# Redact PDF — Redact a PDF on Mac

Black out names, emails, phone and card numbers, removed for real and not just covered. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: PDF. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Choose words to hide, and switch on automatic detection of email addresses, phone numbers and card numbers (checked with the card-number checksum). Redacted pages are rebuilt with the boxes burned in, so the hidden text is gone from the file. Works on scanned PDFs too, using on-device text recognition.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/redact-pdf · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Add the PDF.** Drop one or more PDFs onto Redact PDF. Scanned PDFs work too.
2. **Choose what to hide.** Type names, addresses or other words to remove, separated by commas, and leave email addresses, phone numbers and card numbers switched on to catch those automatically.
3. **Click Redact.** OneMacTools finds every match, blacks it out and rebuilds each affected page so the hidden text is gone.
4. **Check every page.** The redacted copy ends in “redacted” and is saved in a dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Open it with the Preview (eye) button and check each page before you share it.

## Options
- **Words to redact:** Names, places, account numbers or any text, separated by commas, like Karthik, Acme Corp, 12 Main St. Matching ignores capitals and accents.
- **Email addresses:** On by default. Finds and blacks out anything that looks like an email address.
- **Phone numbers:** On by default. Uses the phone number detection built into macOS to find numbers in common formats.
- **Card numbers:** On by default. Finds runs of 13 to 19 digits, with or without spaces or dashes, and only redacts those that pass the card-number checksum, so dates and reference numbers are left alone.

## Tips
- Words match anywhere in the text, so a short word like Ann also catches Annual. Use full names or longer phrases where you can.
- Add each version of a name you want hidden, such as Karthik Anbarasan, K. Anbarasan and Anbarasan, as people are written differently on different pages.
- Always read through the redacted copy before sending it. Automatic detection is a strong first pass, not a guarantee.
- Redacted pages are rebuilt as images, so their text can't be selected or searched. If you need that back, run the copy through Make PDF Searchable; the blacked-out text isn't there to be read.
- Share only the redacted copy. Your original still contains everything.

## Questions
**How do I redact a PDF on a Mac?**
Drop the PDF onto Redact PDF, type the words to hide and leave email, phone and card detection on, then click Redact. Every match is blacked out in a new copy.

**Is the text really removed, or just covered?**
Removed. Each page with a match is turned into an image, the black boxes are painted onto that image, and the page is rebuilt from it. The original text isn't in the new page at all, so it can't be copied out from under the box.

**Why is drawing a black box over text not enough?**
In many PDFs a box is a separate layer, and the text underneath can still be selected, copied or found by search. Redact PDF rebuilds the page so there's nothing underneath.

**Does it work on scanned PDFs?**
Yes. Pages without a text layer are read with on-device text recognition to find the words, and those areas are blacked out.

**How do I find out what was redacted?**
When it finishes, OneMacTools tells you how many items it redacted and on how many pages. If nothing matched, it says so and the copy is unchanged.

**Will my redacted PDF still be searchable?**
Pages without matches keep their text. Redacted pages become images; run the copy through Make PDF Searchable if you need to search them.

**Can it find national ID or account numbers automatically?**
It detects emails, phone numbers and card numbers. For other numbers, type them in Words to redact.