Redaction that actually removes the information
Drawing a black box over text in most PDF editors only hides it: the words are still in the file and can be copied out or revealed by deleting the box. That mistake has exposed court documents, government reports and personal data many times. Redact PDF works differently. When you save, every page with a redaction is rebuilt as an image with the marked areas blacked out, so the original text and graphics underneath no longer exist in the file.
Hidden data that could leak information is removed too: document metadata, bookmarks, attached files, scripts and the old page content. Form fields on redacted pages are drawn into the page and removed, so their values can't be recovered either.
How to redact a PDF
- 1
Open the PDF
Choose the document. The Redact tool is selected.
- 2
Mark what to remove
Drag boxes over text, signatures or images. Or search for a word, name or number to mark every match at once.
- 3
Check your marks
Scroll through the pages and adjust or delete any mark before saving.
- 4
Save and download
Redactions are applied permanently when you save.
Features
True removal
Redacted content is deleted from the file, not hidden under a box.
Search and redact
Find every occurrence of a name, email or account number in one go.
Hidden data removed
Metadata, bookmarks, attachments and scripts are stripped.
Stays on your device
Sensitive files are never uploaded.
What to expect after redacting
Pages with redactions become images, so their remaining text can no longer be selected or searched, and the file may get bigger. Pages without redactions are left exactly as they were. If you need the redacted pages to be searchable again, run OCR PDF on the result: the blacked-out areas contain nothing to recognize.
Search finds text that is stored as text. Information inside scanned images or photos has to be marked by hand.
Redact PDF: frequently asked questions
Yes. Redacted pages are rebuilt from scratch as images, and the original page content is removed from the file before it is saved.
Yes. Draw boxes over the areas to remove. Search only finds text, so it won't work on a scan unless you OCR it first.
Those pages are saved as images so that nothing hidden can survive. Run OCR PDF if you need searchable text.
No. Redaction happens entirely in your browser.
Whiteout covers content but leaves it in the file. Redact removes it permanently. Use Redact for anything confidential.