Redacting a document properly (and what fake redaction looks like)

The classic mistake

Drawing a black rectangle in a PDF viewer only adds a shape on top of the page. The original text still exists underneath and can be selected, copied, or read by any text extractor. Sensitive information has leaked this way in court filings and press releases many times.

How PDFzy removes content

The Redact PDF tool covers the area you choose and then rebuilds the page from pixels, so the underlying text objects no longer exist in the output. That is genuine removal, with one trade-off: the redacted pages are no longer selectable text.

• Check the result by trying to select text in the redacted area.
• Redact before you share, not after.
• Remove document metadata as well — author names and file paths hide there.

Also clean the metadata

A PDF often records the author, the software used, and sometimes the original file path. Run Remove Metadata after redacting so the file does not describe where it came from.