Free online PDF redactor that takes a name, a number, a signature or a picture out of a PDF for good. Draw a box over the detail and apply. The redacted PDF saves with the page flattened, so nothing under the bar can be un-masked, copied or searched.
Document format work by OnlinePCApps since 2013
A black box is not enough. The online PDF redactor flattens the marked page on save, so a shared document gives nothing away.
A rectangle drawn over a name in a PDF editor leaves the name in the file, ready to copy out or reveal by moving the shape. A PDF redactor removes the words instead, so nothing sits underneath.
A contract or report often carries names, numbers and addresses that should not travel with it. A pass through the online PDF redactor before sending keeps the copy useful while the sensitive parts are gone for good.
A document being redacted holds the very detail worth guarding, the last file to send to an outside server. Redaction on the device keeps that content where it already sits.
Drop a document onto the panel above, or click Select PDF File and browse to it. The online PDF redactor shows the first page as a preview, with Prev and Next to move through the document and a zoom from 75 to 500 percent.
In the PDF redactor's Redact Mode, drag a box over any line of text, signature or picture. Click a box to select it, Remove Box to drop it or Clear Page to start the page again. Pan / Scroll mode moves a zoomed page without drawing.
Set the Redaction Box Color, black by default, and leave Flatten PDF ticked. Apply Redactions & Save tells the PDF redactor to burn every box into the page, then Download Redacted PDF saves a file named redacted.pdf while the original stays untouched.
To redact PDF online is to take sensitive content out of the file for good, not to hide it. Here that means boxes, a colour and a flattened page.
With Flatten PDF ticked, the online PDF redactor burns the marked page in at the Export Resolution, 110 to 300 DPI, so the text, image or vector under every box is no longer in the file as text, only a bar where it stood. Nothing is left to copy, search or extract from the saved file.
A PDF carries more than the page, an author name, the original filename, a revision history and hidden layers. The redacted output has those scrubbed, so nothing leaks off the visible page.
A zoom from 75 to 500 percent with four presets makes a small line easy to box precisely in the PDF redactor. Pan / Scroll mode moves the zoomed page, Prev and Next step through the document, and the footer counts the redactions on the page and in total.
Redaction Box Color sets the bar to black, white or any colour to suit the page, and Extra Margin Padding, 12 percent by default, widens every box a little so no edge of a letter peeks out. Either way the mark is part of the page on save and cannot be lifted.
To redact a PDF, to black out a detail and to remove sensitive information all name one job for the online PDF redactor. The redacted file is written new and the unredacted original is left as it stands.
A PDF redactor only protects when the data is truly gone. These points decide whether it is.
| The case | Result | What happens and why |
|---|---|---|
| True redaction | page flattened | With Flatten PDF ticked the marked page is burned in on save, so the content under the bar cannot be copied, searched or extracted. |
| Black box on top | not redaction | A shape laid over text is a separate layer. The words stay in the file and show up by copy, search or moving the shape, as what a PDF keeps after an edit shows. |
| Metadata | scrubbed | Author, filename, revision history and hidden layers are stripped, so detail off the page does not leak. |
| Irreversible | permanent | Once the PDF redactor has applied and saved, the content is gone, which is why an unredacted backup is worth keeping. |
| A repeated detail | box by box | Boxes are drawn per page, so a name that repeats is boxed on every page it appears on, with Prev and Next to move between them and the footer counting the total. |
| Scanned pages | pixels blanked | On a scan the text is already pixels, so a box blanks that patch of the picture and the flattened save keeps it that way. How a PDF stores text explains the difference. |
| Verify | search the output | Searching the saved file for a removed word should return nothing after an online PDF redactor run. |
| Compliance | GDPR and HIPAA | Rules on personal and health data call for removal rather than obscuring. This is not legal advice. |
| File limit | 100 MB per run | One PDF per run, up to 100 MB. The preview is built at the Preview Quality DPI, 72 to 300, and the save at the Export Resolution, 110 to 300. |
Removes the Text, Not a Box Over It
A PDF keeps its text and its visual marks in separate layers, so a black rectangle drawn on top adds a new layer without touching the words beneath. Those words still travel in the file, ready to be copied, searched or shown by lifting the shape, which is the redaction mistake behind more than one public leak. True redaction deletes the marked content from the file structure and scrubs the metadata, so a saved copy holds nothing to recover. It is permanent, so an unredacted original is worth keeping aside, and the online PDF redactor above flattens the page on save for that reason. The frameworks below set why removal, not disguise, is what the rules ask for.
Both remove content from a PDF. This PDF redactor differs in price, in what it finds by itself and in how many files go through per run.
| Point of comparison | This tool This PDF redactor On the device | Hosted suites Redaction bundled with an editor and a plan |
|---|---|---|
| Where the document goes | Never leaves the device | Uploaded to a server |
| Price | Free with no doc cap | Free tier often capped |
| Auto-detect patterns | Boxes drawn by hand | Card and ID libraries |
| An entire folder at once | One PDF per run | Batch on their hardware |
| Redaction audit log | No log kept | Logged for defensibility |
The hosted suites take three of these rows, since pattern detection, a folder run and a defensible log belong to a server with a compliance team behind it. The price row goes to this PDF redactor, free with no page cap and no daily limit. Browser-based file tools weighs the rest of the trade.
The redaction happens on the page within the browser itself, cutting the marked content out of the file and painting the bar where it stood. Whatever leaves the page and the document around it both remain on the machine that loaded them.
Uploading a file to redact it hands the very content being guarded to a server first. A page waiting for redaction is a contract, a medical record, a tax form or a bank statement, exactly the kind of thing that should be cleaned before it goes anywhere at all.
Every one of these can take content out of a document. They differ in cost, in whether they truly remove data and in the effort involved.
Acrobat needs a Pro plan, mutool a terminal, and a black box in an editor is no redaction at all. The online PDF redactor above needs none of those and flattens the page so the data is gone instead of masked.
A moment of care keeps a run through the online PDF redactor clean and complete.
A PDF redactor run cannot be undone once saved. Keeping the original file aside means the removed detail is still on hand for records or a later need, while the shared copy stays clean.
Detail off the page can still identify a document, an author name, the original filename or a revision history. The redacted output has that stripped, and a quick check confirms nothing extra remains.
After saving, searching the redacted file for a removed word is the fastest proof it worked. A result of nothing means the content is truly gone rather than hidden under a bar, which is what the flattened save is for.
The online PDF redactor handles one document per run, boxed by hand. Where a pile of records shares a pattern to strip, or an entire folder ships under a compliance rule, the desktop edition takes over, working from disk and clearing every file while logging every redaction.
Point the desktop PDF redactor at a directory and the same detail or pattern is removed from every PDF in one run, every file saved beside its source.
A Social Security number, a credit card, a phone number or a national ID can be caught by pattern across an entire set, without boxing every one by hand.
Every redaction is recorded, giving a defensible trail for a legal or regulatory review that a browser session does not keep.
Free, with no sign-up and no watermark. Box the detail in the online PDF redactor, apply and download a redacted PDF with the page flattened for good.