Redact PDF
Redact a PDF permanently free, entirely in your browser — mark the text or regions to remove, and the covered content is genuinely deleted, not just painted over.
- Add
- Adjust
- Make
- Keep
How to use this tool
- Add the PDF you want to clean up using the file picker or drag-and-drop.
- Drag a redaction rectangle over every area you want permanently removed, or type one or more search terms to cover every matching occurrence across the document automatically.
- Review the marked regions in the preview — redaction is one-way and cannot be undone. Pick a fill color and, if you want, turn on metadata stripping to clear the document's Info dictionary.
- Apply the redaction and download the output. this app deletes the covered text from the file itself, so it can no longer be selected, searched, or extracted.
About this tool
Redact a PDF permanently free, entirely in your browser — mark the text or regions to remove, and the covered content is genuinely deleted, not just painted over. Nothing is uploaded; the redacted PDF downloads straight from your device with no recoverable text underneath.
Privacy & limitations
Redaction permanently destroys the covered content — save an unredacted copy of the original before applying, because the operation cannot be reversed. Search-based redaction matches text inside extracted spans and can miss content split across spans, rendered from scanned images, or rotated in unusual ways; always inspect the search matches in the preview before applying. Metadata stripping clears the PDF's Info dictionary only — embedded attachments, XMP streams, and document JavaScript are out of scope for this tool (the Privacy Scanner covers those).
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Frequently asked questions
How do I permanently redact a PDF, not just hide the text?
Select the text or regions to redact and apply — the covered content is actually removed from the underlying PDF data, not just painted over, so it can't be recovered by copy-pasting or deleting the black box in another program.
Can I redact by searching for a word or number?
Yes. Type one or more search terms and every match is marked for redaction. Check the preview before applying, because matching works on text spans and can miss words split across spans, rotated text, or anything in a scanned image, which has no text to search.
Can I undo a redaction?
No. Redaction permanently destroys the covered content, so save an unredacted copy of the original before you apply it. Review every marked region in the preview first, and choose a fill colour that suits where the document will be shared.
Does it also remove metadata and attachments?
The optional metadata stripping clears the PDF's Info dictionary, such as author and title. It does not remove embedded attachments, XMP metadata or document JavaScript. Run the Privacy Scanner on the finished file to check for those before you share it.