PDF Redactor

What is PDF redaction?

PDF redaction is the permanent removal of sensitive information from a PDF before you share it. The redacted parts show as black bars, so readers can see that something was removed but cannot see what it was.

Real redaction is more than a black shape on the page. Many PDF editors let you draw a black box over text, but the text stays in the file. Anyone can select it, copy it or open the file in another app and read it. A redacted PDF must not contain the hidden text at all.

Why use a PDF redaction tool?

Redacting a long PDF by hand is slow, and it is easy to miss things. A contract, a bank statement or a medical letter can show the same name, address and account number on many pages. The PDF Redactor reads the text on every page and puts a bar over each match in seconds.

A tool is also safer than drawing boxes yourself. Black boxes added in a PDF editor or a word processor often leave the text under them, and leaked documents of this kind are found in court cases and in the news. This tool makes a new PDF that has no text left under the bars.

How does the PDF Redactor work?

1. Choose a PDF or drop it on the page. You can also click "Try an example PDF".
2. Turn on AI to find names, organizations and places. Choose the language of the PDF first. Without AI, the tool still finds emails, phone numbers, cards and ID numbers.
3. Choose what to hide with the category buttons, and add any other words to "Always hide these words".
4. Check every page. Click a bar to show the text under it. Drag on a page to add a bar, for example over a signature, a photo or a handwritten note. Hold "Hold to see original" to compare.
5. Download the redacted PDF. The tool makes a new file with the bars burned into each page.

The tool uses two kinds of detection. Pattern rules catch data with a fixed format, such as email addresses, card numbers, IBANs, US Social Security numbers, UK National Insurance numbers, IP addresses and API keys. A small AI model for named-entity recognition reads the context of each sentence to find names, organizations and places. To make the download, the tool draws each page as an image at print quality, fills the bars with black, and puts the images into a new PDF.

Is my PDF safe?

Yes. Most online PDF redaction tools upload your file to a server. This one does not. The page has no server code: PDF.js reads the PDF in your browser, detection runs on your device, and the new PDF is made in your browser too.

The optional AI model downloads once from Hugging Face and your browser keeps it in its cache. The English model is 29 MB. The models for the other languages are larger. The largest is the Japanese model, at 296 MB. The download contains only the model, not your data. Read our privacy policy for the details.

What can the PDF Redactor find and remove?

• Names of people
• Organizations, such as company and school names
• Places and addresses, including street addresses and postcodes
• Emails and phone numbers, including international formats
• Dates and ages, such as dates of birth
• Card and bank numbers, including credit cards and IBANs
• ID numbers, such as Social Security and National Insurance numbers
• URLs, IP addresses and secrets, such as passwords and API keys
• Any words you choose, such as project code names or client names
• Anything you draw a bar over, such as signatures, photos, stamps and scanned pages

The new PDF also does not keep the original's metadata, such as the author name or the title.

Who uses a PDF redaction tool?

• Lawyers and paralegals who share contracts, court filings and evidence with names and account numbers removed.
• HR teams who share complaints, payslips or employee records.
• Public sector staff who answer freedom of information requests.
• Journalists who publish documents and protect their sources.
• Small businesses and freelancers who send invoices, bank statements or ID documents to a third party.
• Anyone who wants to share a PDF without their address, phone number or account details in it.

PDF Redactor vs. black boxes in a PDF editor

When you draw a black rectangle in a PDF editor or a word processor, the box is a new layer on top of the page. The text under it is still in the file. Some paid PDF editors have a real redaction feature, but you must apply it in a separate step, and a redaction that is marked but not applied removes nothing.

The PDF Redactor avoids this problem. It does not edit the old file. It makes a new PDF from images of the pages, so no text, hidden layers or earlier versions stay in it. The cost is that the text in the new PDF cannot be selected or searched. To test a PDF that someone else redacted, use the Redaction Checker. For plain text, use the Text Redactor.