Redact PDF Online: 4 Easy and Fast Tools Worth Trying

PDF redaction is becoming more commonly used with the growing data privacy concerns and the use of digital PDF documents. Individuals and businesses tend to conceal their private information before sharing it with others. Since web-based services are also becoming popular, there is an increasing demand to redact PDF online. Therefore, this guide is going to facilitate you by listing the four best redact PDF online tools you can use.

4 Best Online Tools to Redact PDF

Considering the growing demand for PDF redaction tools, there are now many online PDF tools that offer web-based redaction. So, we have shortlisted below the four best redact PDF online tools worth trying:

1. DocHub

DocHub is a web-based PDF editor tool that allows you to easily redact PDFs by simple drag and drop. It also supports other document files redaction as well, such as DOCX, PPTX, JPEG, PNG, RTF, and TXT. With DocHub, all you have to do is select a document, redact the text/images you want to censor, and download the redacted PDF.

Follow the below steps to learn how to redact a PDF online with DocHub:

1. Go to the DocHub website and click "Select a document" to upload the PDF you want to redact.

• Click the "3-dots more" tab from the top and choose "Blackout".

• Drag the mouse over the text or image where you want to redact. Once the redact is pasted, click "OK" from the small pop-up window to apply the redact.

• Continue to follow step 3 until you have added redaction at all the places in the PDF.
• Once done, click the "Download" button from the top to save the file.

This way, you can redact text and images on PDF online with DocHub. Although it looks easy to use, there are a few cons associated with this method, as follows:

Looking at all the above cons of DocHub, it seems only useful for redacting a few texts in a small PDF.

In contrast, UPDF is a more powerful and offline desktop-based PDF redaction tool that turns all the cons of DocHub to its features. With UPDF, you can search specific text and redact it on multiple pages with one click. Furthermore, you also get to customize redact properties. Therefore, download UPDF and redact PDFs in a more secure, efficient, and feature-rich way.

2. AvePDF

AvePDF is another redact PDF online free tool that allows you to redact text and images in PDFs easily. You can easily upload the PDF from the desktop, Google Drive, Dropbox, or web link and manually redact text/images in the PDF.

Follow the below steps to learn how to redact a PDF free online with AvePDF:

1. Go to the AvePDF website and click "Choose File" to upload the PDF you want to redact.
2. Tap "Add redaction marks" from the left sidebar and drag the cursor over the text/image you want to redact.

• Once you have redacted all the targeted content, tap "Apply all redactions".

• Click Save > Download to download the redacted PDF file.

This way, AvePDF provides the simplest interface to redact PDF online. However, AvePDF has a few limits you should know about:

In short, AvePDF is useful due to its free redaction feature, but it is recommended only when you have to redact a few text/images.

3. FreePDFRedactor.com

As the name implies, Free PDF Redactor is another redact PDF online free tool. It also allows an instant way to upload, redact, and download files. Besides that, it offers a 30-minute timer to make the redaction to the document. Afterward, the document is securely removed.

Follow the below steps to learn how to redact a PDF free online with Free PDF Redactor:

1. Go to FreePDFRedactor.com and upload the PDF to redact.
2. Drag the cursor around the text/image to redact. Continue to do so until all text/images are redacted.

• Click the "Next" button from the top right corner to apply the redaction.

• Click "Download" to save the redacted PDF.

This way, you can use Free PDF Redactor to do the basic redactions you want. However, you may experience the below limitations with this censor PDF online tool:

Simply put, Free PDF Redactor is excellent for doing basic redaction that involves redacting a few text and images.

4. pdfFiller

Last on our list of redact PDF online tools is pdfFiller. As a PDF editor tool, it also provides a PDF redacting feature to redact text and images easily. You also get to change the redaction color and style of your choice.

Follow the below steps to learn how to redact a PDF free online with pdfFiller:

1. Go to the pdfFiller website, sign up, and upload the PDF you want to redact.
2. Click the "3-dots more" tab from the top and choose "Blackout".

• Drag the mouse over the text or image where you want to redact. Once the redact is pasted, click "OK" from the small pop-up window to apply the redact.

• Continue to follow step 3 until you have added redaction at all the places in the PDF.
• Once done, click the "Download" button from the top to save the file.

Looking at the above steps, it is evident that DocHub is indirectly using the pdfFiller tool to offer the PDF redaction feature. Therefore, all the cons we listed for DocHub also apply to pdfFiller, as follows:

Moreover, pdfFiller may even ask you to pay when you use it for the first time. Therefore, it is recommended to do a test run on pdfFiller before considering it to fulfill your PDF redaction needs in the long run.

Now that we have discussed the features, steps, and limits of the above four redact PDF online tools, we can see that all of them have some common concerns. Most of them require manual redaction of text on multiple pages, no option to customize redact properties, and all are dependent on the internet, which raises security concerns.

But what if all these cons become features, and you get a more secure and powerful way to redact PDFs? Read the next section to learn the better alternative tool to redact PDFs for free.

Part 2. UPDF: The Better and Easy Way to Redact a PDF for Free

Online PDF redaction tools look attractive due to their ability to redact PDFs without installing tools on the desktop. However, the cons we discussed in Part 1 show the incomplete experience users get. This is where UPDF steps in as the perfect alternative. Although UPDF is a desktop-based tool, it is very light and requires minimal storage space.

UPDF is an AI-driven PDF editor tool that incorporates all the PDF-related features you can imagine in a tool, such as edit, annotate, convert, compress, OCR, etc. Talking specifically about PDF redaction, UPDF offers a complete redaction mode. Below are the key redaction features offered by UPDF that reflect its credibility:

• It allows you to manually redact text and images easily.
• Its "Search & Redact" feature lets you redact specific phrases across selective pages.
• It allows you to change the redact properties, such as color, style, etc.
• It offers the most intuitive, click-based interface that anyone can master in seconds.
• It is an offline tool, which means no dependence on the internet and security threats.
• It ensures instant, accurate, and permanent redaction no matter the length or complexity of the PDF.
• It can convert Word, Excel, PowerPoint, image, and other file formats to PDF before redacting.
• Its one account provides access to the redaction feature on four platforms, i.e., Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android (Note: The redaction feature will be released gradually on the platforms).

In short, UPDF offers a complete and comprehensive PDF redaction experience that fulfills all minor to major redaction needs effectively. The below steps further validate why it is the best alternative to redact PDF online free tools:

Step 1. Download and run UPDF on your computer and open the PDF to redact.

Step 2. Select the "Redaction" icon from the left side to enter the UPDF's redaction mode. Furthermore, select the text/image you intend to redact and tap the "Apple Redactions" icon from the small pop-up window.

Step 3. Use the "Search & Redact" option from the top to redact the same text on multiple pages.

Step 4. Select any redact and click "Properties" from the top to customize the color, style, etc.

Step 5. Once all the redactions are completed, click "Apply".

That's it. So, the five click-based steps with UPDF let you easily redact a PDF manually or autonomously. Therefore, simply download UPDF and experience the best PDF redaction experience.

Conclusion

PDF redaction is an excellent way to secure sensitive information in documents. Therefore, this guide covered some of the best redact PDF online free tools you can use right away. However, part 2 of the guide clearly reflects that the desktop-based tool, UPDF, provides the best redaction features compared to online tools. UPDF's click-based interactive interface, manual/autonomous text redaction, redact properties customization, and other editing features say it all. Therefore, this guide will conclude by recommending you download UPDF and redact small to large PDFs with ease.