Redact PDF
Black out names, ID numbers, emails and anything private, and remove what is underneath for good. Your document, with the secrets in it, never leaves your device.
- Free
- Unlimited
- No signup
- No watermark
- Files never leave your device
or drop it here
Redaction settings
File name
Protection
AES-256. If you forget the password, nobody can recover the file, including us.
How to permanently black out text in a PDF
- Drop your PDF. Every page appears.
- Drag a box over what must go, or type words to find, or tap Emails, Phone numbers or Long numbers to mark them all at once.
- Check the red boxes, delete or adjust any, then click Redact PDF and download.
Questions
Is the text really gone, or just covered?
Really gone. Each page you redact is turned into a picture with the black boxes painted in, and the original page, with all its hidden text, is left out of the new file. Pages without any redaction are copied untouched.
How is this different from a black rectangle in an editor?
A rectangle drawn on top only hides the words visually; they can still be selected, copied or found by searching. Here the page is rebuilt without the words, so there is nothing to find.
What changes on the redacted pages?
They become pictures, so their text can no longer be selected or searched, and links on them stop working. Other pages keep their text, pictures and web links. Links that jump to other pages, bookmarks and form fields are not carried into the new file (they could point back at the original pages), and document details such as author and dates are dropped.
How does "find text" work?
PDFboat reads the text of each page and puts a box over every match. Always look at the boxes before saving: a box can be a little off on unusual fonts, and a few matches may be ones you want to keep. You can move, resize or delete any box.
Does it work on scanned pages?
You can draw boxes on a scan by hand. Finding text automatically needs text on the page, so scans have to be marked by hand.
How can I check the result?
Open the new PDF and try to select or search for the words you removed. On redacted pages nothing can be selected at all.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The redaction happens inside your browser tab, so the secrets are never sent anywhere.
Can I password-protect the result?
Yes. Switch on "Password-protect" and the result is encrypted with AES-256. It is off by default.