Redact PDF: Permanently Black Out Text

What does the redact PDF tool do?

The redact tool takes one PDF and lets you mark every area on a page you want removed: an ID or iqama number, an IBAN, a name, a salary figure. When you press apply, every page carrying a mark is re-drawn from scratch, the marked areas are painted solid black, and the resulting picture replaces that page in the file. Nothing survives under the black: no text, no vector content, nothing that can be selected, copied or pulled out by any tool, because the page itself no longer holds it.

Pages where you marked nothing are copied into the new file unchanged, with their text still selectable and searchable. The output is a fresh document that carries none of the original's title, author or metadata, because a file that has been redacted should not give away its history through its properties. All of it happens inside your browser: the file is not uploaded to a server and never passes through Khallas, which is the one condition without which redaction means nothing.

How is redaction different from a black box drawn on top?

The usual way to hide something in a PDF is to draw a black rectangle over it in an editor. The rectangle hides it from the eye on screen and on paper, but the text stays underneath inside the file: the person who receives it only has to select the page and copy it, or run it through any text extractor, to read what you thought you had hidden. That is the story that comes back every few months, when a document is published and its blacked-out names are read the same day.

Our edit PDF tool has a cover box that does exactly this, and its page says so plainly: a cover is a visual hide, good enough for keeping something out of a casual reader's way. Redaction here removes the content instead, because a redacted page is re-drawn as a picture and then painted, so nothing is left under the black to copy or extract. The difference is not in how the result looks, since both look the same, but in what is still inside the file.

When you need to redact a PDF

Plenty of everyday requests ask for a whole document when only part of it is actually needed. The bank statement a landlord or a letting office wants as proof of means carries your IBAN and every transaction you have made; the payslip attached to a finance or visa application carries your account number, your allowances and deductions that are nobody's business; a medical report sent to an insurer can carry details of people who have nothing to do with the claim.

The same holds for any document that leaves your own circle: a contract you forward to a third party without wanting them to see the prices, a CV posted on a job site that does not need your mobile number and home address on it, a copy of an ID attached only so that a name can be checked, a document filed in a case where only one page is relevant. In all of these the point is to remove the detail rather than cover it, because the file stays in someone else's hands.

What changes in the file after redaction

A page that carries a mark becomes a picture inside the output file. That means all of its text, not only the part you blacked out, loses selection, copying and search, and the file can grow or shrink depending on what the page held: a light text page gets bigger as a picture, a heavy scanned page can get smaller. That is the price of actual removal, and it is stated rather than hidden, because anyone choosing redaction should choose it knowing what it costs.

The page is drawn at roughly 170 dots per inch on an A4 sheet, which stays crisp in print, under a pixel ceiling that keeps a very large page from asking a phone for more than it can encode. Sheet size and orientation are kept as they were, and on a rotated page the mark lands where you drew it rather than where the page is stored. If the file grows, run it through the compress PDF tool afterwards; compressing a redacted file brings nothing back.

How to redact a PDF, step by step

Open the redact PDF page and drop one file into the tray, or tap the tray to pick it from your device or from the Files app on a phone.
The first page opens ready to mark with no tool to pick first: drag over each area you want removed, or tap once and a ready-sized box drops where you tapped.
Drag any box to move it exactly where it belongs, and move between pages with the page arrows to mark what is needed on each; the marking mode stays armed, so you can place several boxes in a row without picking it again.
Undo a box you put in the wrong place with the undo button or the keyboard undo shortcut, or select it and press delete.
Press apply redaction. Every page carrying a mark is re-drawn with its marked areas painted black, and the rest of the pages are carried across unchanged.
Look at the preview on the result card to check the black covers what you meant, then name the file if you like and download it.

