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Many organizations handle vast amounts of private or sensitive information that could cause significant financial, legal, or reputational harm if shared publicly. These risks, combined with an increasing awareness of data privacy and the introduction of strict privacy legislation, have created an urgent need for effective redaction tools.
This has led to the emergence of many online redaction tools that allow users to easily conceal sensitive information. The range of options available includes some free redaction tools, which offer basic redaction features to users on a budget or those who only want to dip their toes in the water without fully committing.
When selecting a free redaction tool, data security must be a primary consideration, along with user-friendliness and reliability. Read on to discover how the top 5 free redaction tools measure up.
Top 5 Free Redaction Tools
1. Xodo.com
Xodo.com is a free redaction tool that allows you to redact one document without signing up for an account. The offer is limited to one free action per day, but you can perform multiple redactions by marking each of the items you want to remove from your document and then applying the redaction process to all of them at once. Xodo.com also allows you to redact or delete entire pages from your document. All the redactions in Xodo.com are done locally in your browser or through an app, with no redactions happening at the server level.
If you have only one document to redact Xodo.com can meet your needs for free. However, you must sign up for a free trial if you want to carry out more redactions on the same day. To access the more advanced features of Xodo.com, such as redacting multiple pages instantly, you will need the Xodo.com pro version.
How do you Redact in Xodo.com?
Redacting in Xodo.com is easier than you think.
- Access Xodo.com on your browser
- Click on Tools, then under Edit, click on Redact PDF
- Select your PDF document
- Select all the areas you would like to remove
- Then, click Redact All in the bottom right corner to apply redaction. All the selected items will be blacked out permanently.
- You can then download your document. Saving it with a different name is advisable to avoid overwriting the original copy.
For additional security, remember to delete your document after downloading a copy.
Limitations of Xodo.com
- You have a limited number of actions and features with the free account.
- Only one person can work on a single document at a time.
- Xodo.com doesn’t provide automatic redaction.
2. PDFfiller
PDFfiller’s free redaction tool is similar to Xodo.com. However, unlike Xodo.com, which offers you a chance to redact and download your PDF free without an account, PDFfiller allows you to redact a document, but it will only let you save your file after signing up for a 30-day free trial. You can also choose to erase sensitive information instead of blacking it out.
This free redaction tool includes other features, such as the ability to add digital signatures and notes to your document. It also supports multiple file formats and cross-format conversion, such as saving a Word document as a PDF within the PDFfiller platform.
How do you Redact in PDFfiller?
- Select: From PDFfiller’s home page, use the Select from Device button to upload your file.
- Manage: You will then be redirected to the document management page.
- Tools: The tools menu contains a list of actions you can take for your document.
- Blackout: Choose the blackout option and select each of the items you want to remove from your document.
- Finalize: Once you have marked everything for redaction, click on Done to finalize the process.
- Sign up: At this point, you will be presented with the options for sending or saving your redacted file. Unfortunately, none of these actions are possible without signing up for a 30-day free trial, which requires payment information.
Limitations of PDFfiller
- PDFfiller allows you to redact for free, but saving or sharing the file requires an account, signing up for a 30-day free trial, and entering payment information.
- PDFfiller doesn’t support collaboration or automatic redaction.
3. PDF Buddy
PDF Buddy is another free redaction tool online that removes sensitive information from your document page by page using the whiteout feature.
Your documents are secure as PDF Buddy uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates and AES 256 Bit encryption to protect them.
To use PDF Buddy, you need to sign up for a free account which allows you to edit and download three PDFs per month.
How do you Redact in PDF Buddy?
PDF Buddy's page allows you to choose a PDF to Edit or drag and drop the document you want to redact.
- Choose a PDF: Uploading the document opens a new page with various editing features. Use the whiteout feature to select the items you want to remove one by one.
- Redact: You are required to select the whiteout feature again each time you want to redact a word.
- Save changes/Download: Saving the changes and downloading requires signing up for a free account if you are not logged in.
Limitations of PDF Buddy
- Tedious process: You must go through every page, removing one instance of sensitive data at a time. After each redaction, the tool resets and you have to choose the whiteout feature again.
- Human error: It's a taxing process for large-volume documents and allows a lot of room for human error. It is possible to mistakenly leave unredacted sensitive data in the document.
4. AvePDF
With the AvePDF free redaction tool, you don’t need to sign up for an account to redact or save your document. However, the free version only allows you to redact and save two documents every six hours.
How do you Redact in AvePDF online?
- Access: Go to AvePDF’s page, then click on Tools and choose Redact PDFs from the Protect section.
