Quick Guide: How to Black Out Text in PDF

Considering that PDF documents can be used to share sensitive information, sometimes it is necessary to apply certain security features to remove such sensitive content from the document. If your goal is to keep this content from the document completely, then blacking out the text is a good option.

Here, we will look at what blacking out text in a PDF document is, how you can black out text in PDF using tools like UPDF, and why you would want to black out the text on any document.

If you just want to use a quick way without wasting time checking the whole article, you can download UPDF here and blackout PDF.

Part 1: What is Black Out Text in PDF and Why You Need to Black Out Text in PDF

Blacking out text on a PDF document entails the process of blocking out and sometimes even completely removing a section of the text on PDF documents. The text that is blacked out on the document will be completely inaccessible to anyone reading the document.

There are several reasons why you may need to black out text on a PDF. These include the following;

• Blacking out or redacting the text on a PDF document will allow you to safely share the document with the public, without having to worry about leaking sensitive information.
• It is also one of the most secure ways to protect the document as the redaction cannot be removed using any tool and only the original document will contain the unredacted text.
• Blacking out sections of a PDF document allows a government or organization to remain transparent with the public or shareholders without sharing confidential or controversial statements.
• It may also be a good way for an individual, government, or organization to remove any copyrighted or licensed information from the document before sharing it with the public.

Part 2: How to Black Out PDF With UPDF (Win & Mac Supported)

UPDF offers a convenient solution for blacking out PDFs, boasting a comprehensive array of features tailored for regular PDF users, all neatly integrated within an intuitive user interface.

Its redaction tools provide an efficient method for obscuring text within PDF documents. Furthermore, the Search & Redact function allows users to pinpoint specific text within lengthy PDFs for redaction.

If your sole objective is to blackout PDF text without redaction, UPDF offers a straightforward solution.

The seamless integration with editing, annotating, and converting tools makes UPDF an ideal choice for users who frequently engage with PDF files. You can download a trial version and refer to the guide below for instructions on blacking out PDF files.

Step 1. Run UPDF on your computer, and click on the "Open File" to select the PDF file on your computer to open on UPDF.

Step 2. Click on the "Redact" icon at the left side panel and click "OK" for the pop-up window. Now, you can select the options: Mark for redaction to redact contents directly, redact pages, or find text to redact. Here is to use "Mark for Redaction", so hit on it. Now, move your mouse and hold the left side of your mouse to black out the content.

Step 3. When everything is done, click "Apply" to redact. Then, click "File" > "Save" to save the PDF file.

As mentioned before, UPDF has many other features, and the most useful features you will find in UPDF include the following;

• It has AI integrated which can help summarize, translate, write, rewrite, and chat for PDF.
• It is one of the best tools to read a PDF and collaborate on a document with other team members thanks to its unmatched PDF annotation features. You can annotate PDFs in various ways including adding highlights, text boxes, and other shapes.
• It allows you to edit the text on the PDF directly on the document. The editing process is so easy, it feels like you are working with a Word processor. You can add and delete text, change the font, change the font size, and even change the color of the text.
• UPDF is one of only a few PDF editors that comes with a built-in image editor. This image editor can be used to resize, reposition, replace, copy, delete, or even crop any of the images on the document.
• It also has very useful conversion features, allowing you to convert a PDF to various editable formats including Word, Excel, TXT, PowerPoint, and more. You can use its OCR feature to convert scanned PDFs to editable formats.
• It is also one of the best ways to organize the pages on a PDF document. You can extract pages, split them, reorder them, rotate them, and add new pages to the existing document.

It is also worth pointing out that UPDF is constantly improving by adding new features. Do not hesitate, download UPDF to redact PDF now, you can have a big discount to upgrade to the pro version.

For users still uncertain about the steps, we recommend watching the video below. It provides a guide on how to black out text on Windows using UPDF's redaction tools (the steps are similar to the Mac version).

Part 3: How to Black Out Text with Adobe Acrobat

Another way to black out sensitive information on any PDF document is to use the redact tool in Adobe Acrobat. The Adobe Acrobat online tool allows you to do that very easily and for free. Here are the specific steps that you can use to black out text on a PDF using Adobe Acrobat's online tool;

• Step 1: Access the Acrobat online tool that you will need. You may need to sign in to access the features you need.
• Step 2: Open the PDF that you want to redact in the Acrobat online service.
• Step 3: Click "Redact a PDF" on the left side panel.

• Step 4: Then, simply select the text on the document that you want to redact. You can do that by either double-clicking on the text or dragging the select lines if redacting a large section of text.

Step 5: Click "Save" to apply the changes and save the document.

Please note that you should retain an unredacted version of the document as this process will remove the redacted data from the document completely.

Part 4: How to Black Out Text in PDF Online

There are a lot of online solutions that will also allow you to black out text on a PDF document for free. One such solution is Xodo, a simple-to-use and highly effective online PDF management solution that you can use to redact the text on a PDF. You can use this tool to redact the text on two PDFs for free. If you need to redact more than two PDFs, you will need to purchase the premium version.

Here's how it works;

• Step 1: Access the redaction tool that you will need to black out the document.
• Step 2: Click on "Select File" to import the file you want to work with. You can also import files directly from Dropbox and Google Drive.
• Step 3: Once the document is open, you will be able to select the text or sections of text that you want to redact. You can also use the search function to look for the text that you want to redact, a useful feature when working with very large documents.
• Step 4: Each section of the document will be redacted immediately upon selection. Once you have selected all the text that you want to redact, click on the "Redact All" button.
• Step 5: In the popup that appears, click on "Apply" to confirm that you understand that the selected text will be removed from the document.
• Step 6: When you're done, you can download the redacted PDF file to your computer by clicking on the download button next to the filename.

Part 5: How to Black Out Text in PDF with Preview

If you're using a Mac, aside from UPDF for Mac, you can also black out text on any PDF document for free using Mac OS Preview. Preview should already be available on your Mac, so you won't need to download any additional software to utilize this solution.

Follow these simple steps to use Preview to redact text on a PDF;

• Step 1: Start by opening the PDF document that you will be working on within Preview.
• Step 2: Once the document is open, click on the "Editing" button at the top to access the editing tools that you will need. They will appear just below the main toolbar.
• Step 3: Click on the "Redact" button and a warning box will appear to warn you that the redacted content will be removed. Click "OK" to acknowledge this warning and open the redaction tool.
• Step 4: Then all you have to do to redact any section of the document is to select the text or image. Just click and drag to select the section.

Once you save and close the document the selected sections will be redacted.

Conclusion

Blacking out text on a PDF is one of the best ways to protect sensitive information and now you have several solutions to help you do that. If you are searching for the best PDF tools to redact PDF, you can consider UPDF. All the operations you want to do with PDF can use UPDF. Just download UPDF to try it now.