How to Redact a PDF
Redact a PDF Free
redact PDFs. text-based PDFs. manual redaction boxes.
How It Works
RedactionPDF makes it simple to remove sensitive information from your PDFs.
Upload
Upload your PDF to RedactionPDF
Review
Review auto-detected sensitive data
Mark
Mark additional private areas manually
Clean
Metadata cleanup runs automatically
Download
Get your cleaned, redacted PDF
What to Redact from Your PDFs
Common types of sensitive information to consider removing before sharing a PDF.
Names
Personal names, signatures, and initials
Addresses
Home and business addresses
Email Addresses
Contact email addresses
Phone Numbers
Contact phone numbers
Account Numbers
Bank accounts, credit cards, IDs
Social Security Numbers
Tax file numbers and similar identifiers
Signatures
Digital and ink signatures
Dates of Birth
Personal dates and anniversaries
Financial Information
Salaries, invoices, contract values
Medical Information
Health details and patient IDs
Legal Information
Case numbers, legal representative info
Hidden Metadata
Author details, timestamps, custom fields
Related PDF Redaction Guides
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Prepare PDFs for AI tools
Temporary processing details
Automatic detection works with text-based PDFs; scanned or image-only PDFs can still be marked manually.
review suggestions before applying redaction | RedactionPDF
What is PDF redaction?
PDF redaction permanently removes selected sensitive content from a PDF before you share, upload, file, or store the document.
Is redaction different from blacking out text?
Yes. A visual black box only covers text — it's still there and can be uncovered. True PDF redaction removes the selected content entirely from the file, so it's no longer searchable or copyable.
Can RedactionPDF automatically detect sensitive data?
RedactionPDF detects common sensitive patterns in text-based PDFs, like email addresses, phone numbers, SSNs, IP addresses, credit card numbers, IBANs, routing numbers, and labelled IDs. You review each suggestion before applying redaction.
Does RedactionPDF remove PDF metadata?
Yes. RedactionPDF clears standard PDF metadata — author, creator, timestamps, subject, keywords, and custom metadata fields — during processing.
Does RedactionPDF support scanned PDFs?
Automatic detection works best with text-based PDFs. For scanned or image-based PDFs, you can still redact visible areas manually.
How long are files retained?
Original PDFs are deleted after processing. Redacted PDFs stay available for up to 1 hour.
Is my data used for AI training?
No. RedactionPDF doesn't use uploaded documents to train AI models, and no one reviews your files.