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PPDF123

Redact PDF Pages by Search Term

Auto Redact replaces every page whose text contains one of your search terms with a solid black page. Matching ignores case, and the old content of a redacted page is removed. It works on text layers, not scans.

Drag and drop files here, or click to choose

Accepts PDF · up to 500.0 MB per file · up to 20 files at once

You can also paste a file with Ctrl/Cmd+V, or from the clipboard menu.

Auto Redact reads the text of each page and compares it with your comma-separated terms. Matching is a case-insensitive substring test, so `acme` also hits `ACME Corp`. Every page that matches is replaced by a solid black page. It is page-level redaction, not word-level.

On a matching page the old content, resources and annotations are detached, so the hidden words cannot be extracted from that page. The fill is fixed at black (`#000000`); the color field is ignored.

The tool also scrubs what a redacted page leaves elsewhere in the file: form fields on it, bookmarks that point at it or contain a term, matching document-information entries, XMP metadata of redacted pages, and structure-tree text. Embedded files, JavaScript and text on pages that did not match are not touched; Sanitize removes the first two.

An empty term list is rejected with an error. Pages with no match, including image-only scans that have no text layer, come out unchanged. There is no OCR, so a scanned page can only be removed with Remove Pages.

The API also accepts `caseSensitive=true` and `useRegex=true` (Rust regex syntax, at most 200 comma-separated terms). The website form has only the term list.

Password-protected files are unlocked for you on this page once you enter the password; API callers run Unlock first.

Features

  • Case-insensitive term matching; every matching page becomes a black page
  • Removes the page's old content, form fields, matching bookmark titles and metadata
  • Empty term list is rejected; pages with no match are unchanged
  • Anonymous API at /api/v1/security/auto-redact

When to use this tool

  • Black out pages that mention a client name or account number before sharing
  • Remove pages that contain personal identifiers from a long export
  • Prepare a review copy in which sensitive pages must not be recoverable

How do I redact pages in a PDF?

  1. Upload a PDF with a text layer that you are authorized to alter.
  2. Enter comma-separated terms, for example a client name or an account number. Matching ignores case.
  3. Click Process. Every page that contains a term becomes a solid black page.
  4. Open the result, check which pages went black, and search it once more for the terms before you share it.

Limits and edge cases

  • Page-level only; there is no partial redaction on a page
  • Needs a text layer: image-only pages never match
  • An empty term list is an error
  • Embedded files and JavaScript are not removed; use Sanitize for those
  • Words drawn as vector shapes have no text to match
  • Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

Examples

  • The term secret blacks out page 2 only when that page's extracted text contains secret in any capitalization
  • The terms alpha,beta black out every page that contains either word

Privacy for this tool

Files are uploaded over HTTPS, processed in memory or a short-lived temporary directory on our servers, and deleted when your result is ready. We do not keep copies for later browsing, training, or advertising profiles. See the Privacy Policy for retention details and AdSense cookie disclosures.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the whole page go black?
Redaction is page-level. Any page whose text contains a term is replaced by a black page, so nothing on it survives.
Can I redact one word and keep the rest of the page?
No. The whole matching page is blacked out; there is no word-level box redaction.
Is the text really removed from the file?
On matching pages the content, resources and annotations are replaced, so the text is no longer in the page. Form values, matching bookmark titles, Info entries and metadata are scrubbed as well. Embedded files and pages that did not match are left alone.
Is matching case-sensitive?
No. By default terms match regardless of capitalization. API callers can send caseSensitive=true, or useRegex=true for regular expressions.
Can Auto Redact handle a scanned document?
Not directly. It reads a text layer, and a scan without one is left unchanged. There is no OCR step.

Last updated:

Call this from code

Every tool on this site is a plain REST endpoint - no account or API key needed for anonymous use. Built for AI agents and developers as much as for browsers.

curl -X POST "https://pdf123.xyz/api/v1/security/auto-redact" \
  -F "[email protected]" \
  -F "listOfText=your-listOfText" \
  -o output.pdf

Also available as an MCP tool for agent clients that speak Model Context Protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0 over POST /mcp). Full API reference

Use it from an AI agent

Skill

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other AI agents can run Redact for you with this skill: /skills/pdf123-auto-redact.md

All agent skills

Files are used only for this processing job and deleted automatically afterward.