Redact PDF online — free, GDPR-compliant, no signup
Redact PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in your browser. Personal data such as email, IBAN, name or phone is detected automatically. No registration, no installation, no data sharing.
At a glance
Docuflair Redaction Sandbox is a free online tool to irreversibly redact personal data in PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Nine PII categories (email, name, IBAN, phone, address, credit card, SSN, date of birth, passport) are detected automatically via OCR; custom RegEx patterns supported. Auto-deletion after session, DACH hosting, no signup, no installation. Up to 20 MB per file. For production use with client or citizen data: Docuflair Redact on-premises or private cloud.
5 file formats
PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX plus PNG, JPG and TIFF. Office documents natively — no conversion needed.
Auto PII detection
9 categories (email, name, IBAN, phone, address, credit card, SSN, date of birth, passport) via OCR.
DACH hosting, GDPR
Servers in Germany/Austria. No public cloud, no US data transfer, no tracking.
Auto-deletion
Uploaded documents are automatically deleted after session ends. No persistent storage.
From upload to redacted file in under two minutes
Drag & drop, pick categories, apply redaction, download. No account, no installation, no waiting. Try the tool now with a test document.
Note: The sandbox is a test tool. Do not upload real client, citizen or patient data — for that you need the on-prem solution Docuflair Redact.
Redact a PDF in 4 steps
How to redact a document online for free — from upload to download in under two minutes.
Upload file
Open the sandbox and drag your document into the upload area. Supported: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, PNG, JPG, TIFF up to 20 MB.
Auto-detection
Pick categories (email, name, IBAN, phone, …). The tool scans the document via OCR and marks all matches in seconds.
Adjust manually
Add additional words, relations or RegEx patterns. Detected matches are saved to the redaction dictionary — reusable for follow-up documents.
Apply & download
Click "Apply redaction". The result is irreversibly redacted and ready to download. The original is automatically deleted after session ends.
Which formats are supported?
All common Office and image formats — without detour through PDF
| Format | Auto-detection | Manual redaction | RegEx patterns | OCR (scanned content) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDF (.pdf) | ||||
| Word (.docx) | — | |||
| Excel (.xlsx) | — | |||
| PowerPoint (.pptx) | — | |||
| Images (.png, .jpg, .tiff) |
Maximum file size: 20 MB per upload. Unlimited file size in the production solution Docuflair Redact.
9 categories of personal data — detected automatically
As of 2026-04-28: These data types are recognised by the auto-detection
Email addresses
john.doe@company.co.uk
Personal names
First and last names, including double-barrelled and academic titles.
Postal addresses
10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA
IBAN
GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19 — all EU countries
Phone numbers
+44 20 7946 0123 — international formats
Credit card numbers
4532 1234 5678 7891 — Visa, Mastercard, Amex
Social security numbers
NIN (UK), SSN (US), SVNr (AT), AHV (CH)
Dates of birth
13/04/1985, 1985-04-13, 04/13/1985
Passport / ID card
P4832XXXX, L01X00T47 — passport numbers
Need additional categories (case numbers, employee IDs, industry-specific identifiers)? Define your own RegEx patterns directly in the sandbox — they are saved and reusable for follow-up documents.
Docuflair Sandbox vs. Smallpdf vs. Adobe Acrobat
Comparison of the most common online redaction tools
| Feature | Docuflair Sandbox | Smallpdf / iLovePDF | Adobe Acrobat Pro | Docuflair Redact (production) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (limited) | ~25 €/month | On-prem licence |
| Auto PII detection | 9 categories | — | Limited (US PII) | 9+ categories |
| PDF redaction | ||||
| Word/Excel/PPT redaction | — | — | ||
| RegEx patterns | — | Limited | ||
| Hosting location | DACH | USA / EU | USA | Your data centre |
| GDPR for client files | Test data only | — | — | DPA + on-prem |
| Batch processing 1,000+ docs | — | — | — | |
| REST API | — | — | — | |
| BSI TR-RESISCAN | — | — | — |
Detailed comparison: Docuflair vs. Adobe Acrobat
Privacy & cloud positioning
The sandbox is a test tool. It runs on a publicly accessible test instance with DACH hosting, auto-deletion after session and no tracking. Use it exclusively for feature exploration — not for real client, citizen or HR data.
