Redact PDF
Choose a PDF, then drag on the page to draw black boxes, or type a word, name or number and mark every match. On save, each page with a redaction is rebuilt as a picture with the boxes burned in, and the new file is checked before you get it.
- Gone, not just covered
- Free, no sign-up
Drag on the page to draw a black box. Use the list below to remove one.
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type or open is uploaded. Free to use, no account. More pdf tools
How to use it
- Choose the PDF.
- Drag on the page to cover an area, or type a word and press Find and mark every match.
- Read the warning: it lists the pages that will become pictures.
- Press Redact and download. The page re-reads the new file and only offers it when the hidden text is not there.
Why the text is really removed
A black rectangle drawn on top of a PDF hides the words from your eyes but leaves them in the file, where search, copy and paste or a text extractor still find them. Here, every page with a redaction is drawn as a picture, the black boxes are painted into that picture, and the page is replaced. The original text, fonts, links and form fields of that page are not copied into the new file at all. Pages with no redaction are copied unchanged, so their text stays selectable. The new file is a fresh PDF, so the old title, author and other metadata are not carried over either.
Before the download, the page opens the new file with pdf.js, the same reader Firefox uses, and checks that the rebuilt pages contain no text and that every word you searched for cannot be found anywhere. If anything is still there, nothing is saved and the note says which page. Find matches the text the PDF stores as letters; a word inside a scan or a picture is not found, so draw a box over it.
Private by design
Privacy
The PDF and the words you search for stay in this tab. They are not uploaded, saved or put in the address bar.
This page also shows Google ads, which can use cookies. Privacy and cookies explains how.
Questions
Is a black box in this tool the same as a black box in a PDF editor?
No. Many editors only draw a shape on top, and the words underneath can still be copied. Here the whole page is rebuilt as a picture with the box painted in, so the covered text is not in the file.
What happens to the rest of the page?
It becomes part of the same picture. You can still read it, but you cannot select, search or copy text on that page any more. Links and form fields on that page are dropped.
Does it find a word in a scanned page?
No. A scan stores a picture, not letters, so Find has nothing to match. Draw a box over the word instead; the page is rebuilt the same way.
How do I know the word is gone?
The page checks the new file before the download and refuses to save if a searched word or any text on a rebuilt page is still there. You can confirm it yourself with Ctrl+F or PDF to text.
Is the file uploaded?
No. pdf.js draws the pages and pdf-lib writes the new PDF in this tab.