Burn the boxes, do not just cover them
Redact a PDF without uploading it
Draw rectangles and burn those pages to images so the covered text is not sitting under a black box. This is not a full sanitizer of every PDF object. Work stays in this tab.
No files yet. Drop them above. They stay on your computer.
They stay on your computer. Nothing is uploaded.
When to use this
Use this when a name, account number, or header should not be copyable from the download. Draw boxes. Redacted pages are rasterized so the words are not sitting under a rectangle.
This is not a full sanitizer. Metadata and attachments may remain. For court-grade work, use a desktop tool. For a password after, use Protect PDF.
How to do it
- Drop the PDF. The preview is drawn in this tab.
- Drag boxes over what should disappear. Copy onto all pages for a repeating header.
- Redact. Those pages become pictures.
- Download. The original on disk is unchanged.
Tips
- A black box that is only an annotation is not redaction. This page burns the page.
- Copy boxes onto all pages for running headers.
- Compress after if the flattened pages are heavy.
Questions
Can someone copy the text under the box?
On redacted pages, those pages are images, so ordinary copy-paste should fail. Other PDF objects are not fully sanitized.
Is the file uploaded to redact it?
No. Close the tab and the working files are gone.
Is this NSA-grade redaction?
No. Be honest about that. Use a dedicated sanitizer if you need one.