Redaction should never require an upload.
RedactLocal removes sensitive information from PDFs entirely inside your browser. The file is never sent to a server, because there is no server that receives it.
Our mission
Every day, people are asked to strip a Social Security number, a patient identifier, or a card number out of a document before sharing it. The reflex is to search for a free online tool and upload the file. That single action is the problem.
The moment a document containing PII, PHI, or cardholder data is uploaded to a third-party service, it has left the environment that was supposed to protect it. For regulated teams that is not a convenience — it is an unnecessary disclosure, a widening of scope, and, if that service is ever breached, a liability you inherited for free. The redaction step, the one meant to reduce risk, becomes the moment risk is created.
We built RedactLocal on a simple premise: the safest place to handle a sensitive document is the machine it already lives on. If the file never travels, there is nothing to intercept, nothing to retain, and no third party to vet. Local-first is not a feature here — it is the whole point.
How it works
The file is read locally
Your PDF is opened with the browser's own file API and rendered in-tab with a WebAssembly PDF engine running in a worker. It is held in memory only — never written to a server, because there is no upload endpoint.
Detection runs in the sandbox
Pattern matching — SSNs, tax IDs, Aadhaar numbers, NPIs, card PANs and more — executes as JavaScript inside the browser sandbox, against text already in memory. Nothing is transmitted, and it all works with the network off.
Redactions are burned in
On export, each page is rasterized and the redaction is flattened into the pixels. The rebuilt PDF is assembled from images alone, so there is no text layer left underneath to recover — unlike a black box drawn on top.
Every export is verified
Before the download appears, the finished file is re-opened and inspected, reporting the count of selectable characters, text operators and embedded fonts. On a correct export those counts are zero — a receipt you can keep.
Who it is for
Legal
Litigation & e-filing teams
Redact exhibits for PACER and CM/ECF under FRCP 5.2 without an unredacted filing ever reaching a vendor.
Healthcare
Compliance & records staff
Scrub identifiers from patient records without the upload that would make a redaction tool a business associate.
Fintech
Developers & operations
Remove 16-digit PANs from logs, tickets and exported reports without pulling a cloud tool into your PCI-DSS scope.
Privacy
DPOs & privacy-conscious professionals
Prepare GDPR subject access responses and remove third-party PII with the document never leaving your device.
Contact & support
Questions, feedback, or a compliance scenario you want to talk through? We read every message.