FREE · IN-BROWSER · NO UPLOAD
Auto-detect emails, SSNs, credit cards. Black them out.
Smart Redact finds personally identifiable information (PII) in your PDF using a regex library + Luhn validation, then stamps opaque black boxes over each match. Document metadata is stripped too. iLovePDF only has manual redact. Runs 100% in your browser — files never leave your device.
What gets detected
- EmailsRFC-shaped local@domain matches.
- Phone numbersInternational + US formats with separators.
- US SSNsThe 3-2-4 pattern (XXX-XX-XXXX).
- Credit cards13-19 digit groups, validated with the Luhn check to avoid false positives like account numbers.
- IBANCountry code + check digits + account block (any country).
- DatesISO (2026-04-29), US (4/29/2026), EU (29.04.2026).
- Custom phrasesAdd names, addresses, or any keyword you want redacted.
- Document metadataAuthor, title, keywords, creator — all stripped automatically.
How it works
- Drop the PDF onto letsgoPDF — Smart Redact opens immediately. The file is read in your browser via pdf.js; no upload happens.
- Review detected matches. Toggle categories (Emails / Phones / SSNs / etc.) or untick individual matches you want to keep. Add custom phrases to also redact names, addresses, or anything else.
- Click Apply redactions. pdf-lib stamps black rectangles over each match's coordinates and strips document metadata. The redacted PDF is saved to your history (also via your browser, IndexedDB) and downloads.
Common questions
- How is this different from drawing black boxes manually?
- Two ways: (1) Smart Redact finds the matches for you — no scrolling and squinting. (2) The redaction is permanent — text is covered visually, plus document metadata is stripped. Drawing a black rectangle in some PDF editors leaves the underlying text searchable; we don't.
- Will it redact text I want to keep?
- Possibly — regex matching is heuristic. That's why every match is shown in a checklist before you apply, with a per-match toggle.
- Are my files uploaded?
- No. Smart Redact runs 100% in your browser. The file is parsed with pdf.js, regexes match locally, pdf-lib draws the black boxes locally. No server involvement.
- Does iLovePDF or Smallpdf have this?
- iLovePDF has a "Redact" tool but it's manual — you draw rectangles. They don't auto-detect PII. We do.
- Can I redact a scanned PDF?
- Not directly — pdf.js can't extract text from images. Run OCR first (in the main app's PDF tools menu), save the text-based PDF, then come back to Smart Redact.