Redact a PDF
Black out names, numbers and paragraphs so they are gone from the file, not just hidden. Nothing is uploaded.
Runs entirely in your browser
Loading the tool…
Select something you added to move, resize or change it. Drag on an empty spot to select several.
Tap a line of the PDF's own text to change it.
Drag over what to cover in white.
Drag over what to remove for good. Redacted pages are saved as pictures.
Choose a picture to place on the page.
Tap where the note goes.
Drag a box over what should be clickable.
Drag the part of the page to keep.
Your PDF is opened by this page and never uploaded. It is edited here, in WebAssembly, and the page keeps working with the network off.
Open the PDF, keep Redact on, and drag a box over each name, account number or paragraph that must not be shared. When you download, every page with a box on it is saved as a picture of itself with the boxes burned in, so the words under them are gone from the file: they cannot be copied, searched or recovered by removing the box, which is exactly what goes wrong when a document is "redacted" with a black rectangle drawn on top.
The pages you do not redact are kept as they were, text and links and all. A redacted page keeps everything else that was on it, but as a picture, so its text can no longer be selected. The form fields on it go too, with their answers. To strip the document's hidden details as well, the program that made it, its dates, its author, tick Remove every other detail in the settings.
Redaction is for documents that must not leak, so this one never leaves your device: the page reads the file and writes the redacted copy in WebAssembly, and is served with a rule that forbids it from opening a connection to anywhere.
How to use it
- Open your PDF. It is never uploaded.
- With Redact on, drag a black box over everything that must go.
- Optionally remove the document's details in the settings.
- Press Download, then search the new file to check the words are gone.
Questions
Is this real redaction or just a black box?
Real. A black box drawn on a PDF hides the words but leaves them in the file, where they can be copied out. Here each redacted page is replaced by a picture of itself with the boxes burned in, so the words under them are not in the file at all.
Why can I no longer select the text on a redacted page?
Because that page is now a picture: that is how the words under the boxes are removed for sure. Pages without a box are untouched and keep their text.
Can I check that it worked?
Yes. Open the downloaded file and search for a redacted word, or select all the text on the page and paste it somewhere: the redacted words are not there.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The document is opened by this page, drawn by a PDF renderer in the tab and written back out by WebAssembly on your device. The page is served with a rule that forbids it from opening any network connection, so the file cannot leave your computer or phone.
Other jobs
The same editor, opened on another tool. Every tool is there once you are.
Your data stays on your device
Everything above runs inside your browser as WebAssembly compiled from Rust. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored on a server. You can load this page once, go offline, and it still works.
This page makes no requests at all, to anywhere. That is not a promise in the copy: it is a Content-Security-Policy header your browser enforces, and connect-src on it is none. Open the network tab and watch nothing happen.