Redact PDF
Mark boxes or whole pages to permanently remove. All processing happens in your browser.
Drop files here or click to browse
Accepts .pdf
How to use this tool
- 1.Drop or select a PDF file into the upload area.
- 2.Click a page, then drag to draw one or more boxes over what you want removed — or toggle "Redact entire page" to black out the whole page.
- 3.Choose Standard or High rasterization quality.
- 4.Click "Redact & Download" — marked pages are rebuilt from a flattened image, so the content underneath is genuinely gone, and the file downloads automatically.
Frequently asked questions
Is the redacted content actually removed, or just covered up?
Actually removed. Each page you mark is rendered to an image, the black boxes (or the whole page) are painted directly onto that image, and the page is rebuilt from the result — the original text and graphics never exist in the file you download. This is different from drawing a black rectangle on top of live text, which looks redacted but leaves the original content selectable and extractable underneath.
What happens to links, form fields, or comments on a redacted page?
They're dropped, along with everything else on that page, because the page is fully rebuilt as a flattened image. Pages you don't mark keep everything exactly as it was.
Does redacting a PDF also clean up its metadata?
No. Redact only changes the pages you mark — the document's Info dictionary (author, software, dates) is untouched. If you need to clear that too, use the Metadata tool afterward.
Will redacting make my file bigger?
Yes, for the pages you mark — they become embedded images instead of text and vector graphics, and image data is bigger. Pages you don't mark are untouched and don't grow at all.
Read next
Why Hiding Text in a PDF Usually Doesn't Remove It
Black boxes and highlighter tools don't delete anything — what actually redacts a document