Redact PDF: Find Sensitive Information and Remove It for Good

1. 00

   What’s great about our PDF redact tool

   • Free
   • Super fast
   • No PDF uploads
   • No PDF downloads from the server
   • Works offline
   • No daily limit
   • No ads
   • No watermarks
   • Real redaction: the text under each box is taken out of the file
   • Keeps the rest of the page as real, selectable, searchable text
   • Finds emails, mobile numbers, PAN, Aadhaar, card numbers, IFSC, GSTIN, dates of birth and PIN codes
   • Best-effort finding of names and addresses
   • Your own words and phrases, including Hindi and other scripts
   • Every box is shown on the page preview, and you decide before anything changes
   • Draw your own boxes, which also works on scanned pages
   • Batch redaction with ZIP download
   • Every result is checked before you can download it
2. 01

   Choose your PDFs

   Pick one or more PDFs from your device, or drag them in. They load straight into your browser's memory — they are never sent anywhere.

3. 02

   Say what to find

   Under Find automatically, nothing is ticked at first, so tick the kinds of information to look for. Under Also redact these words, type any word or phrase of your own, one per line or separated by commas. Use Pages to search only some pages, such as First or 2-5.

4. 03

   Review the boxes

   Everything found is boxed on the page preview and listed under Review. Untick an item, or click its box on the page, to leave it out, and click a dashed box again to bring it back. Redact Preview chooses whether the boxes look fully black (See Black) or see-through (See Transparency), which only changes the preview: the redacted PDF is always solid black. On a computer, drag on a page with your mouse or pen to add a box of your own, drag one of your own boxes to move it, and click it to remove it. On a phone, a touch drag scrolls the page, so add words instead, and tap a box to leave it out.

5. 04

   Redact and download

   Choose how the text is removed under Redaction Method, then click Redact PDF, then Download to save the redacted PDF straight to your device. Change anything, including a tick or a box, and the button goes back to Redact PDF, ready for another run. Then look through the finished file before you share it.

6. 05

   Redact many PDFs at once

   Choose several PDFs together, or tap ‘+ Add More’ to add others later. Each PDF keeps its own boxes. Click Redact PDF once to redact them all, then click Download to save them together as a ZIP. It’s super fast, simple, and private.

7. 06

   Loved it?

   • If you're on computer, bookmark this page to your browser.
   • If you're on mobile, add it to your home screen for one-tap access and offline use.
     • Android: Visit this page in Google Chrome > tap three-dot icon (⋮) at top > Install and create shortcut. See screenshots for help.
     • iPhone and iPad: Visit this page in Safari > tap menu icon in address bar > Share > Add to Home Screen. See screenshots for help.

How it works

• Choose one or more PDFs. The tool reads the text of every page in your browser and looks for what you ticked. Nothing is changed until you click Redact PDF.
• Each find is saved as a box, as a percentage of the page, so the preview and the finished file use exactly the same place.
• Email addresses, mobile numbers, PAN, IFSC, GSTIN and PIN codes are found by their pattern. A PIN code is only marked on lines that look like an address. Dates of birth are marked when they sit next to words such as DOB or Date of Birth.
• Aadhaar numbers are only marked when they pass the Aadhaar check digit test, and card numbers only when they pass the card check test, so random numbers are not marked.
• Names and addresses are best effort. The tool has no AI model, so it looks for labels: the text after Name:, Name of, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Shri, Smt, S/o, D/o, W/o and C/o, and the text after Address: up to the PIN code line or the next blank line. It can miss them, or mark the wrong words.
• Your own words are matched whatever their capital letters, on text in its standard Unicode form, so Hindi and other scripts work.
• Pages are chosen with the buttons or a typed range, not by clicking the preview, because clicks and drags on the preview are used for the boxes.
• The page preview opens as the vertical list of large pages. Use the two icons beside See All Pages to switch to a grid of small thumbnails, and the + and − buttons to zoom in for exact boxes.
• Each result is checked before you can download it. If anything differs, no file is produced for that PDF.
• Download one PDF on its own, or all of them together as a ZIP.
• Nothing is uploaded. Once the page has loaded, it keeps working offline.

