PDF Redactor
Redact a PDF so the text is permanently removed, not just covered — and strip its hidden metadata, comments, and attachments. Entirely in your browser, nothing uploaded.
Prefer the terminal? See the CLI equivalent →About the PDF Redactor
- Text removed, not covered
- Strips metadata, comments & attachments
- Verifies the text is gone
- Scroll pages and jump to every match
- Instant results
- 100% private — runs in your browser
- Free, no sign-up
The PDF Redactor permanently removes text from a PDF instead of hiding it behind a black rectangle. Draw boxes over the parts you want gone; each page you redact is flattened to an image with the boxes painted in, so the underlying text no longer exists in the file — it cannot be selected, copied, or recovered. Pages you do not touch are copied through unchanged and stay searchable.
This is the mistake nearly every online redaction tool makes: a black box drawn on top of live text still has the text underneath, one copy-paste away. It is also why the people who most need redaction — lawyers, HR, healthcare and finance staff — cannot use upload-based services for it. Here nothing is uploaded: the file is opened, redacted, and re-saved entirely inside your browser tab.
Redaction is a checklist, not a marker pen. A black box on page four is worthless if the name is still in the document’s comments, form fields, attachments, or metadata — so this tool also strips annotations, AcroForm values, embedded files, JavaScript, the outline, and the Info/XMP metadata from the whole document. Finally it re-opens the result and checks that the redacted pages contain no extractable text, and shows you that proof.
How to use it
- Drop your PDF onto the box, or click to choose it.
- Turn pages and drag a box over any text you want permanently removed (remove a box with the ✕).
- Pick a render quality — 150 DPI is fine on screen, 300 DPI for scans — and optionally flatten every page for maximum safety.
- Click “Redact & download”. The tool rebuilds the file, verifies the redacted pages carry no text, and downloads the result.
How it stays safe
- Removed, not covered
- Redacted pages are rasterised to an image with the boxes baked in — the text is destroyed, not layered over.
- Searchable where untouched
- Pages without redactions are copied verbatim, so the rest of the document keeps its selectable text.
- Sanitised
- Comments, form values, attachments, JavaScript, outline, and metadata are stripped from the whole file.
- Verified
- The output is re-opened and its redacted pages are checked to contain no extractable text.
Frequently asked questions
Is the redacted text actually gone, or just hidden?+
Gone. Each page you redact is converted to an image with the black boxes painted on, so the original text is not present in the output at all — it cannot be selected, copied, or recovered. The tool also verifies this by re-extracting text from the redacted pages and confirming none remains.
After a preset like IBAN or Email, how do I find the matched pages?+
A “Redacted pages” bar lists every page that got a box, with its box count — click one to jump straight there, or use the ↑/↓ arrows to step between them. In the default Scroll view a slim rail also marks where the boxes are across the whole document; switch to Page view if you prefer paging one at a time.
Can I check what a preset matched before redacting?+
Yes. After a scan, a Matches panel lists every hit with its actual text and the surrounding context, filterable by type. Uncheck any false positive — say an order number caught as a phone — and its box disappears; matches that look unusual (a phone with no separators, a card that fails its checksum) are flagged so they are easy to spot. Only the matches you keep, plus any boxes you drew by hand, are redacted.
Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?+
No. The file is opened, redacted, and saved entirely in your browser — there is no server and no upload. That is exactly why it is usable for confidential documents that you are not allowed to send to an online service.
Why does the redacted page look slightly different / larger?+
Because a redacted page is rasterised to an image to guarantee the text is destroyed, that page is no longer selectable text and the file is a bit larger. Pages you did not redact are left as-is and stay searchable. Raising the DPI improves sharpness at the cost of size.
Does it remove hidden data too — not just the visible text?+
Yes. It strips the document’s comments and annotations, form-field values, embedded/attached files, JavaScript, the outline/bookmarks, and the Info and XMP metadata — the places sensitive information hides even after the visible text is blacked out.
Can the text really not be recovered?+
For the rasterised (redacted) pages, the text is not in the file, so it cannot be recovered from it. This tool avoids the common “black rectangle over live text” trap. It does not, however, make any legal or court-grade certification — verify the result yourself, and use “flatten every page” if you want the whole document rasterised.
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