Redact PDF
Redact a PDF free: draw black boxes over sensitive info. Pages are flattened so hidden text is permanently removed — true redaction, no upload.
The 10-second test: switch off your Wi-Fi (or turn on airplane mode) and use this tool anyway. It keeps working — because there is no server doing the work.
The technical check: open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, and run the tool. Your file is never sent anywhere.
Measured live on this page — files transmitted: 0 · file data sent: 0 bytes
This counter hooks the browser's own networking functions, so it would rise the instant any file data left this page. The only thing this site ever transmits is the contact form, if you choose to send one.
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or drag & drop — pasting works too (Ctrl+V)
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How to redact a PDF
Open your PDF, drag black boxes over anything sensitive — names, account numbers, addresses — and click Redact. Unlike tools that just draw a black rectangle on top (leaving the text copy-pasteable underneath), everySIMPLEtool flattens redacted pages so the hidden content is permanently removed and can never be extracted.
And because redaction happens entirely on your device, the sensitive document itself is never uploaded anywhere.
Why a black rectangle is not redaction
The most common and most damaging mistake in document handling: drawing a black box over text in a PDF editor, or highlighting it in black in Word. The box is a graphic drawn on top of the text. The text is still in the file. Anyone can select it, copy it, or open the file in a text extractor and read every word. Newspapers, law firms and government departments have all leaked information exactly this way.
What this tool does instead
The text underneath the area you mark is removed from the document, and then a black box is drawn. Select the redacted area in the result and there is nothing to copy, because there is nothing there. You can verify it yourself: redact something, then run the output through PDF to Text and search for the word you removed. It is gone.
What to redact that people forget
Document metadata often contains the author's name and the original file path. Headers and footers repeat names and reference numbers on every page. And if a document has been through several drafts, earlier versions of a sentence can survive in ways that are not visible on the page. For genuinely high-stakes material, the safest approach is to redact, export to images, and rebuild the PDF — losing searchable text but guaranteeing nothing survives underneath.
Doing it on your own machine matters here
Redaction is applied to exactly the documents you least want to upload: medical records, legal disclosure, financial statements. Every page of this site processes files locally, and the counter on the page shows zero bytes uploaded.
Frequently asked questions
Is this true redaction or just a black box?
True redaction. Pages with black boxes are flattened to images, so the text underneath is destroyed — it cannot be selected, copied or extracted afterwards.
Is it safe to redact confidential documents online?
On everySIMPLEtool, yes — the document never leaves your device. There is no server and no upload, which matters most for exactly the kind of files people redact.
Can I redact multiple areas and pages?
Yes — draw as many boxes as you need across any number of pages, and use Undo if you misplace one.