2 Ways to Redact PDF on Mac (macOS 14 Included)

While PDF is ideal for saving and viewing documents, what can be done if it becomes essential to permanently black out text or images in your PDF? In fact, we can easily redact a PDF as long as we use a redact PDF on the Mac tool.

Since privacy breaches may have far-reaching consequences for businesses and individuals, protecting sensitive information is a pressing concern for everyone today.

Part 1. How to Redact PDF on Mac with Preview?

If you're using a Mac, you'll be happy to know that the PDF and picture viewer program, Preview, has a considerably more robust redaction feature. Here is how to use Mac Preview redact function:

When you open a PDF in Preview, you may redact text by first clicking the "Markup" button (top right), and then the "Redact" button (top left). Without using "Markup", you may use the redaction tool by selecting "Tools > Redact".
After selecting "Redact," Preview will provide a dialogue box with more instructions.
A backup of the original file should be created before any redactions are made, as they cannot be undone once the file has been saved.
As you redact some text, you'll notice that it turns black and is marked with hash marks when you move your mouse over it.
To add or remove the black redaction while you edit, simply drag the cursor over the text. You may see the contents of the redacted text by hovering over it. But the redaction will remain once you save the document.

Part 2. How to Redact PDF on Mac with PDF Expert?

If you own a Mac, PDF Expert is an excellent PDF editor that will make editing PDFs a breeze.

In addition to the standard tools for working with PDFs, such as annotating, making notes, and managing pages, you now have the option to make changes to the PDF's original text, add comments to highlights, and even export your highlights.

Having said that, let's get on with the meat of our piece. In order to redact documents on a Mac, you may utilize PDF Expert; here's how to do it.

If you need to redact sensitive information from a PDF, select "Edit > Redact". Redact the text that you have selected with the cursor. Two forms of redaction are available in PDF Expert.
To redact text, you may either use the blackout function to completely hide it or the erase function to completely delete it.
This tool is fantastic since it makes it simple and convenient to redact sensitive information from papers. And if you're certain that this lightning-fast editor is what you need, you can try it risk free for a whole week.

Part 3. The Best PDF Tool You Shouldn't Miss

UPDF is an PDF editor that allows you to do things like edit text, images, and links within PDFs, add annotations, arrange PDF pages, and more.

Overall, it's a solid PDF editor that should meet most of your requirements without any trouble. UPDF is available for free download on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android devices. You can download it by clicking the download button below.

Although the redaction feature is not available yet, it will be released soon. The following are the main features of UPDF:

For Mac users, UPDF offers a text editing function. With these features, users will be able to edit texts, make corrections, and change phrases.
Using the UPDF, it's simple to highlight text with different colors and add other annotations like underlining and strikethroughs. And the UPDF makes it simple to mark up your documents with notes.
By using UPDF, you can convert the PDF file format to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Images, Text, RTF, HTML, XML, or PDF/A. When scanning a document, its OCR feature in UPDF will allow it to decode text from 38 different languages.

Part 4. FAQs on Redacting PDFs

Can I Redact a PDF on Mac?

You can redact in Preview. When you open a PDF in Preview, you may redact text by first clicking the "Markup" button (top right), and then the "Redact" button (top left). Without using "Markup", you may use the redaction tool by selecting "Tools > Redact".

How Do I Permanently Redact a PDF on a Mac?

You may redact sensitive information from the document with only a few mouse clicks. In order to do this, simply follow these guidelines;

Once you have a PDF management tool up and running, open the file you need to edit and select "Edit" from the drop-down menu.
Find the redaction option in the main menu. After making your selection, decide how you'd like the sensitive information to be hidden. Use a blank line or a black box in its place.
Finally, choose the text you wish to redact. Be sure to apply and save any edits before sending the document.

How Do I Black Out a PDF on Mac?

Launch the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
To redact, go to the "Tools" menu and pick "Redact".
Choose some text. You may choose lines of text by dragging them or by double-clicking on them.
Make use of redaction. Select the text you wish to delete, and then click "Save" to make the edits permanent.

Is it Free to Redact a PDF on Mac?

If you need a free tool to redact PDFs on a Mac, go no further than Preview. Remember that with macOS 11, Apple included a redaction tool. If you're unable to upgrade, you can also utilize the marker feature in PDF on Mac to hide the text.

Conclusion

You can use PDF Expert, Preview, or any other PDF editor to redact your PDF. However, we recommend you use UPDF. It is simple and easy to use. You can click the download button below for a trial. The redaction feature is on its way. So, just wait for a little while!