Redact PDF
True redaction — content removed, not hidden. Free, local, no upload.
Drop files here
or click to browse · paste from clipboard
Accepts .PDF · Up to 1,000 files
How it works
Drop your PDF
Drag and drop, click to browse, or paste from clipboard.
Mark content to redact
Draw rectangles over sensitive areas, or use Find & Redact to search by keyword, email, phone number, SSN, and more.
Apply redactions
Affected pages are rasterised — the original text is removed from every layer of the file, not just hidden.
Verify & download
Output is automatically checked before download. A full redaction log is available as JSON.
Frequently asked questions
A black box drawn over PDF text is a visual decoration. The underlying text is still in the file — anyone can select, copy, or extract it with a standard PDF reader or command-line tool. True redaction removes the content from the file structure entirely. In our output file, the redacted data does not exist anywhere in the document.
No. We render the affected pages as images and burn the black rectangle directly into the pixels before embedding them. The original text is never written to the output file — there is no layer, no hidden stream, no metadata to recover.
After generating your redacted PDF, we run a second pass: we extract all text from the output file and search for the strings you marked for redaction. If none are found, you see "Verification passed." If any were somehow still present, we would block the download and show an error.
No. Everything runs in your browser using WebAssembly. Your file never leaves your device. The verification pass also runs locally.
Yes. Switch to "Find & Redact" mode, type a word or phrase (or pick a preset pattern like SSN, email address, or phone number), and we will highlight all matches across every page. You can uncheck individual matches before applying.
Yes. Keyword and pattern modes search the entire document and flag matches on every page simultaneously. Draw mode works page-by-page but you can add rectangles to any page before applying.
Pages with redactions are rasterised — converted to a high-resolution image. Non-redacted text on those pages will no longer be selectable. Pages without any redactions are copied exactly as-is — text remains selectable and the file remains lossless.
Yes. After applying redactions, click "Download redaction log." The log lists the file name, date/time, total count, and per-redaction details (page number and pattern label if keyword mode was used). The log never contains the actual redacted text.