Black Out Text in PDF
Cover text in a PDF with solid black boxes, and remove the words underneath, so nobody can copy, search or recover them.
Drop your PDF here
Find names, account numbers, emails and more, mark them, and download a PDF where that text is permanently gone.
PDF up to 100 MB and 1,000 pages · Password-protected PDFs supported
100% in your browser
Why a black box is not enough on its own
Most PDF editors let you draw a black rectangle or use a black highlighter. That changes how the page looks, but the text underneath is still in the file: anyone can select it, copy it, or remove the box. Blacking out text properly means deleting it as well as covering it. Here the black box and the page are merged into a new image, so the words beneath it are gone.
How to black out text in a PDF
- Choose Open File and select the PDF.
- Type the words to black out in Find words and names and choose Mark all matches, or drag a box over the text on the page.
- Turn on Preview result to see the black boxes exactly as they will appear.
- Keep the box colour Black, or choose White to make the text disappear without a visible box.
- Choose Redact and download. Try selecting or searching the blacked-out text in the new file: there is nothing left to find.
Why black boxes and highlights are not redaction
In 2019, lawyers for Paul Manafort filed a court document in which the “redacted” passages could be read by copying the text under the black bars. Mistakes like this happen because many editors only draw a shape on top of the page. The text, and often the original images, remain in the file.
Proper redaction removes the content itself. This tool rebuilds every page you mark from its rendered pixels, so nothing hidden under a box, behind an image or in an invisible text layer survives. Pages you do not mark are left untouched.
Benefits of redacting PDFs in your browser
- Your document never leaves your device
- Contracts, medical records and statements are processed locally. There is no upload, account or temporary copy on someone else's server.
- Real removal, then a leak check
- Marked pages are rebuilt without the original content, and the saved PDF is searched again for every redacted term.
- Find data you might miss
- Detectors for emails, phone numbers, Luhn-checked card numbers, checksum-verified IBANs, account numbers, ID numbers, dates and more.
- Search across every page
- Mark every occurrence of a name or phrase in one step, with whole-word and match-case options.
- Keep the last four digits
- Show “ending 1234” on statements and invoices while hiding the rest of the number.
- Clean output
- Metadata such as author and title, bookmarks, attachments and scripts are not carried into the redacted copy.
Common uses for PDF redaction
- Legal and court filings
- Remove personal identifiers, minors' names and privileged passages before filing or disclosure.
- Information requests (FOIA, GDPR)
- Hide third-party personal data when responding to subject access or freedom of information requests.
- HR and recruitment
- Remove salaries, ID numbers and colleagues' details from personnel files and references.
- Healthcare
- Remove patient names, dates of birth and record numbers before sharing case notes or research.
- Finance and renting
- Share bank statements, payslips and tax forms without full account or ID numbers.
- Business documents
- Remove client names, prices and contact details from contracts, invoices and case studies.
What happens to each part of your PDF
| Part of the PDF | What happens | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Text and images under a mark | Permanently removed | The page is rebuilt from pixels with the box burned in |
| Other content on a marked page | Kept as part of the page image | It looks the same but is no longer selectable |
| Pages without marks | Copied unchanged | Text stays searchable and vector graphics stay sharp |
| Title, author and other metadata | Not copied | Metadata often contains names and software details |
| Bookmarks, attachments and scripts | Not copied | These can hold hidden copies of sensitive content |
| Comments, form fields and links | Removed by default | Comments often quote the text being redacted; untick the option to keep them on unmarked pages |
How this redaction tool compares
Based on what each product states on its own redaction page, reviewed in October 2026. Check current details on each site.
| Tool | Where the PDF is processed | How content is removed | Find tools | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital ToolPad | In your browser | Marked pages rebuilt as images; output re-checked | Search, 8 data types, boxes, whole pages | Free |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro | Desktop app | True redaction | Search and patterns | Paid subscription |
| iLovePDF Redact PDF | Online service | Content removed | Search; card, phone and email patterns | Free and paid plans |
| PDF24 Redact PDF | PDF24 servers in Germany | Pages converted to images | Drawing tools | Free |
| Smallpdf Redact PDF | Online service | Content removed | Select text and areas | Free tier; Pro for unlimited use |
| NilePDF | In your browser | Boxes drawn on top; text stays unless pages are converted to images | Boxes | Free |
| freepdftxt | Server (PyMuPDF) | Content removed | Boxes, search, regex | Free |
How the redaction works
The PDF is read with PDF.js, Mozilla's open-source PDF engine, in your browser. Search and the data detectors run on the text layer of each page; each match is mapped to the position of its characters, with a small safety margin around the letters.
When you redact, each marked page is rendered at 150, 200 or 300 dpi, the boxes are painted onto the pixels, and the page is saved as an image in a new PDF built with pdf-lib. Unmarked pages are copied across unchanged. The new file is then opened again and searched for every redacted term, so you know whether anything was missed elsewhere in the document.
Before you send the redacted PDF
Open the downloaded file and try to select or search the redacted words. To strip hidden details such as the author, editing software and creation dates from a PDF you are not redacting, use the PDF metadata remover. To shrink a large redacted file, use the PDF compressor. For photos and screenshots, blur faces or blur text in an image instead.
Example: black out a client's name before posting a case study
A two-page case study mentions a client's name nine times. Type the name once in Find words and names and every occurrence is marked across both pages. Download the result, open it, and search for the name: no matches are found.
What to expect from the result
Pages with redactions become images: their text is no longer selectable, and the file can get larger. Choose Standard quality to keep it smaller. Search and automatic detection need selectable text, so scanned pages and text inside pictures have to be boxed by hand. Detection finds common formats but not every possible number or name, so review every page. The new PDF does not keep bookmarks, attachments or document metadata, and with the default setting, comments, form fields and links are removed too. Keep your original file safely; redaction cannot be undone.
Black Out Text in PDF questions
How do I black out text in a PDF so it can't be copied?
Mark the text here and choose Redact and download. The tool replaces each marked page with an image that already contains the black boxes, so there is no text under them to copy. A black highlight or rectangle in an ordinary editor only covers the text.
Can I use white instead of black?
Yes. Choose White as the box colour to remove text without a visible black bar, for example to blank out a field on a form. The content is removed in the same way; only the colour differs.
Is the redacted text really removed, or just covered?
It is removed. Every page with a redaction is rebuilt as a new image with the boxes burned in, so the original text, fonts and hidden layers on that page are not copied into the new file. After saving, the tool reads the new PDF back and reports whether any redacted words can still be found anywhere in it.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
No. The PDF is opened, searched, redacted and saved by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, and closing the tab discards your working copy. That makes it suitable for contracts, medical records, HR files and bank statements you should not hand to an online service.
Can I redact a scanned PDF?
Yes, by drawing boxes. Scanned pages are pictures with no searchable text, so search and automatic detection cannot find anything there. Drag a box over each part you want to remove; the page is rebuilt with that area permanently blacked out.