Open images
Paste a screenshot or choose a PNG, JPEG, or WebP image up to 25 MB.
Free online redaction tool
Redact PDFs, screenshots, and images online.
Open a file, review likely private details, and download a new copy with the redactions permanently applied. Your file stays on your device.
Your private editorFile stays on this device
What this tool does
One private workspace for the files you share
FreeRedact is a browser-based redaction tool for the everyday files that are easy to overshare: a customer-support screenshot, an invoice, a scanned form, a product image, or a short PDF. You can paste an image or choose a file without creating an account.
The editor looks for likely sensitive details and marks them for review. Accept only the suggestions that should be covered, ignore the rest, and draw your own redaction boxes wherever automatic detection needs help. The original file is not changed.
When you export, FreeRedact draws the approved redactions onto new page images. Image uploads become a new PNG. PDF uploads become a new image-based PDF, leaving the original searchable text, form fields, attachments, comments, scripts, and hidden file details behind.
Files and output
Supported formats and results
Open PDFs
Review non-encrypted PDFs up to 25 MB and 20 pages, one rendered page at a time.
Download a fresh copy
Image uploads download as PNG files. PDF uploads download as flattened, image-based PDFs.
Choose black or white redactions
Use a solid cover that fits the document, then inspect the new file before sharing it.
How to use FreeRedact
A careful three-step workflow
Open or paste the file
Choose a supported image or PDF, or paste a screenshot directly into the page. It opens locally in your browser.
Review and add redactions
Check each suggested name, address, account detail, face, or other finding. Draw a box over anything else that should not be shared.
Download and verify
Export a new file, open the download, and check every page at normal size and while zoomed in.
Automatic suggestions
Automatic suggestions speed up the review—not replace it
FreeRedact combines text recognition, pattern matching, name detection, and visual detection to point out details that may need attention.
Details it can suggest
- Email addresses, common U.S. phone formats, payment cards, and U.S. SSN-style numbers
- Person names, U.S.-style street addresses, account identifiers, and IPv4 addresses
- Access tokens, private-looking links, faces, and regions that may contain handwriting
- Case-insensitive matches for custom text the browser could recognize, such as a customer or company name
Details you still need to check
- Small, blurry, low-contrast, decorative, angled, or handwritten text can be missed
- A normal word can resemble a name, identifier, or token and appear as a false positive
- Logos, illustrations, reflections, and background objects can sometimes resemble faces
- Context determines what is private; only you know what the recipient should see
Before you share
Check the exported file before sharing
Redaction is a review task, not a one-click promise. Use this quick final check on the downloaded copy.
- Open every page of the downloaded file and inspect the edges, headers, footers, and background.
- Zoom in to confirm each solid box completely covers the intended detail.
- For a PDF, try searching for and copying the original private text; the image-based export should not expose it.
- Check the file properties and make sure comments, attachments, and form fields are not present.
- If a password, API key, or access token was already exposed, replace or revoke it even after redacting the file.
- Rename the downloaded copy if its filename includes a person's name, case number, health condition, customer, project, or other private context.
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
Is FreeRedact really free?
Yes. You can open, review, redact, and export a supported file without an account or payment.
Does FreeRedact upload my file?
No. File opening, text recognition, suggested findings, manual redactions, and export run in the private editor in your browser.
Does automatic detection find every private detail?
No automatic detector is perfect. FreeRedact is designed to make review faster, but you should inspect the whole file and add manual redactions for anything it misses.
Can someone remove the black boxes from the exported file?
The approved boxes are drawn into fresh page images. FreeRedact does not place removable annotations over the original text or image.
Related tools and guides
Continue your privacy check
Ready to review the file?
Open the private editor to apply these checks. No signup is required, and the file stays on your device.
Open private editor