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Is your PDF really redacted?

Check whether a redacted PDF really removed the text. Finds words still hiding under black boxes, plus metadata, comments and attachments. Free, nothing uploaded.

Drop a redacted PDF here

We look for text still hiding under the boxes. Nothing is uploaded.

This PDF is password-protected

e-Aadhaar PDFs use the first 4 letters of your name in CAPITALS followed by your year of birth (e.g. RAVI1991). Bank statements often use part of your name, date of birth or customer ID.

The password only unlocks the file in this tab. It isn't saved or sent anywhere, and the copy you download has no password.

Why redactions fail

Drawing a black rectangle in Word, a PDF viewer or many online editors only adds a shape on top of the page. The words underneath stay in the file, and anyone can select, copy or extract them. Court filings, government reports and company documents have all leaked this way.

A real redaction removes the content. Read more in how to black out text in a PDF so it's really gone.

What it checks

  • Hidden text: words in the text layer that are covered by a box or invisible.
  • Metadata: author, title, the software used, creation and edit dates.
  • Comments and form fields: notes and filled-in values that travel with the file.
  • Attachments: files embedded inside the PDF.

Questions

How does the checker know text is hidden?

It compares two things for every word in the PDF's text layer: the word itself, and what that spot looks like on the rendered page. If the text exists but the spot is a flat block of colour, something was drawn over it without removing it.

Is it safe to check a confidential PDF here?

Yes. The PDF is opened and analysed in your browser tab and never uploaded, which matters when the whole point is that it may contain text that shouldn't be seen.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

A scan with no text layer has nothing to copy out, and the checker says so. Scans with an OCR text layer are checked like any other PDF.

Can it miss anything?

It finds text under opaque boxes and invisible text. It can't see text hidden in other ways, such as inside images that were only partly covered. Re-redacting with a tool that rebuilds pages from pixels avoids all of these.