Limits worth knowing

One file per run. Redaction is an interactive editor working on a particular document rather than an operation that can be replayed over a stack, so it does not take a batch the way compress and rotate do.
A page carrying a single box turns into a picture in full, so the rest of its text is no longer selectable or searchable. Pages you left unmarked keep their text exactly as it was.
The tool does not find ID numbers, IBANs or names by itself. You do the marking, so read the whole file before applying: a name that appears on ten pages needs a box on each of those ten pages.
A password-protected file cannot be opened until the password is removed, and the message appears before you get as far as marking anything.
The output is a fresh document: none of the original's metadata comes with it, interactive form fields on redacted pages do not survive, and a digital signature stops being valid after any change to the file, which redaction is.
The re-drawing resolution sits under a pixel ceiling so the tool works on a phone, which means a very large sheet is drawn at a lower resolution than an A4 page. Both stay readable.
Your original file on your device is untouched and keeps all of its text. Save the redacted copy under a different name so the original is not sent by mistake later.

Common problems and their fixes

The text can still be copied from under the black box

That is the output of the cover box in the edit PDF tool rather than of redaction: a cover draws a rectangle over the text and the text stays inside the file. Bring the original file back to the redact page and mark the areas here, so the page is re-drawn and nothing is left under the black.

It says to mark at least one area

No box was recorded on any page, or you undid the last one before pressing. Drag over at least one area until you can see the black box on the page, then press apply redaction.

The box landed somewhere other than where I tapped

A single tap drops a ready-sized box centred on the point you tapped, which is deliberate so that it is usable straight away on a phone. Drag it to where it belongs, or draw the box by dragging from corner to corner if you want a particular size.

The file got bigger after redaction

The redacted pages are now pictures, and a picture is heavier than text. Run the result through the compress PDF tool, and if the portal you are sending it to states a size in megabytes, give it that number as the limit to fit.

I can no longer search inside the file

Search still works on the pages where you marked nothing; the redacted pages are pictures with no text layer. That follows from actual removal: the text you were searching is no longer in those pages at all.

It says the file is password protected

The message carries a link to the unlock PDF tool that takes your file with it. Open the file there with its password, then drop the unlocked copy into the redact page and mark what you want removed.

I need to remove something that repeats on every page

There is no find and replace in redaction; marking is manual, page by page. Move through the file with the page arrows and put a box on each occurrence, with the marking mode staying armed so you do not have to pick it again, then look through every page once more before applying.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a cover box in the Edit PDF tool?

A cover box sits on top of the text, so it disappears from view while the text stays inside the file: whoever receives it only has to select the page and copy it, or run it through a text extractor, to read what is underneath. Redaction re-renders the whole page as an image and then paints the marked area, so no text and no content survive under the black to be copied or extracted.

Can a redacted area be recovered?

No. A redacted page comes out as an image with no text or content beneath the black mark, because the page was re-drawn and then painted, so there is nothing in the output file to pull out. The output is a fresh document that carries none of the original's title, author or metadata, so it does not give away its history through its properties. Your original file on your device stays untouched.

Does the rest of the file stay selectable?

Pages where you marked nothing are copied through unchanged, with their text still selectable and searchable. A page carrying even a single box becomes an image in full, so the rest of its text is no longer selectable or searchable, and the file size can grow or shrink depending on what the page held. That is the price of actual removal, and it is stated rather than hidden.

How do I hide an IBAN on a bank statement before sending it?

Drop the statement into the redact page, then drag over the IBAN on the first page, and move between pages with the page arrows to mark it on every page it appears on. The marking mode stays armed, so you can place boxes one after another. Press apply redaction, and check the preview on the result card before downloading to confirm the black covers the number everywhere.

Can I redact a PDF on a phone?

Yes, straight from a phone browser with no app and no account. Drop the file in from the Files app or from your downloads, then drag a finger over the area you want removed, or tap once and a ready-sized box drops that you can drag into place. The re-drawing resolution sits under a pixel ceiling so a phone can encode the page rather than running out of memory.

Is the file uploaded to a server when it is redacted?

No. The file is read, its pages are re-drawn and the new file is written inside your browser alone, so neither the document nor anything in it passes through a server or through Khallas. That is the one condition without which redaction means nothing, because the documents people redact are IDs, bank statements, medical reports and contracts, which are the last things that should leave your device.

Why did the file get bigger after redaction?

Because the pages you marked are now images, and an image is heavier than text. A light text page grows when it is drawn as a picture, while a heavy scanned page can shrink. Run the result through the compress PDF tool if you need it smaller, and give it the size the portal asks for if one is stated. Compressing a redacted file brings nothing back.

Redact a PDF

Three steps, that's it