Take names, numbers and pictures out of a PDF for good, not just cover them. Free, with no account or uploads.
Drop a PDF to redact
Mark names, numbers, pictures or whole areas, look the marks over, and apply them: what is under a mark is taken out of the file, not covered. Then download the result. You can also paste a file with ⌘V or Ctrl+V.
PDF
Stays on your device · up to 300 MB
Off, nothing is kept: closing the tab loses changes that were not downloaded. On, the file and your changes are kept in this browser until you close the file or throw the draft away. Nothing is sent anywhere.
What you can do
Taken out, not coveredWhat is under a mark leaves the file: the letters, the pixels of pictures and the drawings. A black box stands where it was, and nothing is under it to copy or to find.
Mark by hand or by searchDrag over an area or over words, or mark every place a name is written, every e-mail address, phone number or card number, or a shape of your own such as ###-##-####.
Looked at again afterwardsAfter applying, each place is read back and looked at. A mark that is not applied yet takes nothing out, and the download says so before you send the file.
Nothing is uploadedThe file is opened and changed on your device. What you take out is never sent anywhere, and neither is the rest.
This is the PDF editor, opened for taking things out for good. Its other tools (text, pictures, shapes, highlights, signing) are behind “All tools”.
A little help along the way
Follow the steps below. Every option is explained underneath.
30 s, no sound. On-screen captions describe each step; the same steps are written out here.
1Open the PDFDrop the PDF, choose it from your device or paste it. A locked file asks for its password. The tool for taking things out is in hand from the start.
2Mark what has to goDrag over an area, or choose Words and drag across the words. To mark a name everywhere, type it and press Mark all. E-mail addresses, phone numbers and card numbers each have a button.
3Look the marks overEvery mark is a red frame on its page. Nothing is taken out yet. Press a mark to take it away again; Undo takes back a whole search.
4Apply the marksPress Apply. What is under each mark is taken out of the file and a black box stands where it was. Each place is looked at afterwards. Until you download, Undo brings it back.
5DownloadPress Download. The check says how many places were emptied, and warns if a mark was left unapplied. You can also leave out the file's details, attached files and scripts.
Every option explained
What taking out means
A black box drawn over words leaves the words in the file, where they can be selected and copied. Here the letters are removed from the page, the pixels of a picture under a mark are blanked, and drawings under it are deleted. The box is only there to show where something was.
Area and Words
Area marks the box you drag: use it for pictures, drawings, signatures and scanned pages. Words marks the words between the two ends of the drag, line by line, as text is selected.
Mark all, and Shape
Mark all finds what you typed on every page, in capitals or not. With Shape on, the words are a shape: # is a figure, @ a letter, ? any one character and * a run of letters and figures, so ###-##-#### marks every number written that way.
E-mail addresses, phone numbers, card numbers
Each button marks every one it finds in the words of the file. A card number is only marked when its check figure is right; a date is not taken for a phone number. They are found within a line, so look the pages over for anything a line break parted.
Whole drawings
A drawing that only partly lies under a mark stays, such as the rule of a table, because taking it out would take out what is beside the mark too. The page then says that something is still drawn there. A plain tint behind the words is not counted: it shows nothing of them. Turn on Whole drawings to take such drawings out whole, or mark all of the drawing.
What goes with a mark
A link, a note or a form field that lies under a mark is taken out with it: what they say would otherwise still be in the file.
Scanned pages
A scan is a picture, so its words cannot be found by searching until they are recognised: open Recognise text (or OCR PDF) first, and Mark all and the buttons then find them. Or mark them as areas. Either way, the pixels under each mark are blanked in the picture itself, and words recognised there go too. Recognition can misread a word, so look a scan over for what a search missed. A picture that was a JPEG is saved as a JPEG again, about as large as it was, so the file does not grow.
What is not on a page
A file also carries a title, an author, sometimes attached files and scripts. The download options leave them out when you ask. Bookmarks are in the Details panel, where one that names what you took out can be renamed or removed. A description a file gives a picture for screen readers is not changed.
Signed files
A signature covers the file as it was signed, so what you take out cannot be written after it: it would still be there. The file is written anew and its signature no longer holds; the page says so before you download.
All tools
This page is the PDF editor, opened for taking things out. All tools shows the rest: text, pictures, shapes, highlights and signing.