Sign & protect
Redact PDF
Black out text, and the words under it are deleted from the page, not just covered.
Also called: black out PDF, blackout, remove sensitive information, PDF redaction
Drop a PDF hereStart with a PDFOpen your PDFDrop to open
It opens in this tab with the tool started. No account, nothing to install.
Without an account, your PDF never leaves your device. How?
How to redact a PDF
Choose a PDF, or drop it on this page.
It opens in this tab with the Redact tool ready.
Drag over areas or select text to mark it, apply the redactions, then download the PDF.
Questions
Is it free to redact a PDF?
Yes. It’s free and needs no account. It runs in your web browser, with nothing to install.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No, not without an account. Your PDF is opened and worked on in this browser tab, and never sent to our server.
Is there a file size limit?
Not as a guest. Your file never reaches our server, so there’s no file-size or usage quota. With a free account, each PDF kept in your library can be up to 100 MB.
Can I redact a PDF on my phone?
Yes. It works in the web browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
Is the text really gone?
Yes, from the marked page. Once you apply the redactions, the marked words are deleted from the page and the saved file, not just covered; a picture, shape or comment goes too when a mark covers it whole. Copies elsewhere, such as bookmarks, the document’s properties, attachments or other pages, are not touched.
See the limits of a free account, and what stays on your device.
When you’d redact
- Names, addresses and account numbers in a statement or a contract, before you share it.
- A medical or legal letter, when only part of a page may be seen.
- A signature or a photo: drag a box over the whole picture, and it is taken out of the file.
Let it suggest what to hide
Suggest lists the names, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, account numbers, IBANs, card numbers, social security numbers and dates of birth it finds, each with its page. Accept or reject each one, or a whole kind at once. On a scanned page it can find words once text recognition has read them, and it offers to do that, but a mark over part of a scan can’t be applied yet, because the scan is one picture.
Mark first, then apply
A mark is a draft: move it, resize it, label it, for example REDACTED, or undo it. On a phone, drag a finger over what to hide, or select text and mark it. Nothing is removed until you apply, which tells you how many marks on how many pages, and that it can’t be undone. Save or download with marks not applied, and you’re warned that the text under them is still in the file.
What you get
Once applied, the marked words are deleted from the page, from search and from the saved file. A picture, shape, comment or form field goes too when a mark covers it whole. Bookmarks, the document’s properties, attachments and other pages keep any copies of the words they hold. A mark that crosses a picture’s edge, such as one line of a scanned page, can’t be applied yet. If a mark can’t be applied safely, it says what stopped it and on which page, and keeps your marks. A password-protected PDF stays protected. Without an account, it all happens on your device.