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Redact PDF

Black out and permanently flatten sensitive areas.

Select a PDF to redact

Draw boxes over anything you want permanently removed

Click to choose, or drop a file here

About redacting a PDF

Redaction permanently removes sensitive text and images — account numbers, names, addresses — before a document is shared or filed. Done properly, the content is gone, not just hidden under a black box.

PDFCure draws the redaction boxes and then rebuilds the page so the covered content is actually removed from the file, in your browser. Always verify the result: open the downloaded file and try to select or search the text you redacted. Because the tool runs locally, the unredacted original is never uploaded.

How to Redact PDF

  1. 1

    Open the tool

    Open the Redact PDF tool and drop your file onto the page, or click to browse for it. Everything runs in your browser — the file is never uploaded.

  2. 2

    Box out the sensitive parts

    Drag a box over every piece of text or image you need to hide.

  3. 3

    Apply and download

    Click Apply — the areas are permanently burned out — and download the redacted PDF.

Related PDF tools

Redact PDF — frequently asked questions

Is redacted content really removed, or just covered with a black box?+

Really removed. The page is rendered as a flattened image with the box burned in, so there's no text layer left underneath to copy or search.

Can I undo a redaction after downloading?+

No — once applied and downloaded, the redaction is permanent for that file. Keep your original if you might need it again.

Do you upload my files to a server?+

No — every tool here processes your files entirely on your device, and nothing is uploaded to a server. The only exception is the AI tools, which send the extracted text (not the file) to Claude to do their work.

Is there a file size limit?+

There's no artificial limit we impose, but since processing happens in your browser, very large files (500+ MB or 1,000+ pages) are limited by your device's memory rather than by us.