Unredact PDF — verify your own redactions

Most "redacted" PDFs aren't actually redacted. Someone drew a black rectangle on top and the text underneath is still selectable. Check your own files before you ship them.

Use it on documents you authored or are authorized to inspect. The tool is designed for self-audit — verifying your team's redactions held — and for compliance review. Don't use it on documents you don't have rights to inspect.
Check a PDF for redaction leaks →

Files stay on your device. No upload, no account, no signup.

Why "redaction" so often fails

A PDF isn't a flat image. It's a structured document with separate layers for text, graphics, fonts, metadata, and annotations. When a user draws a black rectangle in Preview, Acrobat's annotation tool, or any markup app, that rectangle goes on top — the text layer is untouched. Anyone who opens the file can select the redacted region, copy it, and paste readable text.

This is how Paul Manafort's sealed court filing leaked in 2019. It's how Facebook's TC Heartland court submission leaked. It's how the EU Commission's AstraZeneca contract leaked. The fix is straightforward — true content-stream redaction physically deletes the text — but the tools that do it are gated behind Acrobat Pro subscriptions or specialty legal software. Most users don't know there's a difference.

What this tool finds

Side-by-side view

Each page renders with red boxes around detected black-rectangle overlays, plus a table of the recovered text. You see exactly what an attacker would see.

Defensive use only

Designed for verifying your team's redactions before release. Pairs naturally with our true-redaction tool when you find leaks.

Runs in your browser

WebAssembly does the parsing locally. Your sensitive document never leaves your device.

How to verify a PDF redaction

  1. Open the checker — click the button above.
  2. Drop your PDF — the one you think is properly redacted.
  3. Review the side-by-side — each page shows detected black-bar overlays in red, with the recovered text below.
  4. Re-redact if needed — if leaks are found, open the file in our true-redaction tool and apply content-stream removal.

FAQ

Is this legal to use?

On your own documents or documents you're authorized to inspect, yes — it's the same operation any PDF reader can do (selecting text under a black box). On documents you don't have inspection rights to, you should not use it. The tool exists to help authors verify their own redactions held.

What if the redaction was a real content-stream removal?

Then the text underneath is genuinely gone and there's nothing to recover. You'll see zero findings. That's the result you want.

What about pixelated or blurred text?

The v1 tool focuses on vector black-rectangle redactions, which are the dominant failure mode. Pixelation defeats this tool the same way it defeats most text recovery — except for very low-quality blurs, where dedicated image-restoration tools may succeed.

Does it work on scanned PDFs?

If the scan has been OCR'd (a hidden text layer added) and a black rectangle was drawn on top, yes — the OCR text under the rectangle is recoverable. If the scan is pure image with no text layer, there's nothing to extract.

What about Word documents?

Word "redactions" are usually black-shading runs or black-highlight color — the text is still in the XML. Drop a .docx on the tool and switch to Audit mode; we flag every visual-only redaction.

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