PDF Redaction

about this tool

Redaction that removes, not covers

The usual way to "redact" a PDF — drawing a black rectangle over the words — leaves the words in the file. Anyone can select the text under the box, copy it, or search for it. Court filings and official reports have been undone this way.

Here, every page with something marked is redrawn as a picture with the black boxes burned in. There is no text underneath to recover. Pages with nothing marked are copied across with their text, so they stay sharp and searchable — but cut down to what they show themselves, because a link to a redacted page, a form field, or a picture two pages share can otherwise carry a redacted page's content into the new file with them. Form buttons' actions and scripts are dropped from them, and any page that still could not be copied without that risk is redrawn as a picture too. The new file also leaves out the original's title, author and other document details.

Marking what to hide

• Find and mark. Type the words or names to hide, one per line, and tick what else to look for: email addresses, phone numbers (Indian mobiles and landlines, and any +country number), PAN, Aadhaar and card numbers — the last two only when the digits pass their check digit, so a bank reference or an invoice number is not taken for one. Filled-in form fields and comments are searched too; a find in one covers the whole field or note. Every find is marked on its page for you to review. Spacing does not hide a word, but a name broken across two lines is found only by its halves: list each half, or draw a box.
• Draw by hand. Drag across the page to mark anything else: a signature, a photo, a line of an address.
• Black out a whole page when nothing on it should survive.

A scanned page is a picture with no text in it, so searching cannot find anything there; draw boxes on it, or black out the page.

Checked before you download

When the redacted file is made, this tool reads it back: if any text can still be read on a redacted page, or anything it found still appears in the text, form fields or comments of any page — one you left unmarked, say — it tells you, and which page.

Redacted pages are redrawn at 200 dots per inch by default; 150 makes a smaller file, 300 keeps fine print crisp. To shrink the result for an upload form, use compress PDF to KB.

Private

The PDF never leaves your device: it is read with pdf.js, redrawn and rebuilt with pdf-lib, and checked, all in your browser. To clear a PDF's hidden details without redacting it, use PDF metadata; to blur part of a screenshot or photo, photo censor.

questions

Is the redacted text really gone?

Yes, on every page you mark. Those pages are redrawn as pictures with the black boxes burned in, so there is no text left underneath to select, copy or search — the common mistake of drawing a black box over text that stays in the file cannot happen here. After redacting, this tool reads the new file back and tells you if any text survived on a redacted page, or if anything it found still appears in the text, form fields or comments of another page.

What can it find for me?

Any words or names you type, and on request email addresses, phone numbers (Indian mobiles and landlines, and any +country number), PAN numbers, Aadhaar numbers that pass the Aadhaar check digit, and card numbers that pass the card check — in the page’s text, and in filled-in form fields and comments. Each find is marked on the page for you to look over before redacting; you can remove marks, add your own by dragging across the page, or black out a whole page.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

Searching needs the PDF to contain text, and a scan is a picture of a page with none. On a scan, drag boxes over what to hide, or black out the whole page; the redaction itself works the same, since the page is redrawn either way.

What happens to the pages I do not mark?

They are copied into the new file with their text, so they stay sharp and searchable; only pages with something marked are turned into pictures. Each copied page keeps only what it shows itself, so a link to a redacted page, a form field, or a picture two pages share cannot carry the redacted page’s content along. Buttons lose their scripts and form actions. If a page cannot be copied with certainty that nothing from a redacted page comes along, it is redrawn as a picture too, and the result says so. The document’s title, author and other details are not copied across.

Why does the file get bigger?

A page redrawn as a picture takes more room than the same page as text. 200 dots per inch is a good balance; choose 150 for a smaller file or 300 for fine print. To bring the file under a size limit afterwards, use compress PDF to KB.

Is my PDF uploaded?

No. The PDF is read, redrawn and checked in your browser; nothing is uploaded or kept, which matters most for exactly the documents people redact.