Redaction Tool User Guide
Overview#
The Redaction tool permanently removes sensitive information from PDFs. It offers two modes:
- Automatic - Type the words or regex patterns to remove and let the tool find and redact every match across the document.
- Manual - Open the PDF in the viewer and mark specific text or areas for redaction.
Unlike a simple black box drawn on top of the page, automatic redaction deletes the matching text from the file so the underlying text is genuinely removed - not merely hidden. You can also flatten the result to an image to guarantee nothing recoverable is left behind.
Choosing a mode#
At the top of the Redact panel, the Redaction Method selector switches between Automatic and Manual. Selecting Manual opens the document in the viewer, where the drawing controls described below appear.
Automatic redaction#
Automatic redaction searches the document for the text you specify and removes every match.
How to use:
- Choose Automatic as the redaction method.
- Under Redaction Settings, add each word or pattern to redact. Add as many as you need - the tool scans for all of them in a single pass, and matches are found across multiple columns and text lines.
- (Optional) Open Advanced Settings to adjust:
- Use Regex - Treat each entry as a regular expression rather than a literal word.
- Whole Word Search - Match only complete words, not substrings.
- Box Colour and Custom Extra Padding - Style the redaction boxes.
- Convert PDF to PDF-Image - Flatten the redacted PDF to an image so no text remains behind the boxes (enabled by default).
- Click Redact.
Redacting PII with patterns#
With Use Regex enabled you can target common personally identifiable information (PII) by entering the matching pattern. For example:
| Type | Example pattern |
|---|---|
| Social Security number (SSN) | \d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4} |
| Credit / debit card | \d{4}[ -]?\d{4}[ -]?\d{4}[ -]?\d{4} |
| IBAN | [A-Z]{2}\d{2}[A-Z0-9]{1,30} |
| US routing number (ABA) | \b\d{9}\b |
| Account number (labelled) | [Aa]ccount\s*#?\s*\d{6,} |
| Email address | [\w.-]+@[\w.-]+\.\w+ |
| Phone number | \(\d{3}\)\s*\d{3}-\d{4} |
Add one pattern per entry; refine them to suit your documents to keep false positives down.
How text is removed#
Automatic redaction deletes the matching text from the file rather than just covering it. For maximum safety, keep Convert PDF to PDF-Image enabled so no recoverable text can remain under the boxes.
Manual redaction#
Manual mode lets you select text or draw areas in the PDF viewer to mark content for redaction. The tool activates when you enter this mode.
- Choose Manual in the Redaction Method selector.
- Set Redaction Colour in the panel.
- Select text or draw an area on the page to create a pending mark. Review each mark before applying it.
- To remove a pending mark, select it and use Remove this mark.
- Use Apply (permanent) in the selection menu to apply a redaction, or Save Changes in the panel to apply pending marks and save the file.
Applied redactions permanently delete the underlying content. Removal and colour changes to pending marks must happen before permanent application; the tool does not offer recolouring or removal of already-applied redactions. Keep the original file if you need to start again.
