Redact PDF
Draw black rectangles over sensitive text or areas to permanently hide them. True redaction covers the content so it cannot be seen in any viewer. Everything runs on your device, nothing is uploaded.
Drag your PDF file here
or choose from your computer
How it works
- Solid black rectangles. Each box you draw is burned into the page as a solid black fill with pdf-lib, permanently covering whatever was underneath in every viewer.
- Covered, not erased. The black box hides the text from view, but the underlying content may technically remain in the file's content stream. For sensitive documents, run the result through the Extract Text tool to verify nothing recoverable is left.
- Nothing is uploaded. Everything happens in this browser tab. There is no upload endpoint.
Frequently asked questions
Is the redaction permanent?
Yes. The rectangles are burned into the PDF as solid black fills, so anyone opening the file sees black boxes instead of the covered content. Keep your original file safe if you may need the unredacted version.
Can I undo redaction after downloading?
No. Once you apply and download, the black rectangles become part of the page content and cannot be removed from the output file. Always keep your original PDF as a backup.
Does it remove the text underneath the black box?
The tool draws solid black rectangles that visually cover the text. The covered text may technically remain in the file's content stream. For sensitive documents, run the result through the Extract Text tool to verify nothing recoverable remains.