TauPDFProtect PDFs: passwords, redaction and clean-up
Lock a document with a password, black out confidential text for good, and remove hidden information before you share a file.
What you can do
- Protect a file with a password to open it.
- Allow or forbid printing, copying text and images, and changing the document.
- Remove protection from a file you have opened.
- Mark areas or whole pages for redaction, or find text and mark every match.
- Apply redactions: the blacked-out content is permanently removed from the file.
- Remove hidden information (author and document details, scripts, attachments, comments, bookmarks) or sanitize the whole document.
How to protect a PDF
- Open the file and choose Tools → Protection → Encrypt.
- Type the password and choose what other people may do.
- Press Apply, then save the file. Protection is written when you save.
- For redaction: choose Mark for redaction, select the areas, then Apply redactions.
Questions and answers
Are the restrictions secure?
Not every program respects restrictions such as “no printing”. Only the password to open the file protects it reliably.
Is redacted text really gone?
Yes. Pages with redactions become images: the blacked-out content is removed from the file and the remaining text on those pages is no longer selectable or searchable.
Does my document leave my computer?
No. Protection and redaction happen on your computer.
More you can do with TauPDF
Edit text and images in a PDF
Click a line or a paragraph on the page and type. Add your own text, pictures, links and bookmarks. Everything happens on your computer.
Learn more →Organize PDF pages: merge, split, rotate, crop
Combine several files into one, split a long document, extract or delete pages, and add headers, footers or a watermark. No upload needed.
Learn more →Recognize text in scanned PDFs (OCR)
Turn scans and photos of documents into searchable, copyable text. Recognition runs on your computer, so your documents stay private.
Learn more →Fill in forms and sign PDF files
Type into forms, add check marks and dates, and place your signature or initials, drawn, typed or uploaded as an image.
Learn more →Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PowerPoint or images
Save a PDF as an editable Office document, plain text or pictures, or make the file smaller. Conversion runs on your computer.
Learn more →