Redact PDF

New

Permanently black out sensitive data.

Runs in your browser

Runs in your browser — your file never leaves your device.

Drop your PDF here, or browseOne PDF · redacted locally in your browser

About this tool

Find text or detect personal data and black it out so it is permanently removed: flatten each page to an image, or take out only the text under each box.

This tool processes files entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded to a server.

More details

Redact PDF removes the parts of a document you mark instead of hiding them. A black rectangle drawn with an annotation tool is a separate object on top of the page, and the words beneath it can still be copied out of the file. Here each black-out area is painted into the pixels of a rendered page image, and the output is built from those images alone, so under a box there is no text, vector or form layer left to recover.

The whole job runs in your browser tab: pdf.js, shipped with the page, reads and draws each page and the new file is assembled there, so the PDF is not uploaded. Find text searches the PDF's own text for a name or a number on every page at once, with Match case and Whole word, and Detect personal data finds email addresses, phone numbers, payment card numbers that pass the card checksum, IBANs that pass the IBAN checksum and dates that follow a “Date of birth” or “DOB” label. Every match lands in a review list, ticked, so you untick anything that should stay. You can also place an area by typing its page, its position from the bottom-left corner and its size in PDF points. One PDF at a time, up to 100 MB.

Under Method, “Flatten every page”, selected when the tool opens, rebuilds every page as a picture, including pages you did not mark, at Screen (96 DPI) or Print (150 DPI): the result cannot be selected, searched or filled in, and links, bookmarks and the original title and author are not carried over. “Remove text under boxes” takes out only what lies under each box — its text, the covered pixels of a picture and any annotation there — and keeps the rest of the file as it was, still searchable. Before it saves, it searches the result for every ticked match again and stops if one is still there.

When to use it

Court and tribunal filings
Remove a date of birth, a home address or a minor's name from an exhibit before it goes into a public bundle, and hand over a copy where the removed text cannot be pasted back out.
Sharing a statement or payslip
A landlord or lender may need proof of income but not your full account number or employee ID. Box out those fields and send the rest.
Answering a records request
Before releasing records under a subject-access or freedom-of-information request, cover third parties' names and contact details.
Posting a signed document
Publish a contract, permit or certificate as evidence while covering the handwritten signature and reference numbers that someone could reuse.
Dropping hidden document data
With Flatten every page, the output is a new file made only of page images, so the original's author, keywords and earlier saved revisions are not copied in. Its own properties read "Redacted PDF", with pdf.xyz as creator.

What this tool can do

Resolution: Screen (96 DPI) or Print (150 DPI) — Print is selected when the tool opens.
Methods: “Flatten every page” or “Remove text under boxes” — “Flatten every page” is selected when the tool opens.
What you get: With “Flatten every page”, the method selected when the tool opens, every page — not only the ones with a box — is rebuilt as a flat JPEG image, so the result has no selectable or searchable text, links, form fields, annotations or bookmarks on any page.
Removing instead: With “Remove text under boxes”, only what lies under each box is taken out of the file — its text, the covered pixels of any picture and any annotation there — and the rest of every page stays as it was, still selectable and searchable, along with the file's bookmarks and properties. Vertical text, a form field or certain images under a box cannot be removed this way, and the redaction then stops with a message instead of saving.
Find and detect: Search the PDF's text, with Match case and Whole word, or detect email addresses, phone numbers, payment card numbers, IBANs and dates of birth — card numbers only when they pass the card checksum, IBANs only when they pass the IBAN checksum, and dates of birth only after a “Date of birth” or “DOB” label. Every match is listed with the words around it to tick or untick before anything is redacted. A page with no selectable text, such as a scan, has nothing to find.

How it works

1Add your PDF
Drag one PDF onto "Drop your PDF here, or", or use its browse link. Files over 100 MB are turned away before loading, and an encrypted PDF stops with a note asking you to unlock it first.
2Find or detect what to remove
Under "Find text to redact", type a word or number and press Find, or tick the kinds of personal data to look for and press Detect. Each match appears in the review list with the words around it and its page; untick any that should stay. A scanned page has no text to search, and the panel names such pages.
3Enter each redaction area
Under "Redaction areas", fill in Page, X (pt), Y (pt), Width (pt) and Height (pt), then press "Add area". X and Y place the box's lower-left corner, measured from the page's bottom-left at 72 points to the inch (the note beside the heading says the same), and the line above the fields gives that page's size in points. A box that runs past the page edge is refused with a message naming the page size. Each accepted area gets its own trash button.
4Choose method, fill and quality
Under "Method", keep “Flatten every page” or choose “Remove text under boxes” to keep the rest of the file searchable. Under "Fill", pick Black or White. When flattening, "Output quality" offers Print (150 DPI), the default, for sharper pages, or Screen (96 DPI) for a lighter file meant for on-screen reading.
5Redact and download
Press "Redact PDF" (it stays disabled until there is an area or a ticked match) and, when flattening, watch the "Redacting pages…" counter. When "Redacted PDF ready" appears, "Download redacted PDF" saves it with -redacted added to the original name.

