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PDF & Image Tools

Redact PDF

Permanently black out sensitive parts of your PDFs. The content beneath is destroyed, not just covered. All in your browser.

Redaction is permanent — marked pages are flattened to images, so the hidden content can't be recovered.

Drop your PDFs here

One or many PDFs to redact

Redact PDF

Why redact a PDF (a black box on its own isn't enough)?

Before you share a document, you often need to hide something: an address, an account number, a name, a salary line, a medical detail. The dangerous mistake is drawing a black rectangle over the text in an ordinary PDF editor. That box sits on top of the words; anyone can select the text underneath, copy it out, or simply delete the box, and the "hidden" information is right there in the open. This tool redacts properly. Draw a box over whatever needs to go, and when you apply it, that page is flattened to an image with the bars burned into the pixels. The original text and graphics beneath your boxes are discarded, not merely covered, so there's nothing left to select, copy or recover. You can use black or white bars, move and resize each box, and undo as you go. Because a redacted page becomes an image, its text is no longer selectable on that page (only the pages you mark are flattened, the rest of the document is left untouched). You choose how sharp the output is, and it all happens in your browser, so the very file you're trying to keep private never leaves your device.

How do I permanently remove text from a PDF online for free?

Open your PDF, draw black or white bars over the parts you want gone, then apply: each marked page is flattened to an image with the bars burned in, so the text and graphics underneath are discarded and can't be selected, copied or recovered. It all runs in your browser, so the file you're keeping private is never uploaded.

100% private No watermarks Free forever

Frequently asked questions

Is the hidden text really gone, or just covered up?
Really gone. On any page you mark, the page is rebuilt as an image with the bars baked into the pixels and the text and graphics underneath thrown away, so there's nothing to select, copy or recover beneath the bar. That's the crucial difference from a black box drawn in an ordinary PDF editor, where the text survives underneath.
Does redacting change the rest of the document?
Only the pages you draw on are affected. Those pages are flattened to an image, so their text stops being selectable, while every page without a box is copied straight through with its text intact.
Can it find the sensitive information for me automatically?
No. You draw the boxes yourself over whatever needs to go. There's no automatic detection of names, numbers or faces, which also means nothing gets hidden unless you choose it.
Can I blur or pixelate instead of using solid bars?
No, and that's deliberate. The tool paints solid black or white bars and destroys what's underneath, because blur and pixelation only scramble the content and can sometimes be reversed. A true redaction removes it.
Can I control the quality of the redacted pages?
Yes. Choose Smaller, Balanced or Sharpest to set the resolution of the flattened pages, trading file size against how crisp the remaining text and images look.
Are my files uploaded for redaction?
No. Redaction runs entirely in your browser. The very files you're trying to keep private are never sent to a server.

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