Question 1

How is this different from drawing a black rectangle?

Accepted Answer

Drawing black rectangles on a PDF is a common mistake — the underlying text remains in the file and can be recovered by copying, selecting, or running OCR. This tool rasterizes each page into an image after applying your redactions, so the redacted content is permanently gone.

Question 2

Will the redacted text be recoverable?

Accepted Answer

No. After redaction, the PDF is rebuilt page-by-page as flattened images. Text under the redaction boxes is rendered black and cannot be selected, copied, or re-extracted. Metadata is also stripped.

Question 3

Are my documents uploaded?

Accepted Answer

No. All redaction is performed in your browser. The PDF never leaves your device.

Question 4

Will the PDF stay searchable after redaction?

Accepted Answer

No — because this tool renders pages as images to guarantee permanent redaction. If you need a searchable result with redactions baked in, use the PDF OCR tool on the redacted file afterward.

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