Drawing a black box over text in an editor only hides it: the words are still in the file and anyone can copy them out. Here the covered pages are rebuilt without the text underneath, so what you black out is really gone. Find every phone number, Aadhaar, PAN or name in one go, or drag boxes by hand.
Files stay on your device. Free, with no sign-up.
Opening the PDF…
Everything under a box is removed from the file, not just hidden. A page with boxes is saved as a picture, so its text can no longer be selected; pages without boxes are not touched.
Nothing left your device.
The most common mistake with sensitive PDFs is to draw a black box over a name or number and send the file. The box is a shape on top of the page. The text is still underneath, and selecting the area, copying the page or searching for the word brings it back. Several well-known leaks happened exactly this way.
Real redaction removes the content. This tool does it by drawing the page without the covered area and replacing the original page with that picture, so there is nothing to recover. After saving, press Ctrl+F in your PDF reader and search for the word you covered: nothing should be found.
Bank statements before they go to a loan agent or landlord, with account numbers and balances hidden. Aadhaar and PAN copies sent for verification, with the number blacked out where only the photo and name are needed. Contracts shared as examples, with names and amounts removed. Medical and school records shared with a second opinion. The search finds all of these without you having to read every page.
No. Everything happens inside your browser, on your own device. Your files are never sent to a server, and you can confirm that in your browser's network tab. Close the tab and they're gone.
Yes. A page with a box is not edited: it is drawn as a picture with the box painted in, and that picture replaces the original page in a new file. The original text, its fonts, any hidden layers, links and form fields of that page are not carried over. Before the file is offered for download it is opened again and each covered page is checked for leftover text.
Because that page is now a picture. That is what makes the redaction safe, and it is the price of it. Pages without any box are not touched and keep their selectable text. Cover only the pages that need it.
Any words or numbers you type (several, separated by commas), and the usual personal details: email addresses, phone numbers, Aadhaar numbers, PAN numbers, long account numbers, IFSC codes, card numbers (checked with the card checksum) and dates. You see every match, untick the ones that should stay, and black out the rest. Look through the pages afterwards: the boxes are on screen for you to check.
You can draw boxes on any PDF, scans included. The search needs real text, so it cannot read a scan or a photo: it will tell you so.
Bookmarks, attachments, form data and the title and author (unless you tick "Keep the title and author") are not carried into the new file, because any of them can hold the very thing you are hiding. Links and form fields on pages you did not cover are kept, unless they led to a page that was covered.
No. The covered part is not in the new file at all, which is the point. Keep your original, and always send the redacted copy.
Not directly. Use Unlock PDF on this site to remove the password (you need to know it), then add the unlocked copy here.
Each file can be up to 100 MB, and up to 300 MB in total. Because the work happens on your device, very large files depend on your available memory. A desktop browser handles them best.