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PDF TOOLS · FREE ONLINE TOOL
PDF Redaction Tool
Permanently black out names, numbers and secrets in a PDFRedact a PDF free: find names, numbers and sensitive text and black them out permanently. Redacted pages are rebuilt so hidden text cannot be recovered.
// PDF REDACTION TOOL · GET STARTED
Use PDF Redaction Tool
Permanently black out names, numbers and secrets in a PDF
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Choose the PDF to redact
Opened, searched and rebuilt in your browser. Never uploaded.
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How to use the PDF Redaction Tool
Search for sensitive text
Type the names, numbers or phrases to remove, one per line, and run the search.
Review the matches
Review every match in context and untick anything you want to keep.
Export the redacted file
Export the redacted PDF and open it once to confirm the blackouts before you share it.
// PDF REDACTION TOOL · ABOUT THIS TOOL
About the PDF Redaction Tool
Sharing a document safely means removing what must not be seen, and removing it in a way that cannot be undone by the reader. This PDF redaction tool was built around the failure that keeps making headlines: black rectangles drawn over live text. Here, redaction is real destruction. Pages with redactions are rebuilt as flattened images, so the words under the black boxes cease to exist in the file.
The workflow is search, review, destroy. You enter the names, ID numbers, addresses or phrases that must go; the tool finds every occurrence across the document and shows each one in context, because a name in a signature block and the same name in a public citation are not the same decision. You approve the list, export, and get a file you can share without holding your breath.
Like every tool here, the whole process runs in your browser. The unredacted original, the most sensitive version of the document, never touches a server, which is the only sane way to offer redaction as a free online tool.
PDF Redaction Tool FAQs
Permanent. Tools that merely draw a black rectangle over text leave the words underneath, and anyone can copy them out; that mistake has embarrassed governments and law firms. This tool works differently: every page containing a redaction is rebuilt as a flattened image with the black boxes baked in, so the original text on those pages no longer exists in the file at all. You can verify it yourself: text under a redaction here cannot be selected, searched or extracted.
