Find and redact sensitive information in a PDF
Upload a PDF, review suggested sensitive text by category, apply real redaction to what you select, and see a check that it is gone from the text.
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What it does
AI redaction review, explained
To find and redact personal data in a PDF, upload it and PDFBetter lists suggested names, emails, phone numbers, ID numbers, card numbers and IBANs by category; you tick what to remove, apply true redaction, and a final check confirms the text is gone. Nothing is removed until you review it.
Read more
Pattern detectors find email addresses, phone numbers, web addresses, US Social Security numbers, and numbers whose check digits prove the format — IBANs (mod-97), card numbers (Luhn) and Turkish TC Kimlik numbers — plus dates next to a date-of-birth label. An optional AI pass looks for names, postal addresses, organizations and other details patterns can't catch.
Suggestions are grouped by category with checkboxes. Checksum-validated matches start ticked; AI suggestions that are not high-confidence start unticked, so nothing uncertain is removed by default. When you apply, the selected areas become redaction marks and the pages are rebuilt without the underlying text, then the result is re-read to confirm none of the selected strings remain in the text layer.
Suggestions are a review aid. They can miss things — handwriting, text inside images, unusual formats — so read the document before you share it. Only applied redaction removes content; a suggestion, a highlight or a black box drawn on top does not.
How to do it
Find and redact sensitive information in a PDF in 4 steps
1Sensitive text
2Mark what to remove
3Removed from the file
- 1
Upload the PDF
Or pick a document from your account. A free account is required.
- 2
Choose what to look for
Pattern categories are free; AI categories use 1 AI credit per page read, up to 100 pages per document on Free and 600 on Pro.
- 3
Review the suggestions
Tick or untick each item; boxes are shown on the page so you can see what will be covered.
- 4
Apply and verify
Selected items are redacted for real, then the output's text is re-read and any string still present is listed.
Example
Before and after
A 4-page tenancy application with the applicant's name, TC Kimlik number, IBAN, phone and email.
Nine suggestions; seven pattern matches ticked automatically, two AI name matches reviewed and ticked. After applying: “9 of 9 selected items no longer present in the text layer”.
Settings & formats
What you can control
- Pattern-only mode
- Emails, phones, IBANs, cards, SSNs, TC Kimlik numbers, dates of birth and URLs — free, no AI.
- AI categories
- Names, addresses, organizations, other ID numbers, financial and health details.
Input
Output
Good to know before you start
- Suggestions can miss sensitive text — especially in scans, images, handwriting, tables split across lines and unusual formats. Always review the whole document.
- Scanned pages need OCR before anything can be found; suggestions only cover pages with a text layer.
- Pages with applied redactions are rebuilt as images, so their remaining text is no longer selectable or searchable.
- The verification checks the text layer only; it cannot read text that is part of an image.
If something goes wrong
If something goes wrong
- Nothing was found on some pages.
- Those pages have no text layer. Run OCR PDF first, or mark them by hand with Redact PDF.
- Verification lists a string that is still present.
- It appears somewhere the marks didn't cover (another page or a split line). Open the document in the editor, mark it with Redact, and apply again.
AI redaction review: questions people ask
Does the AI redact automatically?
No. It only suggests. You review every item and choose what to apply; uncertain AI suggestions are never pre-selected.
Is this real redaction or a black box?
Real redaction: the marked pages are rebuilt without the underlying text, and the result is re-checked. A suggestion alone changes nothing.
What does it cost?
Pattern detection and verification are free with an account. AI categories use 1 AI credit per page read; applying redaction uses one server conversion.
Which ID numbers are checked with checksums?
IBANs, payment card numbers and Turkish TC Kimlik numbers. US SSNs and phone numbers have no checksum, so they are matched by format only.
Can an agent apply redactions?
No. Agents connected over MCP can request suggestions, but applying redaction stays a human action in the app.
How is this different from Redact PDF?
Redact PDF is the manual tool: you draw boxes over what to remove. AI redaction review finds candidates for you first, then uses the same true redaction. Use the manual tool for images, signatures and anything the suggestions missed.
Is my file sent to an AI provider?
Only if you choose AI categories: the page text is sent to our AI provider under no-training terms. Pattern-only mode runs entirely on our servers.