs and page regions.
  • Repeated words or phrases found with search.
  • Table cells, headers and footers carrying identifying details.

Review Before Applying

Redaction is intended to be irreversible in the exported file. Move, resize, delete or undo marks freely before applying: a badly placed box over a name, a number or a table cell cannot be recovered from the new PDF.

Redaction and Hidden Information

Visible content is only one part of a PDF. Metadata can still carry the author name, the creating software and local file paths; comments carry reviewer names; links, attachments, JavaScript and form values can carry more. Turn on metadata cleanup here, and use the metadata and comment tools for the rest.

How to Verify a Redacted PDF

  1. Search for the redacted name, number or phrase in the new file.
  2. Try to select and copy text from the redacted area.
  3. Extract the text and inspect the result.
  4. Open the file in another PDF viewer.
  5. Read the verification report: it lists the rebuilt pages and flags any page that still has extractable text.

Keep the Original File

Save the original unredacted PDF before applying redactions. Do not overwrite the only copy, and do not assume a redacted PDF can be unredacted later.

Related Tools

Clean PDF Metadata
Remove metadata from a PDF in your browser — choose specific fields, strip XMP, clear the Document ID. Private, no upload.
Remove Comments from PDF
Remove selected or all comments from PDF files in your browser. Keep the original document text and layout, download a clean copy, and leave highlights or other annotations untouched unless you choose to remove them.
Remove Links from PDF
Remove clickable hyperlinks from PDF files while keeping visible text and page layout. Scan a document, delete selected or all link annotations, and download a clean PDF in your browser.
PDF Metadata Viewer
View PDF metadata in your browser — title, author, producer, dates, and more. Private, no upload.
Remove Highlight from PDF
Remove selected or all text highlights from PDF files in your browser. Keep the original PDF text and layout, export a clean copy, and download it without changing the source file.
Remove Watermark from PDF Online
Remove supported PDF watermark objects from your document in the browser, preview the cleaned pages, and download a new PDF copy. For flattened or image-based watermarks that cannot be removed as objects, switch to Cover mode and draw rectangles to hide the area. The original file is not uploaded or changed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is PDF redaction?

PDF redaction permanently removes selected sensitive text, images or page areas from a document so the underlying content cannot be searched, copied or extracted from the redacted regions. This tool rebuilds every marked page from pixels, so the original text layer is not carried into the new file.

Is drawing a black box over text the same as redaction?

No. A black rectangle drawn on top of text only hides it visually — the original characters stay in the file and can usually be selected, copied or extracted. True redaction removes or replaces the underlying content; here that means the marked page is rebuilt without its original text layer.

What can I redact?

Anything you can draw a box around: names, addresses, account and reference numbers, signatures, logos, images, table cells and whole page regions. Draw areas by hand, or use the search box to mark every occurrence of a term at once.

Can I search for a word and redact every occurrence?

Yes — enter the term and mark all matches in one action. Matching works per text run, so a phrase that the PDF splits across several runs may be missed; check the marked pages before applying. Search needs a text layer, so it finds nothing on a pure scan.

Can I undo a redaction after applying it?

Not in the exported file — that is the point of redaction. Keep the original unredacted PDF and review every mark before applying. If you need an unredacted version later, you will have to go back to that original copy.

Does redaction remove metadata and comments too?

Metadata is optional: turn on the metadata switch and the Info dictionary plus the XMP stream are cleared in the same pass. Comments, highlights, links and attachments are separate objects and need their own tools — see the suggestions under this tool.

How can I verify that a redaction is permanent?

Download the verification report, then check it yourself: search the new PDF for the removed term, try to select and copy from the marked area, extract the text, and open the file in another viewer. The report tells you which pages were rebuilt and whether any of them still contain extractable text.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

Drawing areas works on scans — the marked region is removed from the rebuilt page. Search does not, because a scan has no text layer to search, and this site has no OCR yet.

What happens to the pages I did not mark?

They are copied unchanged: the text stays selectable and searchable, and vector content, links and annotations are preserved. Only pages carrying at least one mark are rebuilt, which is also why those pages lose their text layer.

Can I redact a PDF without Adobe Pro?

Yes. You do not need Acrobat Pro or any desktop software — the whole mark, apply and verify flow runs in the browser tab, and it works after the page has loaded even with the network switched off.

Is blurring the same as redaction?

No. Blurring is a visual filter and the underlying text usually survives it, which is why a blurred PDF can often be recovered. If the content must not be recoverable, redact the area instead of blurring it.

Are my sensitive PDF files uploaded?

No. Parsing, marking and exporting all run in your browser, and there is no endpoint on this site that accepts file contents. The verification report records page numbers and counts only — never the text or images you removed.