PDF-Tools·4 Min. Lesezeit·15. Oktober 2026

How to Redact a PDF Properly (and Really Remove the Text)

Covering text with a black box is not always enough. Here is how to redact a PDF so the hidden content is actually gone, free and in your browser.

Why a black box is not always redaction

Some PDF editors only place a black rectangle over the text. The words are still in the file underneath, and anyone can select, copy or search them. Real redaction removes the content, not just the view of it.

How to redact a PDF

Open the Redact PDF tool, drop in your file and click Open and redact. Drag on any page to draw a black box over what you want to hide, add as many boxes as you need, and click a box to remove it. When you are done, click Apply redactions to download the result.

Why the covered text is really gone

The tool turns each page into an image, paints your boxes onto that image and rebuilds the PDF from the images. Because the pages are pictures, the text under a box is not stored in the output file. Everything runs in your browser, so the PDF is never uploaded.

Check before you share

You draw each box by hand, so review every page of the redacted copy before you send it. Your original file is not changed. The output has no selectable text and can be larger than the original, so run it through Compress PDF if you need a smaller file.

Tool öffnen: PDF schwärzen