Redact PDF
Permanently remove names, numbers and other sensitive text from a PDF. Find it automatically or draw boxes. Your file never leaves your device.
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
What does it mean to redact a PDF?
Redacting a PDF means permanently removing confidential content, such as names, account numbers or medical details, before you share the document. A real redaction deletes the information from the file. Drawing a black rectangle or highlighting text in black does not: the words stay underneath and can be copied out. This tool finds what you want to hide, covers it with a solid box, and rebuilds each affected page so the hidden text no longer exists in the PDF you download.
How to redact a PDF
- Choose Open File and select your PDF. It opens in your browser and is never uploaded. Password-protected files ask for their password.
- Mark what to remove: type names or words in Find words and names, tick data types such as email addresses or card numbers, or drag a box over any part of a page.
- Review every page. Select a mark to remove it, use Redact whole page for full pages, and switch on Preview result to see the final look.
- Choose the box colour, an optional label such as REDACTED, and the image quality for redacted pages.
- Select Redact and download. The tool saves the new PDF and checks that the redacted text can no longer be found in it.
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: share a contract without the other party's details
Open a signed contract, type the counterparty's name and company in Find words and names, and tick Email addresses and Phone numbers. Drag boxes over the signatures on the last page. Preview the result, choose Redact and download, and send the redacted copy. The check shows that none of the redacted terms remain in the new file.
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.
Redact PDF questions
How do I redact a PDF for free?
Open the PDF here, mark the text to hide by searching, ticking data types, or drawing boxes, then choose Redact and download. It is free with no account, watermark or page limit beyond 1,000 pages, and it runs in your browser on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android.
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.
Will the rest of my PDF stay searchable?
Pages you do not mark are copied into the new PDF unchanged, keeping their selectable text, links and sharp vector graphics. Only pages with at least one redaction are rebuilt as images, at the quality you choose (150, 200 or 300 dpi).