Common questions

Can someone remove the black boxes or copy the text underneath?

Not inside the boxed areas. When flattening, the fill is painted into the page image before it is saved, and the download holds only those images, so there is nothing under a box to select or uncover. When removing, the text under a box is deleted from the page itself, so there is nothing left to copy there either. Anything a box misses stays readable, so an area placed slightly off by position can leave the edge of a word showing; boxes from Find text and Detect are placed over the matched letters themselves.

Can it find and redact every instance of a word automatically?

Yes. Type it under Find text to redact and press Find: every place it appears on every page is listed, ticked, and each ticked one is boxed when you redact. Detect personal data does the same for email addresses, phone numbers, card numbers, IBANs and labelled dates of birth. Detection matches patterns and checksums, so it can miss a format it does not know — read the list before you redact. It reads the PDF's own text, so a scan with no text layer has nothing to find. The preview draws boxes on a blank outline of the page, not on its content, so open the downloaded file and check it.

Why can't I select or search text in the redacted PDF?

Because Flatten every page, the method the tool opens with, rebuilds every page as an image, which is what makes the removal permanent; nothing of the original's text, form fields, links or document information survives on any page. Choose “Remove text under boxes” when the rest must stay searchable: only what is under each box is taken out, and bookmarks, links and properties elsewhere stay. If it meets something it cannot take out safely, such as vertical text or a form field under a box, it stops and says so, and flattening handles it. After flattening, OCR PDF can add a searchable text layer back, and the boxed areas give it nothing to read. OCR PDF does not run in the browser: the file goes over TLS to pdf.xyz's secure server, the upload is deleted when the job finishes, the result's link expires after 60 minutes, and a daily storage rule erases the stored copy after that.

Is my file uploaded when I redact it here?

No. Rendering and rebuilding happen in your browser with a pdf.js server bundled into the site, and the PDF, up to 100 MB, stays on your device.

What happens with a password-protected PDF?

Loading stops, with a message saying which lock the file has, or, when the check cannot tell, asking for whichever password applies. A PDF that needs a password to open is called password-protected. One that opens freely but carries an owner password restricting edits is told it has editing restrictions, and Unlock PDF removes those only with the owner (permissions) password that set them; it has no way to strip a lock without the password. Unlock PDF, and Protect PDF for re-locking the redacted copy, upload over TLS to pdf.xyz's secure server rather than running in your browser: the input is deleted when each job finishes, each download link expires after 60 minutes, and a daily storage rule erases the stored copy after that.

What if part of a page comes out blank?

If pdf.js cannot decode an image on a page, that image is missing from the output, not hidden under a box, and the result panel warns with a count. Treat that warning as a reason to look through the saved file page by page before it goes anywhere.

Does Redact PDF work offline?

Not fully. The page and its processing engine load over the network, and parts of the engine are fetched the first time a step needs them. The processing itself runs on your device. Rendering a page that holds a JPEG 2000 or JBIG2 image, as scanned documents often do, downloads an image decoder from our site the first time it is needed, and that step needs a connection. Chinese, Japanese or Korean text whose font is not embedded in the PDF needs a character map, downloaded from our site the first time it is needed, and that step needs a connection.

How large can my file be?

Up to 100 MB per file.

Can the redacted text be recovered?

No. The box is not laid over the text. With “Flatten every page”, each page is rendered to a JPEG image, the box is painted into that image's pixels, and a new PDF is built from the images alone. None of the original's text, drawings, form fields or annotations is copied into it, and neither is its document information — the new file's only title is “Redacted PDF”. With “Remove text under boxes”, the text under each box is deleted from the page's own content and the old content is not kept in the file; then every match you ticked in the review list is searched for again in the redacted file, and nothing is saved if one is still there.

Is the redacted PDF still searchable?

It depends on the method. With “Flatten every page”, no — and that is true of every page, including the ones you did not redact, because every page is now an image. To make the text you left visible searchable again, run the redacted file through OCR PDF. The text under a box is gone, so OCR cannot bring it back. With “Remove text under boxes”, yes: only the text under the boxes is gone, and the rest of every page can still be selected and searched.