Redact PDF Free: Black Out Text in a PDF (No Upload)
Drag a box over anything you want to hide and it is blacked out. Redacted pages are rebuilt as images, so the text under the black box is not left in the file. After saving, the page reopens the PDF and checks that no text remains. Free, unlimited, no sign-up.
- Redacted pages become images. Text on those pages can no longer be selected, copied or searched.
- Pages you do not redact are copied from the original PDF as they are (text stays selectable).
- The saved PDF has its title, author, subject, keywords, creator and producer fields and XMP metadata removed.
- Auto-detect is tuned for Japanese numbers (My Number, Japanese phone and bank numbers) and also finds emails. US Social Security numbers and US phone formats are not supported yet. Draw those boxes by hand.
Drop a PDF here
or
One file at a time (up to 100 MB and 500 pages).
1. Mark what to hide
Drag on a page to draw a black box. Remove a box with the x at its top right. If you use only the keyboard, use "Redact whole page" on each page.
2. Save
3. Check and download
The automatic check confirms that redacted pages have no text data or annotations left and that the document info is empty. It does not check that the black boxes are in the right place. Open the saved PDF and look at it yourself before you send it.
Office edition (one-time ¥2,980 in Japanese yen, on sale) Redact up to 50 PDFs in a row and save them as one ZIP, up to 200 images at a time (free: 40), and a processing log (CSV). The link opens the details and purchase page; nothing is charged unless you press the buy button.
How to redact a PDF
- Drop your PDF in the box above. All pages appear below it.
- Drag a box over each part you want to hide. You can draw as many boxes per page as you like. Or press "Find candidates" to get suggestions for Japanese numbers and emails.
- Press "Build redacted PDF".
- When the automatic check says "Checked", download the file. Open it and confirm the black boxes cover the right places before you use it.
Why a black rectangle alone is not enough
Many tools and PDF editors let you draw a black rectangle over text. In the PDF file the text is still there underneath, so it can be selected, copied, searched or revealed by moving the box. This page avoids that by redrawing each redacted page as a picture with the black areas burned in, and then checking the saved file for leftover text.
Limits and notes
- Password-protected PDFs cannot be opened. There is no feature to remove passwords. A PDF that opens without a password but has editing restrictions is saved with every page as an image.
- Redacted pages become images, so search, copy, links, form fields and bookmarks do not work on those pages.
- On pages you did not redact, annotations, form values and metadata inside embedded images (such as photo EXIF) may remain as they were. If that worries you, tick "Also turn pages without redactions into images".
- Bookmarks, attachments and digital signatures are not carried into the saved PDF. A signed PDF loses its valid signature once redacted.
- Auto-detect needs a text layer (no OCR), is tuned for Japanese documents, and can miss items or flag unrelated numbers. It currently finds Japanese My Number, Japanese phone numbers, account and bank codes, emails, dates of birth, postal codes and corporate numbers. US Social Security numbers and US phone formats are not supported yet.
- The preview and the saved PDF can differ slightly in font rendering.
- On phones, long documents can run out of memory. If that happens, split the PDF first.
FAQ
Why are redacted pages turned into images?
If you only put a black rectangle on top of a PDF, the text underneath stays in the file. Anyone can select and copy it, or move the rectangle away, and this is a common cause of redaction leaks. This page redraws each redacted page as an image with the black areas burned in, then puts that image in a new PDF. The page has no text data left. The trade-off is that text on those pages can no longer be selected or searched.
Does it work on scanned PDFs?
Yes for manual redaction. A scanned PDF is already an image, so the page looks the same and only the black areas are burned in. If your scanner added an invisible OCR text layer, it is removed from redacted pages along with everything else. Pages you did not redact keep their OCR text. Auto-detect does not work on scans, because there is no OCR.
Is the PDF metadata removed?
Yes. The saved PDF has no title, author, subject, keywords, creator or producer fields and no XMP metadata. After saving, the page reopens the file and checks that redacted pages have no text or annotations left and that the document info is empty. It does not check that the black boxes are in the right place, so open the result and look before you send it.
Is it really free and unlimited? Are my files uploaded?
There is no daily limit, page limit per day, watermark or sign-up. Each file can be up to 100 MB and 500 pages. Nothing is uploaded: viewing, redacting, saving and checking all happen inside your browser, and the page keeps working if you go offline after it loads. Page views are counted by cookieless analytics added by the host; your files are never sent.
Can it find Social Security numbers or other US data automatically?
Not yet. The auto-detect feature is tuned for Japanese documents (My Number, Japanese phone numbers, bank and account codes) and also finds email addresses. US Social Security numbers and US phone number formats are not supported. For those, draw the boxes by hand, or use the whole-page button.
Can I use it for legal or compliance redaction?
It can black out content in a copy of a PDF. What must be hidden, and whether a redacted copy is accepted, depends on the court, agency or company you are sending it to, and this page gives no legal advice. Always open the saved PDF and check it yourself before sending it.
Related tools: HEIC to PDF / Image converter / Merge PDFs (Japanese) / Split PDFs (Japanese)