- Upload document: Choose the PDF file you want to redact, either from your device or from cloud storage.
- Mark for redaction: Choose the Add Redaction Marks tool and select the areas you want to redact. You will need to reselect the Add Redaction Marks tool for each new page.
- Redact: Once you confirm that you have marked all the sensitive data set for redaction, apply redactions, and those areas you have marked will be redacted automatically.
- Download: Save the redacted document to your desired destination.
Limitations of AvePDF
AvePDF limits the number of free redactions to two every six hours. If you want to redact more documents per day, you will need to sign up for a premium account.
Like the other free redaction tools discussed, AvePDF requires you to go page by page, marking the redaction areas, which is monotonous and may cause users to miss some sensitive data.
Free Redaction Tools: A General Overview
Now that we’ve reviewed the free redaction tools from Xodo.com, PDFfiller, PDF Buddy, and AvePDF online, it’s essential to note that these platforms all share the following limitations:
- Manual Redaction
Most free redaction tools online require you to manually select each occurrence of the sensitive information you want to remove from your document one by one.
If your redaction needs only extend to a page or two per day, these tools may suit your purposes. However, for organizations that handle larger volumes of sensitive documents that might contain tens or hundreds of pages, manually redacting every instance of sensitive data is time-consuming, expensive, and prone to human error. Once redaction has been applied, there is no way to ensure that all sensitive data has been eliminated without multiple people reviewing the file to ensure that nothing has escaped the redaction process.
- Security
You need a highly secure redaction tool to meet your redaction needs if you deal with large organizations that handle sensitive data, such as government bodies, healthcare providers, court systems, law firms, and HR departments.
Using free online redaction tools poses significant risks to data security, as these platforms may not always securely handle or delete sensitive information, often lack encryption, and could even retain data after deletion. Many such tools do not employ proper redaction techniques, potentially allowing sensitive data to be uncovered. Additionally, these tools can be exploited by malicious actors to steal information, do not always offer accountability if data is compromised, and may not comply with strict data protection regulations like HIPAA or GDPR.
Why is Redactable a better option?
The service provided by free online redaction tools may be adequate for casual or personal use, but when it comes to performing redaction in the course of business, you need a more serious tool.
Redactable’s cloud-based platform is a secure, transparent, and reliable automated redaction service that is not only safe to use, it’s also easy.
5. Redactable
Redactable’s AI-powered redaction software allows you to instantly and permanently remove every occurrence of sensitive data from hundreds of pages in just one click. It also provides redaction certificates with time stamps that enable you to track every step of the redaction process.
Let’s look at the main benefits of Redactable’s AI redaction wizard:
- Auto-redaction
Just give your documents to Redactable and let the AI work its magic. Redactable uses NLP (Natural Language Processing) and ML (Machine Learning) technology to automatically identify sensitive information wherever it appears in your documents.
These AI technologies allow the platform to rapidly match patterns, reliably identify sensitive information, such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and permanently remove every occurrence.
- Dedication
Redactable is not a Jack-of-All-Trades, Master-of-None style platform, it is built with the purpose to handle the redaction needs of professionals, and is dedicated to ensuring the security of your sensitive information.
- Ease of use
Redactable is designed for serious work, but the interface is designed to ensure usability at all levels of technical literacy. Its focus on simplicity is unlike the confusing interfaces of other redaction tools which may require a steep learning curve.
- Collaboration
Where other redaction tools permit only single-user sessions, Redactable is designed to allow you to collaborate with teammates on large projects, helping you to deliver within tight deadlines.
- Permeance
Your redacted information is 100% secure with Redactable as even sensitive meta-data is permanently removed, leaving no trace for hackers or leakers to uncover.
- Security
Redactable provides legally approved certificates for all redaction activities, making it easy to account for who removed what data and when.
- Convenience
Urgent document redactions are easy with Redactable. It takes only 2.5 minutes to redact a 10-page document with the help of the AI wizard.
- Limitless
Redactable offers an unlimited number of redactions for an unlimited number of pages in an unlimited number of documents. There is also no maximum number of team members who can be involved in a project.
How do you Redact with Redactable?
Follow just four easy steps to completely and permanently redact your documents!
- Upload your document
- Let the wizard automatically identify every instance of sensitive data
- Click to remove the identified information
- Download your redacted file
Start Your Free Trial with Redactable today and discover what makes it the smartest redaction tool on the market, no credit card required.
Redactable Pro Hint
If you are part of an organization looking for an efficient redaction tool API, then search no more. Redactable can provide access to its API for seamless integration with your existing document management systems.
Check out the Pricing Plan for more details on API accessibility.
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