Redact PDF — black out names, addresses, and PII automatically
Type the names, account numbers, addresses, or any sensitive terms you want redacted. We find every occurrence across the document and cover them with opaque black bars, then flatten the result. Perfect for sharing screenshots of contracts, sanitizing PDFs for review, or removing PII before publishing.
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Sharing a contract for review but want to hide the parties' names? Posting a screenshot of a financial document but need to scrub account numbers? PDFOnly's Redact PDF tool finds every match for the terms you supply and covers them with opaque black bars across the entire document. The result is a flattened PDF that visually conceals the redacted content. **Important:** this is visual redaction, not cryptographic redaction — the underlying bytes still contain the text. For legally-defensible redaction (court filings, FOIA, classified materials), use a tool that removes the text from the content stream itself.
How to redact pdf step by step
- 1
Upload your PDF
Up to 100 MB free, 200 MB on Pro. The PDF needs real selectable text — for scanned PDFs, run OCR first.
- 2
Type the terms to redact
Comma-separated. Example: 'John Doe, 555-1234, ACME Corp, 123 Main St'. Each is matched case-insensitively across the whole document.
- 3
Choose padding (optional)
Default is 2 points. Bump to 4-6 if you see the redaction not quite covering descenders ('y', 'g', 'p') or ascenders.
- 4
Click Redact and download
Every match is covered with an opaque black rectangle. Form fields are flattened so the redaction can't be undone via the form-field tool. Final PDF can be shared safely for casual contexts.
Why redact pdf on PDFOnly
Search-based, not coordinate-based
Other tools require you to drag rectangles over each redaction site. We search the whole document and redact every match in one pass — fast even on long docs.
Multi-term, multi-page in one pass
Redact 'plaintiff', 'defendant', and 5 different account numbers simultaneously across 200 pages.
Form-flatten included
Form fields could otherwise leak data via the AcroForm dictionary. We flatten so what's visible is what's there.
Honest about the limitation
We're upfront that visual redaction isn't cryptographic. For legally-defensible redaction, see the FAQ — we'll tell you when our tool is the right choice and when it isn't.
What people use redact pdf for
A few common scenarios. If your workflow looks like one of these, this tool is a good fit.
Sharing screenshots of a contract publicly
You want to show a contract clause on social media or in a blog post. Redact the parties' names, addresses, and dollar amounts before publishing.
Sending docs to a contractor for limited-scope review
Your accountant doesn't need to see your client list. Redact client names from operational PDFs before sharing.
Quick PII scrubbing before email
Internal HR docs going to an external recruiter — redact employee SSNs, salaries, and home addresses with a single search list.
Anonymizing a case study or example document
Marketing wants to use a real customer document as a case-study example. Redact identifying info first.
What you get
- Search-and-redact every match in one pass — no manual hunting
- Multiple search terms at once (comma-separated)
- Padding option — slightly oversize the black bar to cover descenders
- Form fields are flattened so they can't be edited to reveal text
- Free, no signup, files auto-deleted in 1 hour
Frequently asked questions
Is this legally-defensible redaction?
No. This is **visual** redaction — the black bars cover the text on screen, but the underlying text bytes are still in the PDF's content stream. A determined attacker with a hex editor can recover them. For court filings, FOIA responses, classified documents, or any context where someone might attempt to recover the redacted content, use Adobe Acrobat Pro's Redaction tool, veraPDF, or a dedicated redaction tool. Our tool is fine for casual sharing where you don't want a viewer to see the text.
Why not remove the text bytes too?
Cryptographic redaction requires modifying the PDF content stream — fragile and prone to creating malformed PDFs without serious investment. We may add it as a Pro feature in a future release. For now we're explicit about the limit.
Will it find text in scanned PDFs?
No — scanned PDFs have no extractable text positions. Run OCR PDF first to add a text layer, then redact. After OCR, the position of every recognized word is known and the tool can redact as expected.
Are matches case-sensitive?
No — case-insensitive substring matching by default. 'Smith' will match 'SMITH', 'smith', and 'Smith'. Partial-word matches are included — 'sub' would redact 'subscription'. Use spaces around terms to limit.
Will the redaction cover descenders and accents?
We pad the redaction rectangle by 2 points by default (configurable up to 8). For tight typography, increase the padding. For most documents the default is fine.
What happens to the form fields?
Any AcroForm fields are flattened into the page content. This prevents an editor from clicking on a field to see its value (which, even after our visual redaction, could otherwise leak the data).
Can I redact by drawing rectangles instead of by search?
Coordinate-based redaction is on the roadmap. For now, search-by-text is the only mode. If you need to redact a specific area (like a logo or signature image) rather than text, use Edit PDF and add a black filled rectangle.
Ready to redact pdf?
Free to use for the basics. Files are auto-deleted within an hour and never used to train AI.
Open Redact PDF