Permanently black out sensitive text in your PDF.
Drag on the page to draw a black box over sensitive content.
Draw black boxes over names, numbers or any sensitive text, then download the redacted PDF.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. Every tool on this site is free, with no account or sign-up required.
Are my files uploaded to your servers?
No. All processing happens in your browser, so your files never leave your device.
Is the redaction permanent?
Yes. The black boxes are burned into the PDF when you download it. The hidden text cannot be selected or copied.
Drawing a black box over text is only real redaction if the text underneath is gone for good. This tool re-renders each page as an image and burns the black boxes into it, then rebuilds the PDF from those images. The covered text cannot be copied, searched, or extracted from the file you download.
Because pages become images, text in the whole document stops being selectable and searchable, not just the covered parts. That is the price of redaction that cannot be undone. If you need a searchable copy, keep one before you redact.
Sensitive details hide in headers, footers, and later pages: names in a running header, account numbers in a footnote, a signature block at the end. Flip through the whole document after applying the boxes, then download. Work on a copy and keep the original somewhere safe, because redaction cannot be reversed.
Can anyone recover the covered text?
No. Pages are rebuilt as images with the boxes burned in, so the covered text is not in the downloaded file.
Does the redacted file stay searchable?
No. The whole document becomes images, so no text remains selectable.
Should I keep the original?
Yes, somewhere safe. Redaction cannot be undone.
Read our step by step guide: How to Redact a PDF Permanently.