How to check a redacted PDF before you send it

In a lot of PDF editors, a black box drawn over a number only covers it. The number is still in the file, and anyone can copy it out. These checks take a minute.

1. Search for it

Open the redacted PDF, press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac) and type the first few digits of what you covered. If it's found, it isn't redacted.

2. Try to select it

Drag across the black box with your cursor, copy, and paste into a note. If the number appears, it's still there under the box.

3. Look in the file's other places

A PDF can repeat words in its title and properties, bookmarks, comments and attachments. Check File, Properties in your PDF reader, and open the bookmarks and attachments panels.

4. Check scanned pages too

If the PDF was made searchable with OCR, the scan has hidden words behind it. A box over the picture doesn't remove those. Search for the number as in step 1.

How Autonome PDF does it

Redact turns each redacted page into a picture with the boxes burned in, so the covered words aren't in the file, and Sanitise document clears the title, properties, bookmarks, comments and attachments that mention them. It runs in your browser, and the file isn't uploaded. See Redact a PDF so the words are really gone.

Try it on your own file. Autonome PDF runs in your browser, and the file isn't uploaded. Editing is free. Open Autonome PDF

Open the tool

• Redact a PDF so the words are really gone
• Put a password on a PDF
• Make a scanned PDF searchable

Good to know

Is a password the same as redaction?

No. A password stops people opening the file. Anyone with the password still sees everything, so redact first, then add the password.

Can I redact a scanned PDF?

Yes. Mark the area on the scan and apply it; the page is rebuilt as a picture without the covered part.

Do I need an account?

Not to open or edit. You sign in when you download (free, no card), and that gives you 5 downloads a week.