Redact PDF content and sanitize PDF

Redact PDF content with webPDF

In many situations, confidential content must be made unreadable before sharing a PDF document. For this purpose, passages can be marked and then redacted.

The redaction function is used to make visible content such as text or images unreadable.

With sanitize, invisible additional information is removed, for example comments, metadata, or embedded objects.

Redact confidential data in the web portal​

The Redact and Sanitize functions are available in the webPDF web portal. This allows you to redact marked areas in PDF files and remove sensitive additional information.

You can remove, among others:

  • comments
  • form fields
  • metadata
  • tags
  • attachments
  • layers
  • table of contents entries

You can also flatten forms and pages. This removes interactive elements.

Sanitize PDF documents​

Via the "Sanitize Document" dialog, you can remove not only visible content, but also metadata, comments, and attachments from the document.

How do "Redact" and "Sanitize" work in the web portal?​

With Sanitize, you remove information and interactive elements from the document. For individual pages, the resolution can also be adjusted.

With Redact, you can redact single areas or entire pages. Text, area, and page markings are supported. You can also customize markup colors and set metadata such as author, subject, or short description.

Note: Redact and Sanitize can only be applied to PDF documents.

Step-by-step guide in the webPDF portal​

  1. Upload the PDF file to the webPDF web portal.
  2. If necessary, convert the source file to PDF first.
  3. In the "Redact" tab, select whether to redact text, an area, or a full page.
  4. Mark the content you want to redact.
  5. Confirm with "Apply".
  6. For sanitization, click "Sanitize" and choose which metadata content should be removed.

All functions are also available through the webservice API.

Further information: