How to White Out a PDF with 3 Easy Methods

Businesses frequently use PDF file formats to save important data, metrics, and confidential information of clients and employees. However, there are times when you need to share the PDF with others, but you do not want them to know the confidential information in the file. In this case, you need to white out a PDF to make all important information invisible.

This article will provide effective solutions on how to white out a PDF file. Whether you want to remove the important content or not, you can find the solutions here. Let's explore now.

Part 1. How to White Out a PDF With UPDF (3 Ways)

To white out a PDF, you need to choose the correct tool. The first tool we recommend to use is UPDF. UPDF is an awesome tool that can help you white out PDF with or without removing the content permanently. If you do not want to remove the content, you can use shape and add image features to cover all confidential information. And to remove the content permanently, you can use its redaction feature to do it. These features of UPDF can be used on Windows and Mac versions. Moreover, it is not only a tool to white out PDFs but also an all-in-one PDF editor with all the PDF handling features you need. Just download UPDF via the below button and choose one of the guides below to follow according to your requirements.

Way 1. How to White Out on PDF With Redact?

If you need to remove the confidential content, so that no one can access them anymore, then, you should use the redaction feature of UPDF. Here is the guide for you.

Step 1. Double-click on the UPDF icon on your Windows or Mac to run it. Click "Open File" to select the PDF file that you want to white out.

Step 2. Navigate to the "Redact" icon and click it. Click "OK" in the pop-up window. Now, you need to click "Properties" to select the white color. Once done, you can draw your mouse to white out the PDF and click "Apply".

Step 3. Now, you can click "File" > "Save" to save the white-out PDF. Now, you successfully white out the PDF and remove the important content.

Do not want to remove the confidential content? You can use the below two ways to white out a PDF.

Way 2. How to White Out in PDF Using Shape?

Shape can also help you white out text in PDF easily. Here are the steps: If you do not have UPDF on your computer, you can click the below button to download it. Now, click "Comment" > "Shape" > select a white color for the fill and border color, then, draw to white out the content in the PDF.

Way 3. How to White Out PDF With Adding Pure White Color Image

Another method to white out PDFs is adding pure white color images with UPDF. What you need to do is to search on the internet and download one pure color image, open the PDF with UPDF, click on the "Edit PDF" > "Image", place the cursor on where you want to add the pure image, now, select the downloaded pure white image, adjust the size the white out the content in PDF.

UPDF also has many other features, you can check them below or download UPDF via the below button to test them all.

Key Features of UPDF Premium PDF Editor

• Edit PDF: Users can edit any contents, images and links in the PDF file.
• Convert PDF to Other Formats: UPDF allows you to convert PDF to popular formats like Word, PPT, excel, etc.
• UPDF AI: UPDF allows you to summarize, translate, explain, write, rewrite, and chat for PDF.
• Annotate PDF: You can add comments, sticky notes, text boxes, stickers, and stamps to PDF.

UPDF has more features, you can read this review article from Howtogeek or watch the below video to know more.

Part 2. How to White Out PDF with Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat is a renowned and oldest software available for editing, managing, and organizing PDF files. Because of its compatibility with different devices and software, it smoothens the workflow as the documents are accessible across all devices. Adobe Acrobat offers users distinctive features, such as users can convert files into different formats.

They can process the PDF files across different devices and use the feature to white out PDF in Adobe to conceal errors or sensitive information. Users can easily white out text or images in a PDF document using Adobe Acrobat by following the simple steps mentioned below.

Step 1: Install Adobe Acrobat and launch it on your computer. After launching Acrobat, browse PDF from your computer to import it on Acrobat. Follow it up by tapping on the "Tools" tab and navigating to the "Protect & Standardize" section. Now, choose the "Redact" tool to proceed.

Step 2: After clicking on the "Redact" tool, tap on the "Mark for Redaction" option, and from the drop-down option, choose "Text & Images."

Step 3: After clicking on the "Text & Images" option, choose the area of text or image you are required to white out. Follow it up by tapping on "Properties," and from the "Redacted Area Fill Color," choose white color and tap on "OK."

Step 4: Tap on "Apply" to confirm the changes and your selected area will be concealed. After clicking on "Apply," a small window with options will appear on your screen. To remove the hidden information permanently, click on "Yes." Now, rename the file and select the location on your computer to save the changes.

Part 3. How to White Out PDF Online Via PDFzorro

PDFzorro is an online PDF editor that offers a fast, simple, and easy process to edit PDF files. Users can white out PDFs online for free on the go without installing the application. Users are only required to search PDFzorro on the browser, and they can edit PDF files from any device at any time.

It provides a bunch of basic and premium features such as converting PDF files into other formats, crop pages of a PDF file, and the feature to white out text in a PDF online. PDFzorro offers a simple process to accurately white out PDFs online without compromising the document's formatting:

Step 1: Search PDFzorro on your computer browser such as Google Chrome or Opera. From the features, click on "Whiteout/Blacken PDF." Now, click on the "Upload" button, or you can also use the drag-drop feature to import PDF files on the PDFzorro web application. Users can also import PDF files from Google Drive directly.

Step 2: After you have imported the PDF on PDFzorro, it will take a few seconds to process. As soon as your PDF file is processed, an option to "Start PDF Editor" will appear on your screen. After clicking on this button, your PDF will be opened in the editor of PDFzorro. Now, select the page to be edited along with the rectangle shape. Next, choose the white color to erase the text on your document.

Step 3: To white out the text, drag your cursor over the text or images you want to white out. You can also undo the changes you have made from Undo button. After you have whited out the required area of the PDF, click on "Save" to save the changes. Following this, download the PDF by clicking on the "Download" button, and your PDF will be saved in your computer's download folder.

Part 4. What is White Out a PDF

The white-out PDF refers to the feature that allows users to easily erase, conceal, or annotate the selected area, including text and images of a PDF file. It is a perfect and quick solution if you urgently need to make a change or correct any errors in the PDF document before submitting it. The users usually use the whiteout feature to make edits to a PDF file, especially when they are required to make small changes or they want to replace or add new text to the PDF file.

The feature to white out text is also used if you want to conceal confidential information such as bank information, address, or contact details in the PDF document. The white out PDF feature is widely used as it doesn't affect the quality or aesthetic look of the PDF file as the method to white out text is highly undetectable. Hence viewers are unlikely to find if any changes were ever made in the PDF document.

Part 5. White Out vs. Black Out in PDF

The white out text in a PDF file is preferred over blackout in PDF documents. To start with, in the white out method, users use a white rectangle to conceal the errors of confidential information, which merges with the original background of the PDF documents. Hence, white out features intact the PDF document's quality and elegance. On the contrary, the black out feature uses a black rectangle to overlap the text, which is required to conceal, which destroys the quality of the PDF document.

Furthermore, by using a black out method on a PDF file, the format of the file gets disturbed, and the document already starts giving an odd look to the text and formatting. On the other hand, by using the white out method, users can add or replace text across the concealed text or elements, which makes it a more reliable option for editing PDF documents.

Part 6. FAQs on Whiting Out Text in PDFs

1. How to White Out PDF in Preview?

To white out PDF in preview. You need to find the PDF, then, open PDF with Preview. Click "Show Markup Tool" > Select white color for the border and fill > "Shape" > "Rectangle". Now, draw to white out the PDF content with Preview.

2. Can You White Out on a PDF?

You can white out text on a PDF file using the UPDF tool. The redaction feature is not officially available on UPDF right now but will soon be available to the users. However, in the meantime, users can still white out PDFs using the UPDF annotation tool.

After opening the PDF on UPDF, navigate to the "Comment" tool from the toolbar. Select the "Shape" option from the toolbar to choose the rectangle shape. Next, draw a rectangle across the text you want to white out and change the rectangle's color to white. This way, you can easily white out a text on PDF until redaction is not officially launched.

3. How Can I White Out a PDF for Free?

You can white out PDF for free by using the UPDF annotation feature. After browsing the PDF on UPDF, navigate to the comment tool. Follow it up by selecting the rectangle shape and drawing it over the text area you want to conceal or erase. After that, alter the color of the rectangle and choose white color. Save the changes as it is, or you can also add text on the concealed text and save it on your computer on the selected destination.

4. What is White Out in PDF?

White out refers to the process in which a selected text area in a PDF file is concealed using the redaction tool. This allows PDF users to make quick changes if any error occurs at the last minute of submitting an important PDF file or if they want to conceal confidential information.

5. Does White Out Show up on a copy?

No, white out doesn't show on a copy, as the color of the rectangle drawn on the PDF matches the background of the PDF pages. As a result, while printing the PDF file or copying the PDF content, it doesn't show up and is highly undetectable.

Conclusion

As discussed above, there are many ways to white out the text in a PDF file. However, it is highly necessary to use the best tool to perform the task on important and confidential PDFs. We recommend you to use UPDF as it can not only help you white out the content in PDF with 3 different ways per your requirements, but also offers many other features. You can download it to try it out.