Redact PDF — free forever
Permanently black out parts of a PDF.
How it works
Drop your PDF on the Pelican Drop Desk.
Click and drag to draw a black box over anything you want to hide.
Repeat on as many pages as needed.
Click Run and download the redacted PDF.
Use cases
Share a bank statement
Send proof of payment without exposing the full account number.
Anonymise a sample contract
Remove personal names before using a contract as a template.
Submit to regulators
Cover confidential figures in a board pack before sharing externally.
Free account & email verification
Start working now. Create a free account and verify your email only when your PDF is ready to download. Verification keeps automated abuse off the site — it's the reason we can keep every tool free forever with no paid plan, no watermark, and no upgrade trap.
Your privacy
Your files are processed entirely in your browser — never uploaded to a PDF Pelican server. We only store anonymous analytics about which tools people use, never your file contents.
About this tool
Black out names, account numbers or addresses before sharing a PDF. Affected pages are flattened to an image, so the redacted text cannot be selected, copied or searched.
FAQ
Is the redaction reversible?
No. The redacted regions are rasterised onto the page, which destroys the text underneath. You cannot copy it out or search for it.
Will other text on the page still be selectable?
Only on pages with no redactions. Any page that has a redaction is rasterised entirely so the redacted information is fully removed.
Does this remove metadata?
Not yet — we only redact visible content. If your PDF has sensitive metadata (author, title), run Compress PDF afterwards to strip extras.