How to Black Out or Redact Text in a PDF
Summary :
This article shows you how to use PDFgear’s free tools and Adobe Acrobat to black out or redact PDF easily.
Table of Contents
When you black out a PDF, you’re essentially covering it with a solid black bar, but it can still be uncovered. Redacting, on the other hand, permanently removes the text from the PDF, so it’s gone for good.
Today, you’ll learn how to use PDFgear’s free tools or Adobe Acrobat to black out or redact PDFs as needed.
Black Out PDF without Redacting Online for Free
If you simply need to cover the PDF text/image/object with a black shape, then the most convenient method is using PDFgear online PDF editor.
PDFgear also provides an option to flatten the black shape to prevent the reverting of the black-out.
PDFgear is free to use, there’s no signup, and there’s no watermark.
Step 1. Go to PDFgear online PDF editor, and click the Select PDF File button to open the PDF you need.
Select PDF file
Step 2. Click the Rectangle tool from the upper ribbon, and draw the rectangle on the PDF to cover the unwanted text.
Add Rectangle
Step 3. Click Change Color and Change Stroke Color to change the rectangle shape to black.
Change Color to Black
Step 4. Lastly, go to the upper-right corner and click Print file or Download file to save the PDF without/with the black-out history.
Print File
Redact PDF on Mac for Free
To black out text in a more secure way, you should redact the PDF. Not only does it cover the sensitive information with a black bar, it permanently deletes it, making it unrecoverable whatsoever.
PDFgear macOS app provides a free PDF redaction future, now get PDFgear from the Mac App Store and start working right away!
Step 1. Download and install PDFgear on Mac, open PDFgear, and click Open File to open the PDF you need.
Open File
Step 2. Once the PDF is loaded, go to the Protect section and click the Redact option.
Select the text you need to black out, and it will be covered with black bars and permanently removed after you save the file.
Redact Text
Step 3. Lastly, go to File > Save as to save the redacted PDF.
Save As
Black Out or Delete Text in PDF for Free
PDFgear software for Windows is a reliable choice when you’re working with large PDF files.
Aside from blacking out PDFs with shapes, it also helps edit or remove existing text/images in PDFs, without leaving any trace.
Black out or directly delete text, images, and objects in PDF files for free.
Step 1. Download and install PDFgear, fire up PDFgear program, and click Open File to open the PDF.
Open File
Step 2. Go to the Comment section and select the Rectangle option there.
Draw on the PDF the area you need to black out.
Draw Rectangle
Step 3. On the upper ribbon, change the Color and Fill Color to black to black out the drawn area.
Change to Black
Step 4. Apart from blacking out text, you can also go to Edit > Edit Text to instantly select PDF text ,and delete it.
Delete Text
Step 5. Once done, click the upper-left Save as or Print button to save the PDF with/without the black-out history.
Print PDF
Redact PDF Using Adobe Acrobat Pro
The free Adobe Acrobat Reader does not allow you to redact PDF, it only helps blacking out PDF text with shapes.
Adobe Acrobat Pro, on the other hand, offers a dedicated PDF redaction feature to remove sensitive content, while at a cost.
Step 1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Go to the Tools menu and click on the Redact tool from the Protect section.
Click Redact
Step 2. Click the Redact Text & Images button from the upper ribbon and select the text in PDF to redact it.
Redact in Acrobat
Step 3. Click the Redact Text & Images drop-down menu on the top and select Properties, and then you can change the redaction color to black if needed.
Change Redaction Color
Step 3. Click Apply to finish blacking out, and go the File > Save As to save the redacted PDF.
Save as
FAQs
How to black out text in a PDF on Mac using Preview?
Open the PDF in Preview, click the “Markup” tool, select the “Rectangle” tool, choose black color, draw over the text you want to hide and save the document. To redact PDF on Mac using Preview, go to Tools the tab, click Redact, and select the PDF text.
Is highlighting or blacking out text the same as redaction?
No. In PDFgear, simply blacking out text with a highlight or shape does not remove the underlying content—it can still be copied or revealed. Proper redaction ensures the text is permanently removed from the file.
Can I redact a scanned PDF?
No, you can’t directly redact a scanned PDF. However, you can use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert the scanned image into selectable text. After that, you can apply redactions.
Can redacted text be recovered?
In PDFgear for Mac, the redaction removes the content completely after saving the file.
If redaction is not done properly (e.g., by just covering text with a black box), the text can still be extracted using PDF editing tools.
How to black out text in PDF Adobe Reader?
In Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can insert a rectangle shape to cover text and change the shape color to black. However, this is not a redaction and the PDF text still can be accessed after certain procedures.
