Redact PDF: PDF Redaction Tool
Search for names or numbers, or draw boxes over text and images. Marked pages are rebuilt as images, so the text under each box is gone.
Drop a PDF to redact it
Black out text and images by hand, or search for a name or number and redact every match. What's under the boxes is removed from the file, not hidden.
- Draw boxes
- Search and redact all
- True removal
- Metadata scrubbed
Opens in your browser. Drop or paste a file anywhere. Nothing is uploaded.
Redact PDF: PDF Redaction Tool, free and private
Redact a PDF for free and black out text, images and signatures so they are removed for good, not just covered. Search for a word and redact every match at once, or drag black boxes by hand. When you save, each marked page is rebuilt as a flat image with the boxes burned in, so the text and graphics under the boxes are no longer in the file.
A black rectangle drawn in a normal PDF editor is not a redaction. The text under it stays in the file, where select-all, copy or search can still find it. This redact tool runs in your browser, so the unredacted original is never uploaded.
How to redact a PDF
- 1
Open your PDF
Press Select a PDF file, drop the document or paste it anywhere on the page, or press Try a sample PDF. It opens full screen with page thumbnails on the left and the Find and Marks panels on the right.
- 2
Find and redact text
In the Find tab, type a name, number or phrase. Step through the matches with the arrows or the list, then press Redact all to box every match. Repeat for each word you need to remove.
- 3
Draw boxes and review
With the Redact tool, drag over anything the search missed, such as signatures, photos or scanned text. Drag a box's handles to resize it, and check the Marks tab for every box on every page. Undo and redo cover every change.
- 4
Download
Press Download. Flatten into the page is preselected. Pages with boxes are rebuilt as images with the boxes burned in, and other pages keep their selectable text. The file name ends in -redacted.pdf.
Why use PDFToolz for this
Search and redact all
Search the whole PDF for a name, case number or IBAN. Matches ignore upper and lower case, also find phrases that wrap onto the next line, and can be redacted or highlighted in one click.
Content is destroyed, not covered
Redacted pages are rendered at 200 DPI and replaced by that image, so the text under each box no longer exists in the file. Copy and paste, search and PDF editors find nothing there.
Other pages stay as they were
Only pages with a box are turned into images. Every other page keeps its selectable text and quality.
Hidden data removed
Document details such as title, author, subject and keywords, plus bookmarks and attachments, are removed from a redacted file, because they can repeat what you blacked out.
The original stays on your device
Many online redaction tools ask you to upload the unredacted file, which is the most sensitive version. Here the whole job runs in your browser, with no account, watermark or page limit.
How to use the PDF redaction tool well
Search does most of the work, but it reads only the PDF's text, along with comments and form answers. Review every page before you download.
- Scanned pages have no text to search. Draw boxes on them by hand.
- Search for each spelling you expect, such as a name with and without a middle initial, or a number with and without spaces.
- Look for signatures, handwritten notes, stamps, photos, barcodes and QR codes. They are not text, so only a drawn box removes them.
- Check headers, footers and margins, where names and reference numbers often repeat.
- Boxes from Redact all are drawn a little larger than the text. Draw your own boxes with some margin too, so the tops and tails of letters don't show at the edges.
- Whiteout only covers an area with a colour. It removes nothing unless the page also has a redaction box, so use the Redact tool for anything sensitive.
What changes in the redacted PDF
Each page with at least one box is rendered as an image at 200 DPI, with its comments and form fields included, and the image replaces the page. That destroys the hidden content, but the rest of the text on that page is also no longer selectable or searchable. Links clear of every box stay clickable. If the reader needs to search the file, run the redacted copy through OCR PDF. OCR reads only what is visible, so nothing under a box comes back.
Because they can repeat redacted text, the document's tags, bookmarks, attachments and details such as title and author are removed. Only the dates and the names of the apps that made the file stay. Pages you did not redact keep their comments if you choose Keep editable, or have them drawn into the page if you choose Flatten into the page.
Redaction tool vs cropping or drawing a box
Crop PDF and the shapes in Edit / Annotate PDF can make content look hidden, but they don't remove it. Cropping only changes which part of the page shows. A rectangle drawn in an editor sits on top of text that is still in the file. Use those tools for layout and markup. Use Redact PDF when nobody must be able to read the content.
Redaction removes what is under the boxes and the document details listed above. To check or strip other hidden data, such as scripts or form data, also use PDF Metadata or Sanitize PDF.
Frequently asked questions
Open the PDF, type a word in the Find tab and press Redact all, or drag boxes over the content with the Redact tool. Review each page, then press Download and save the redacted PDF.
Yes. Pages with redactions are rebuilt as flat images with the black boxes burned into the pixels. The original text and images under the boxes are not in the output file in any form.
It finds every case-insensitive match of the text you type, including phrases that wrap onto the next line, and Redact all boxes them in one click. It does not detect personal data by itself, and it can't search scanned pages. Check every page before you share the result.
Search for the text in the Find tab and press Redact all, or drag a box over it with the Redact tool. When you download, the area is blacked out and the text under it is deleted, so it can't be copied, searched or un-hidden.
A drawn box is a shape on top of the page, and the text under it stays in the file, where it can be copied or searched. This tool removes that text by rebuilding each affected page as an image.
Yes. Nothing is removed until you download. Select a box to move or resize it, press Delete to remove it, or use undo.
It is free, with no account, watermark or page limit, and nothing is uploaded. It runs on your device, so the unredacted file never reaches a server.
No. Redacted pages become images, so their other text can't be selected or searched. Pages without boxes keep their text. OCR PDF can make redacted pages searchable again.
It removes the content rather than covering it, which is what redaction guidance asks for. You are still responsible for checking the output and making sure every sensitive area was marked.
Last reviewed . See how we build and test our tools, or report an error.
