Guide
Black out words in a PDF
Search for a string and cover it so a shareable copy should not show that text. Always check the output; redaction is easy to get wrong.
How to redact text in a PDF
Cropping and drawing a black box in a viewer often leaves the words in the file. This tool is meant to paint over matching text. It is still your job to confirm nothing remains selectable or in metadata.
It cannot know every alias of a name. “Jon” and “Jonathan” are different strings. OCR scans may not match the spelling you type.
Redaction runs in the browser. We do not review your documents.
- Open Redact PDF and add the file.
- Type the exact text to black out, for example a name or account fragment as it appears in the file.
- Apply redaction. Review every page of the download, including zoomed-in areas.
- Search the output for the same string. If it still hits, the text was stored differently (spacing, OCR errors) and you must try other spellings or remove the page.
Redaction limits
For images of text, OCR first or remove the whole page. A photo of a passport number will not match a typed string.
- Blacks out text that matches the string you enter.
- Does not automatically find every personal data type.
- Does not clean all metadata by itself.
- You must visually inspect the download.
- Local processing.
Redaction is not automatic compliance
If you are bound by a privacy law, follow that process, including a human review. This utility is a helper, not a certification.
See the Privacy Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Inspect the file: try selecting text and searching. If anything remains, remove pages or repeat. No web tool can promise forensic-proof redaction without review.
The filename is whatever you save. Bookmarks and metadata may still contain names. Rename the download and check properties.
This version matches text you type. For a region that is only an image, remove the page or use a desktop redaction tool with area select.