Question 1

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

Accepted Answer

No. Redact is 100% client-side — your PDF is opened, rendered, redacted, signed and filled entirely in your browser. Neither the file nor its extracted text is ever uploaded. The site's Content-Security-Policy restricts connections to 'self' only, so the browser itself enforces the guarantee.

Question 2

Is the redaction permanent?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Real redaction works by rasterizing the page with your redaction boxes burned into the pixels and rebuilding that page as an image, so the underlying text is destroyed and cannot be selected or recovered. This is not a black rectangle drawn on top — the text is gone. Always use the built-in 'Verify redaction' check and review the result before sharing.

Question 3

Can redacted text ever be recovered?

Accepted Answer

No — not from a page that was redacted with this tool. Because the redacted page is rebuilt as an image with the sensitive regions burned to solid black, there is no text layer left to extract. We still recommend you verify the output and share responsibly, as we cannot guarantee how a third party may handle a document once you send it.

Question 4

Does it use AI to find sensitive information?

Accepted Answer

No. The auto-redact feature finds common PII patterns (Social Security numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, credit-card numbers and dates) using regular expressions that run locally on the text layer in your browser. No text is sent anywhere, and there is no AI model involved.

Question 5

Is redaction a legal or government guarantee?

Accepted Answer

No, and we never claim it is. Redact permanently destroys the underlying text on the pages you redact, and the built-in Verify check proves it — but we make no representation about acceptance for any specific legal, court, medical, or regulatory purpose. You remain responsible for reviewing and verifying the output before sharing, and for confirming it meets whatever requirement you're satisfying.

Question 6

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

Yes. There is no model to download and no server to call. Install Redact as a PWA and the whole app is cached after the first load, so you can redact, sign and fill PDFs with no internet connection.

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