For production processing of personal data run Docuflair Redact exclusively on-premises or in your dedicated private cloud — never in the public cloud. This architecture is the prerequisite for GDPR-compliant processing in law firms (legal privilege), tax advisors, government agencies (citizen data, FOI requests) and clinics (patient records). The on-prem architecture is contractually guaranteed in the data processing agreement (DPA).
What the sandbox does NOT store: no IP logs after session ends, no content copies, no indexing, no third-party sharing, no model training on your data, no cookies except technically necessary session cookies (with cookie banner consent).
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most important questions about free online redaction
Is the redaction really irreversible?
Yes. The tool does not just visually black out content — it irreversibly removes the underlying text from the document structure. Unlike a manual black rectangle in a PDF viewer, the text cannot be recovered by selecting, copying or extracting metadata.
What types of personal data does the auto-detection find?
As of 2026-04-28 the sandbox detects nine categories of personal data automatically: email addresses, personal names, postal addresses, IBAN, phone numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth and passport / ID card numbers. You can also define your own RegEx patterns.
Can I redact Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents?
Yes. Unlike many online tools that only support PDF, the Docuflair sandbox redacts DOCX, XLSX and PPTX natively. For Excel cell contents are detected, for PowerPoint slide texts and notes, for Word body text, tables and comments. Synonyms like "anonymise", "black out" or "censor" describe the same process.
Where are my files stored?
The sandbox runs on a test instance hosted in Germany/Austria. Uploaded documents are automatically deleted after session ends. There is no tracking, no indexing and no third-party sharing. Still use only test data — the production solution Docuflair Redact runs exclusively on-premises or in your dedicated private cloud.
Is the tool GDPR-compliant?
The sandbox meets GDPR requirements for test tools: no tracking without consent, auto-deletion after session, DACH hosting, no public-cloud storage. For production processing of real personal data you need an on-prem or private-cloud installation of Docuflair Redact with a data processing agreement (DPA). Public cloud is excluded for client files, citizen data or patient records.
What's the difference between the sandbox and the production solution Docuflair Redact?
The sandbox is an interactive demo for trying out features. The production solution Docuflair Redact is a project-based redaction platform with learning rule engine, recipient-specific selective export, audit trail, REST API, Active Directory integration, batch processing of 1,000+ documents and BSI TR-RESISCAN-compliant archiving. It runs on-premises or in your dedicated private cloud.
Does it work on Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. The sandbox runs in any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. No installation or plugin required — everything runs server-side, results are displayed and downloaded in the browser.
How do I redact an IBAN from a PDF?
Upload the PDF, activate the "IBAN" category in auto-detection and run the search. The tool detects IBAN formats from all EU countries (DE, AT, CH, FR, ES, IT, NL, BE, …) and marks them automatically. If an IBAN is unconventionally formatted, add a RegEx pattern such as /[A-Z]{2}[0-9]{2}[A-Z0-9]{11,30}/.
Can I use RegEx patterns?
Yes. In addition to the built-in categories you can define your own regular expressions (RegEx) to match e.g. case numbers, employee IDs or industry-specific identifiers. RegEx patterns are saved to the redaction dictionary and reusable for follow-up documents.
Is there a file size limit?
The sandbox accepts files up to 20 MB per upload. Multiple files can be processed in sequence. For larger document volumes, batch processing or files over 20 MB use the production solution Docuflair Redact with unlimited file size and 1,000+-document batch runs.
Do I need Adobe Acrobat to redact a PDF?
No. Adobe Acrobat Pro costs ~25 €/month and only does manual rectangle-by-rectangle redaction without auto-detection. The Docuflair sandbox is free, available online and detects personal data automatically — also in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, which Adobe Acrobat cannot do. Detailed comparison: Docuflair vs. Adobe Acrobat.
Need automated redaction in your workflow?
For client files, citizen data, HR records and batch processing of 1,000+ documents: Docuflair Redact as on-prem platform with learning rule engine, recipient-specific selective export, REST API and BSI TR-RESISCAN-compliant archiving.