When we request a document from the government agencies, the officials might decide to redact some information from it. The redaction of such information is done to protect the privacy or secrecy of people mentioned in the document. Some classified information is also redacted from the documents released to private citizens or organizations.
Now we can also redact information form our documents saved in form of PDF files. We can use a web app called Free PDF Redactor to darken the regions on a PDF file’s pages that we do not want others to see. It is an online PDF editor with focus on information redaction from PDF documents.
Here is how we can use Free PDF Redactor web app to quickly redact portions of pages inside a PDF file:
- Visit https://freepdfredactor.com/ in your desktop web browser. It works best in Google Chrome or Vivaldi web browser.
- Drag-n-drop your PDF file in the special square field marked with dotted lines. You can also click inside this square region to open the file selection dialog to select PDF files for upload. There is a limit of 5 MB or a total of 20 pages for each PDF file.
- As soon as it finishes uploading your PDF file, it will be opened inside a PDF editor online. You can go through each page one-by-one and select text or region to redact it. Selected region is turned dark instantly.
- You have only 30 minutes to edit the PDF file and complete all of your redactions. After this, you can click on the “Next” button and it will display the download links for the edited/redacted PDF file.
Free PDF Redactor web app is perhaps the quickest way to edit your existing PDF files and remove any content that you do not wish others to see. However it has a limitation of only 5 MB maximum PDF file size.