How to black out text
- Choose or drop the PDF.
- Type the words to black out, or tick what to find automatically.
- Click any text to add or remove a bar, and draw boxes over pictures or signatures.
- Download the blacked-out PDF.
Why this is real redaction
- Drawing a black box in a PDF editor leaves the text underneath; anyone can copy it out. Here the hidden text is deleted from the file.
- The rest of each page keeps its original text, so it stays sharp, selectable and searchable instead of turning into a blurry image.
- After export the PDF is read back like any PDF reader would. If hidden text could still be extracted from a page, that page is saved as an image instead.
- Comments, form fields, thumbnails, bookmarks, attachments and document metadata are removed.
- The site has no server code, no analytics and no cookies. Its security policy stops the page from connecting to any other site, and it keeps working offline after the first visit.
Check before you share
Open the result in the redaction checker and type what you hid: it searches the file's text, which is what anyone can copy out, and lists metadata and other hidden data. Automatic search can miss text, such as a number split in an unusual way, so look through every page too.
Questions
- Can someone copy the text from under the black bars?
- No. Hidden text is deleted from the PDF itself, not just covered. After export the file is re-read, and any page where hidden text could still be extracted is saved as an image instead.
- Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?
- No. The PDF is opened inside your browser tab. The site's security policy blocks the page from sending data to any server, and it works offline once loaded.