Redact
a PDF.
A black rectangle drawn in a PDF reader sits on top of the text, and the text stays underneath it. Copy the page and it comes back. Here the pages concerned are turned into images. Free, processed in France.
- tool.pricefree 0 €
- tool.installnothing to install
- tool.retentiondeleted after the job
- tool.hostingFrance 100%
Your files are processed on servers in France and deleted automatically once the job is done. More on security.
What it takes, what it gives back
- You uploadOne PDF file, up to 100 MB
- You typeThe words, names or numbers to black out, one per line
- What happensEvery occurrence is covered, and each page holding one is turned into an image
- You get backThe same PDF, redacted, and a count of the occurrences found
- RetentionNone. The file you send and the file produced are erased once the job is done
Three steps, nothing to install
List what has to go
One term per line: a surname, an email address, an IBAN, a case number. The search ignores case.
The pages concerned are rendered again
Each occurrence is covered with a black block, then the whole page is turned into an image, which is what takes the text out.
Download the redacted PDF
The page tells you how many occurrences were found. Your files are deleted once the job is done.
Three situations it was made for
A document filed in a case
Court and tender files are read by people whose job is to read them closely. A rectangle drawn over a name is copied and pasted back out in seconds.
A contract shown to a third party
Bank details, salaries and personal addresses have to come out of a contract before it circulates, while the rest of it stays readable.
A document about to be published
Anything put online can be fetched and searched by machines. A covered word that is still in the text layer is found by the first search engine that indexes the file.
What the tool actually does
Why the pages become images
A PDF holds its text as text, in a layer under what you see. Drawing a black rectangle in a reader adds a shape above that layer and leaves it alone: the words can still be selected, copied, and read by any tool that opens the file. Turning the page into an image throws the text layer away, and with it the words that were underneath. That is the whole mechanism, and it is why redaction costs more than a drawing tool.
What you lose along the way
On the pages that held an occurrence, the text stops being selectable and stops being searchable. Pages with no match are left as they are, so a two hundred page report with one name on page 12 keeps its text everywhere except there. To get the text layer back on a rasterised page, run the file through OCR afterwards, keeping in mind that OCR reads what is left, and what was blacked out is gone.
A term that is not found is not redacted
The search runs on the text of the document. A name spelled differently, split across two lines by a hyphen, or living in a page scanned without a text layer will not be found, and the file will come back with that name still on it. The page tells you how many occurrences it found, and it says so plainly when it found none. Read that line before you send the document on.
The metadata is a separate matter
Redaction works on the pages. The name of whoever wrote the file, the software that produced it and the dates it carries live outside the pages, in the document properties. Removing the metadata is the tool for those, and a document that has to leave your organisation usually needs both.
Before you upload anything
Is the text really removed?
Yes, on the pages that held an occurrence. Those pages are turned into images, so the text layer they carried no longer exists in the file you get back.
Can the blacked-out words be recovered?
Not from the file produced. There is no text under the black blocks any more, because there is no text layer on those pages at all.
Does the whole document become an image?
No. Only the pages where a term was found. Every other page keeps its text, selectable and searchable.
What if my term is not in the document?
The file comes back unchanged and the page says that no occurrence was found. Check the spelling, and remember that a scan with no text layer holds no text to search.
Does it work on a scanned PDF?
Only if the scan has a text layer. A photograph of a page holds no text to look for. Run OCR on it first, then redact.
Can I redact a whole area rather than a word?
Not on this tool. The search works on terms, so what gets covered is what the text says.
Is the tool free?
Yes. Redaction is free, with no sign up and nothing to install.
Is there a usage limit?
Files are accepted up to 100 MB. After about twenty jobs in a day from the same connection, the tool offers you a free account so you can carry on.
Are my files kept?
No. The file you send and the redacted file are deleted automatically once the job is done.
Where are my files processed?
On servers in France. Your data stays in the European Union, under the GDPR.
More questions about the tools? See the toolbox section of the help centre.