PDF StudioFree

Redact a PDF so the words are actually gone

Drawing a black rectangle over a name is the most common way private information gets leaked. The text is still in the file: select it, copy it, and it comes straight back out. Anyone who has followed a court-filing story knows how that ends. This tool rebuilds each redacted page as a flat image, so there is nothing underneath the black to recover.

Open PDF StudioSee pricing

Free on every plan, including the free account.

How it works

  1. 1

    Open PDF Studio and choose Redact PDF

    The file is read in your browser. A document you are redacting is exactly the kind you should not be uploading to a stranger's server, and the redaction itself never does. The one exception is AI find on a scanned page: that sends a picture of the page to be read, and it says so on the button before it runs.

  2. 2

    Let it find the personal details, or draw your own boxes

    It scans the text for emails, phone numbers, card numbers, tax and ID numbers and dates, and proposes a box over each. Card numbers are checked against their own checksum so nine ordinary digits are not mistaken for one. You can also draw a box anywhere by hand.

  3. 3

    Approve each one, then save

    Nothing disappears unseen — every proposed box is shown on a preview for you to keep or drop. Only then is the file rebuilt with the text destroyed.

What you get

  • The text under the black is removed, not hidden
  • Finds emails, phone numbers, card numbers, tax and ID numbers automatically
  • Every proposed redaction is approved by you before anything is applied
  • Runs in your browser — only AI find on a scan sends a page away
  • Free, no account, no watermark

Who it’s for

  • Anyone sending a document that carries someone else's contact details
  • Businesses sharing an invoice or statement with the card number on it
  • Anyone handing paperwork to an insurer, a lawyer or a landlord

Questions

How is this different from drawing a black box in a PDF reader?
A black box in a reader is a drawing sitting ON TOP of the text. The words are still in the file and can be selected, copied or pulled out with any extraction tool — which is how redaction failures make the news. Here, each page you redact is redrawn as a flat image with the black already burned in, so the original text is not in the saved file at all.
What happens to the pages I redact?
They become images, so text on those pages is no longer selectable or searchable. That is the trade, and it is the same trade that makes it safe — you cannot destroy the text and keep it selectable at the same time. Pages you did not touch are copied across untouched and stay fully searchable.
Does it find everything?
It finds patterns in the text the PDF already carries — it is a first pass, not a guarantee, and you should read the preview rather than trust it blindly. A scanned page with no text layer has no patterns to find; reading those needs the AI helper, which sends a picture of that page to our AI provider and costs credits. Both are said on the button before it runs.
Is it free?
The redaction itself is free, runs in your browser, and adds no watermark. Only the AI read of a scanned page costs credits — that one sends the page to our AI provider to be read, and only if you choose it.

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