How to redact a PDF properly

1 min read·24 July 2026

Need to share a PDF but some data must not be visible? Redaction is the safest method to permanently remove sensitive information. Here is how to do it right.

What is redaction?

Redaction means permanently making sensitive text or images in a document unreadable. Think of social security numbers, addresses, names or confidential amounts. It goes further than just drawing a black box: the underlying text must actually be removed, not just covered.

Why is a plain black rectangle not enough?

If you draw a black box over text in a regular PDF editor, the original text remains in the file. Someone can remove the rectangle or select and copy the text underneath. True redaction requires the original text to be deleted.

Redact PDF

Try for free — no account needed

Try it now →

How to redact with PDFrust?

Use the "Redact PDF" tool on PDFrust. Draw black boxes over the sensitive text. When downloading, the pages are converted to images: the original text no longer exists in the file. This makes the redaction permanent and secure.

Always check the result

Open the downloaded PDF after redacting and try to select the text under the black boxes. If no text is selectable, the redaction was successful. Never send a "redacted" PDF without checking this first.