Redact PDF

Permanently remove sensitive text from a PDF — names, account numbers, addresses — so it cannot be recovered by anyone, with any tool.

Most “redact PDF online” tools draw a black rectangle over the text. The text is still in the file — select-all, copy, paste, and it’s back. Real redaction means the characters are deleted from the file’s bytes, and you can prove it.

Why we don’t offer it in the browser

Every tool on this site runs in your browser and does exactly what it claims. For redaction, the claim that matters is verified removal: after redacting, the document must be re-opened and searched to confirm the sensitive text no longer exists anywhere in it — not in the page, not in hidden layers, not in metadata. Our desktop app does this with two independent PDF engines cross-checking each other. The browser stack can’t honestly make that guarantee, and a redaction tool that might leave your data behind is worse than none. For documents worth redacting, use the desktop app — it never uploads anything either.

Need more than this page can do?

The PDF Toolbox desktop app compresses, redacts with verified removal, OCRs scans, repairs damaged files, converts to PDF/A and handles 500-page documents — all offline, on your machine, with the same promise: nothing ever leaves it. See everything it does →