Redact PDF
Redact PDF free in your browser.
Permanently Redact Sensitive Information From Any PDF
Before a contract, medical record, invoice, or court filing leaves your hands, the confidential parts need to actually disappear — not just look hidden. The Redact PDF tool lets you draw black boxes over names, account numbers, salaries, or any sensitive text, then flattens the output so the covered content is permanently destroyed. It cannot be selected, copied, or recovered.
Real redaction, not a black box you can remove
Many people try to redact a PDF by drawing a filled shape or a highlight over the text. The problem is that this is only an overlay — the words underneath are still in the file, so anyone can move the box, copy the hidden text, or pull it back out with a PDF editor. That is how accidental leaks happen. PDFMarkr avoids this by flattening your document after you place the boxes. Flattening merges the black marks permanently into the page and discards the content beneath them, so there is nothing left to uncover.
How it works
Everything runs inside your browser. When you open the tool, your PDF is loaded into your device's memory and processed locally — it is never uploaded to a server, so a confidential file never leaves your machine. There is no account to create, nothing to install, and no watermark stamped on your result.
- Draw black boxes over every piece of text or imagery you want to remove.
- Review each page to be sure nothing sensitive is still visible.
- Flatten and download a clean copy where the covered content is gone for good.
Common use cases
- Blacking out Social Security numbers, bank details, or card numbers on financial paperwork.
- Removing personal data from HR files, resumes, and employee records before sharing.
- Redacting confidential clauses, pricing, or party names in legal contracts.
- Hiding patient identifiers on medical documents.
- Preparing public filings, evidence, or records requests that must omit private details.
Honest limitations
Redaction only removes what you cover, so you are responsible for finding every sensitive spot — the tool does not scan the document to detect names or numbers for you. Read each page carefully before you flatten, because once the file is downloaded the destruction is permanent and cannot be undone, so always keep your original. It is also worth remembering that redacting the visible page content does not touch the document's hidden metadata, such as the title, author, or keywords. To clear those fields, run the file through our PDF metadata editor as a second step. If you want to mark a document as restricted rather than erase parts of it, the watermark tool can stamp Confidential across every page.
Private by design
Because the whole process happens client-side, redacting confidential documents never involves a third-party upload. That matters most for exactly the files you would want to redact — legal, medical, and financial records — where sending a sensitive PDF to an unknown server would defeat the purpose. With PDFMarkr, both the sensitive original and the clean redacted copy stay on your own device.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. After you place the black boxes, the tool flattens the PDF, which merges the marks into the page and discards the content beneath them. The covered text or imagery is permanently destroyed in the downloaded file — it cannot be selected, copied, or recovered.
A plain black box is only a visual overlay. The original text still lives in the file, so it can be moved aside, copied, or extracted, which is a common cause of accidental leaks. This tool flattens the document so the hidden content is actually removed, not just covered.
No. Redaction runs entirely in your browser. Your PDF is processed locally in your device's memory and is never sent to a server. There is no account, no sign-up, and no software to install, and no watermark is added to your output.
No. Redaction destroys the page content you cover, but it does not clear document metadata such as the title, author, subject, or keywords. If those fields could reveal a name or internal filename, edit them separately with the metadata editor before sharing the file.
Yes. Because you draw boxes over the visible page and then flatten the file, redaction works on scanned pages and images as well as text-based PDFs. The area you cover is permanently baked into the page, so the underlying pixels are gone in the output.
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