Redact PDF
Beta
Permanently remove sensitive areas — data is destroyed, not covered.
Redacted pages are permanently rasterized (content beneath is destroyed for good), which also removes selectable text on those pages. Non-redacted pages keep vector text.
About Redact PDF
Redact a PDF by destroying the content underneath the area you mark, not by drawing a black box over it. A rectangle placed on top of sensitive text is still that text underneath, and anyone can lift it; redaction here removes it from the file, at a price worth stating: the redacted pages are rasterized for good, so their text stops being selectable.
Releasing a document — a statement, a medical report, a legal filing — with the private lines gone.
How to use Redact PDF in 3 steps
- Drop the PDF you need to clean before sharing.
- Draw a box over every area that must go — names, account numbers, addresses.
- Apply the redaction and download the file with that content destroyed.
What you get with Redact PDF
- Marked areas are removed permanently, not covered
- The right tool before releasing a document to a third party
- Runs locally, so the sensitive content is never uploaded to be redacted
- Free to use, with no signup and no account
- No watermark or logo added to your output
- Works on desktop and mobile, no install
Redact PDF: questions
- Is a black rectangle the same as a redaction?
- No, and this is the mistake that causes leaks. A shape drawn over text leaves the text in the file, selectable and copyable. Redaction has to remove the content, which is what this tool does.
- What does redaction do to the page?
- Redacted pages are permanently rasterised, so the content beneath is destroyed for good. The trade-off is that those pages lose their selectable text; pages you did not redact keep it.
- What can't Redact PDF do?
- Redacted pages are permanently rasterized (content beneath is destroyed for good), which also removes selectable text on those pages. Non-redacted pages keep vector text. That limit is stated on the page and in the alert above the tool, not buried in a footnote.
- Does redaction also clear metadata?
- Not automatically. Run Remove PDF Metadata and Sanitize PDF afterwards if the document's properties and attachments must go too.