Frequently asked questions

• Is my PDF uploaded anywhere? No. Finding, redacting and checking all happen in your browser. Your file is never sent to a server, so it stays private.
• Is this real redaction, or just black boxes? Real redaction. A black box drawn over text leaves the text in the file, where anyone can still copy it. With Keep Text, the default, the letters under each box are taken out of the page itself and the black box is drawn on top, so the rest of the page stays real, selectable and searchable text. When that cannot be done safely, for example when a picture or drawing lies under the box, when the text is stored in a way this tool cannot read, or when the page is a scan, that page is turned into a picture, which also removes the text. Make Pictures turns every redacted page into a picture.
• What can it find on its own? Email addresses, Indian mobile numbers, PAN, Aadhaar (only numbers that pass the Aadhaar check digit test), card numbers (only numbers that pass the card check test), dates of birth written next to words like DOB, PIN codes on address lines, IFSC codes and GSTIN. Names and addresses are found from labels such as Name:, Mr, S/o and Address:, which is best effort only.
• Will it find everything? No. It can miss items, especially names and addresses, and anything in an unusual layout. Always look through the boxes on the preview and the list before you redact, and look at the finished file before you share it.
• Can I redact something it did not find? Yes. Type a word or phrase under Also redact these words, or drag on a page with your mouse or pen to draw a box. On a phone, use the words box, since a touch drag scrolls the page.
• What about scanned PDFs? A scanned page is a picture and has no text to search, so nothing is found on it automatically. Draw boxes on it with your mouse or pen instead.
• Can I still select and search the text on a redacted page? With Keep Text, yes: only the redacted words are gone, and the rest of the page keeps its text. A page that had to be made a picture, or any page when you choose Make Pictures, can no longer be selected or searched. The Pages Made Pictures count tells you how many pages that was.
• Will the file get bigger? With Keep Text, usually not by much. A page made into a picture is usually larger than the same page as text, so Make Pictures, or many pages that fall back to pictures, can make the file bigger. Choose only the pages you need to keep it smaller.
• What is lost from the original? The result is a new PDF. Web, email and in-document links, and bookmarks, are kept, except ones that lie under a box or hold redacted text. Form fields, comments and other annotations, attachments and the old document details such as title and author are not carried over.
• Can I redact several PDFs at once? Yes. Add as many PDFs as you like. Each one has its own boxes, and you can download them together as a ZIP or one at a time.
• Which PDFs are not supported? Password-protected PDFs cannot be redacted. Remove the password first with PDF Password Unlock.

What happens to your PDF

• Real redaction: a black box on top of text hides it but leaves it in the file. With Keep Text, the tool goes through the page's own content, takes out the letters that lie under each box, keeps the room they took so the other text stays where it was, and draws the black box on top. The rest of the page stays real, selectable, searchable text.
• When a page becomes a picture: if a picture or drawing lies under a box, the text is in a font or a place this tool cannot read, or the page is a scan, that page is drawn again as a picture at about 200 dpi with the boxes in black, and put into the new PDF. The text on that page can then no longer be selected or searched. Make Pictures does this for every redacted page.
• Nothing may show through: for a page that keeps its text, the tool draws the page without its black boxes and checks that the middle of every box is one flat colour. If anything still shows, such as a picture, a gradient or a drawing that is not a straight line right across the box, that page becomes a picture instead.
• The font may still hold the letters: the font stored inside a PDF can still contain the shapes of letters, but not where they were used. If that matters to you, choose Make Pictures.
• Other pages: with Keep text on pages with nothing redacted on, pages with no boxes are copied across as they are. Turn it off and every page becomes a picture.
• A new document: the result is a new PDF with an empty title and author. Old document details, form fields, comments and other annotations, and attachments are not carried over.
• Links and bookmarks: web, email, phone and in-document links, and bookmarks, are made again in the new PDF. A link is left out if it lies under a box or its address holds redacted text, and a bookmark is left out, with the ones under it, if its title holds redacted text. Links and bookmarks the tool cannot understand are left out as well.
• Black boxes only: the box colour is always black. Redact Preview only changes how the boxes look while you review them.
• Scanned pages: a scanned page has no text to search, so nothing is found on it automatically. Draw boxes on it with your mouse or pen.
• It can miss things: automatic finding is not perfect, and names and addresses are best effort. Check the boxes before you redact, and check the finished file before you share it.
• Very large pages: a page drawn as a picture is kept below a size that phones can handle, so a very large page may come out at a lower resolution.
• Safety check: the result is opened again. Page count and page sizes must be the same, none of the redacted text may be found in it, pages made into pictures must hold no text, pages you did not redact must keep their text, and no link may lie under a box or hold redacted text. If anything fails, no file is produced for that PDF.
• Password-protected PDFs: they cannot be redacted. Remove the password first with PDF Password Unlock.

How to get the most out of it

• Check every box. Look through the list and the preview, and untick anything that should stay.
• Add your own words. A name or a company that appears in many places is quickest to catch by typing it under Also redact these words.
• Search only what you need. Choose Pages first, such as 1-3, so fewer boxes need checking and fewer pages become pictures.
• Keep the file smaller. Leave Keep Text and Keep text on pages with nothing redacted on. Run Compress PDF afterwards if you need it smaller still.
• Use big pages for precision. Zoom in on the vertical list before drawing a box by hand, and choose See Transparency if you need to read the text under a box.
• Look at the finished file. Open it, scroll through every redacted page, and try to select text under a box before you share it.
• Next steps. Need to hide only an area on a scanned page? Draw a box over it. Need to protect the result? Try Password Protect PDF. Need to remove pages instead? Try Remove Pages from PDF.