Redact a PDF
Black out selected areas
Formats & limits
Formats & limits
- Accepted formats
- Result
| On a computer | On a phone or tablet | |
|---|---|---|
| Max file size | 300 MB | 100 MB |
| Max pages | 2000 | 300 |
| Max image size | 50 MP | 24 MP |
Limits on your device depend on its memory. Larger files may still work; the tool warns you first.
How it works
- 01 Choose the PDF that contains personal or confidential data.
- 02 Type the words or numbers to hide, one per line, or draw boxes over areas on the pages.
- 03 Check the marked areas and press Redact.
- 04 Inspect the exported pages visually and check text, annotations, attachments and metadata with suitable software. A search returning no matches does not prove that all sensitive information has been removed.
About this tool
Mark text or draw boxes over sensitive areas. Selected pages are rendered as images with the marked areas blacked out. Search can miss scans, unusual text encoding, form values and annotations. Inspect every page of the exported file before sharing; this tool does not guarantee complete removal of sensitive information. Keep the original separately and inspect the exported copy with a suitable PDF reader before sharing. Check that it opens as expected and that all required pages and details are present.
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Black out selected areas
Pages with redactions are rendered as images. This changes page content and can affect quality, search and accessibility. Keep the original separately.
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Search and redact
Search the available text layer, then review matches and mark any missed areas manually.
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Metadata stripped
Title, author, XMP metadata, bookmarks and document-level attachments and scripts are removed from the whole file, not only from the redacted pages.
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Other pages stay searchable
Only pages with redactions become images. The rest keep their text, links and original quality.
What to redact before sharing a document
Typical candidates are passport and ID numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, bank account and card numbers, signatures and handwritten notes, and photos of people. In scanned documents look at stamps and margins too: a search cannot see them, but a box can cover them.
Questions and answers
Is a black box drawn in a PDF editor enough to hide text?
Often not. Many editors only add a shape on top, while the text stays in the file and can be copied or extracted. Here the text is removed by replacing the whole page with a picture of it.
Why can’t I select text on some pages after redaction?
Pages with redactions are rendered as images. This changes page content and can affect quality, search and accessibility. Keep the original separately.
Will the search find text on scanned pages?
Only if the scan already has a text layer from OCR. A plain scan is a picture with no letters to search, so draw boxes over the areas to hide instead. The same goes for comments and for values typed into form fields: the search reads the page text only, so mark those with a box as well.
What else is removed besides the marked text?
The document title, author, subject and keywords, XMP metadata, bookmarks, and document-level attachments and scripts. Annotations on pages you did not redact stay as they are. Digital signatures stop being valid, and password protection is not carried over to the result.
Which resolution do the redacted pages get?
200 dpi by default, which keeps ordinary text sharp on paper. Choose 150 dpi for smaller files or 300 dpi for fine print; the higher the value, the larger the file.
Does the unredacted document get uploaded anywhere?
No. Searching, rendering the pages and rebuilding the PDF all run in this tab. The frame that does the work has no network access, so the original never leaves your device.
How can I check that the redaction worked?
Inspect the exported pages visually and check text, annotations, attachments and metadata with suitable software. A search returning no matches does not prove that all sensitive information has been removed.