Redact a PDF
Remove personal or confidential information for good. Draw boxes over what must go, or find a word on every page, and PDF1 flattens those pages so the hidden text is truly deleted.
- 1Add your file
- 2Make it yours
- 3Download & done
Let’s start with your file.
Drop your PDF here. We’ll take it from there.
PDF documents·Or drag and drop a file
Choose a different fileDrag across anything that must go: names, numbers, signatures, photos. Click a box to remove it.
Your files stay on this device. Always.
How to redact a PDF
- Choose a PDF.
- Drag boxes over what must go, or type a word, name or number and press Mark every match. Check every page.
- Press Save redacted PDF and download it.
Good to know
Real redaction removes the information from the file. Drawing a black rectangle in an editor, or highlighting text in black, only covers it: anyone can copy the text from underneath or delete the box. Court filings and government reports have leaked this way.
PDF1 redacts by redrawing every page that has a box as an image, with the boxes burned in. The text, images and hidden layers that were on that page are not in the new file at all. Pages without boxes are copied unchanged, so they keep their selectable text. The new file also leaves out the old metadata, bookmarks and attachments.
Redacting safely
- Check every page. Find text only finds words in the PDF’s text layer. Scanned pages, text inside pictures, and words broken across lines must be marked by hand.
- Think beyond the obvious. Names also appear in headers and footers, signatures, email addresses, file paths, photos and the metadata of the original.
- Leave the box a little bigger than the text. Partly visible letters can sometimes be guessed from their width.
- Test the result. Open the redacted PDF, press Ctrl+F or Cmd+F and search for what you removed. It should not be found.
- Keep the original private. Redaction makes a new file; the original still contains everything.
Questions
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. PDF1 runs the whole job inside your browser tab with JavaScript and WebAssembly. The page has no upload endpoint, and its security policy blocks connections to other servers, so the file stays on your device. You can even disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded.
Can the redacted text be recovered?
Not from the new file. The redacted pages are images made after the boxes were drawn, so the text underneath doesn’t exist in the output.
Why can’t I select text on redacted pages?
Because those pages are now images. That is what makes the redaction permanent. Pages without boxes keep their text.
Can I redact a scanned PDF?
Yes, by drawing boxes. Find text won’t work on scans, because their words are pictures rather than text.
Is this suitable for legal or regulated documents?
It does true redaction, but you are responsible for what gets marked. For legal disclosure, follow your organisation’s rules and have someone check the result.