Redact
Drag a box over anything sensitive. The content underneath is destroyed, not just covered.
Drop your PDF here
or click to browse
Up to 10 MB · 20 pages
How to redact a pdf
Redaction removes sensitive content from a PDF for good — names, account numbers, addresses, a signature — so the document can be shared without the parts that should stay private. The distinction that matters is between hiding and removing: this tool removes.
- 1
Choose your PDF
Drop the document you need to redact. It is read in your browser and goes no further.
- 2
Draw over what must go
The page is rendered on screen. Drag a box over each piece of sensitive content. Draw as many boxes as you need, on as many pages as you need; Undo removes the last box on the current page. Choose a black fill for a visible redaction bar, or white to leave the area blank.
- 3
Download
Click Download redacted PDF. Check the result before you send it — you should not be able to select or search for the redacted text.
Your files never leave your device
Unlike most online PDF tools, this one uploads nothing. Everything runs inside your browser, so your document is never transmitted, never stored on a server, and never seen by anyone but you. Once the page has loaded you can disconnect from the internet entirely and the tool still works.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my document uploaded anywhere?
- No. Every operation runs inside your browser. The file is read into memory on your own device, processed there, and offered back to you as a download. It is never sent to a server, never stored, and never seen by anyone else. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and the tool still works.
- Can the redacted text be recovered?
- No. Every redacted page is flattened to an image before the black boxes are applied, so the words underneath are not part of the file any more. Selecting, copying, searching, or running a text extractor over the result finds nothing, because there is nothing left to find.
- Why not just draw a black rectangle over the text?
- Because that hides it without removing it. A rectangle drawn on top leaves the original text sitting in the content stream underneath, where select-all-copy, a text extractor, or a search engine will still read it. Redactions done that way have leaked repeatedly in court filings and government releases. This tool destroys the pixels instead.
- Does redacting change the rest of the document?
- Only the pages you drew on. Those pages become images, so their text is no longer selectable and they will be a little larger on disk. Pages with no boxes are copied through untouched, keeping their real text and vector graphics.
- What is the difference between the black and white fill?
- Only how the result looks — both destroy the content underneath equally. Black is the convention and reads unmistakably as "something was removed here". White erases instead, leaving the area blank, which suits a form or letterhead where a black bar would look wrong. Bear in mind that a white redaction is not obvious to a reader, so it does not signal that anything was taken out.
- Can I redact a password-protected PDF?
- Not directly. A password-protected PDF must be unlocked first — use the Unlock tool with the document’s password, then run this tool on the result.
Related tools
DinoPDF — every tool runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.