Redact a PDF for a court filing without uploading it.
Federal and many state rules ask you to strip personal identifiers before you file: most of an SSN, financial account numbers, a minor's name, a full birth date. KeptPDF finds them and permanently destroys the text, all in your browser. The unredacted draft never leaves your device. Check your local rules and review the result before you file.
A covered identifier that can be uncovered is a filing problem.
Redaction-by-rectangle leaves the original text in the PDF. On a public court record, that means an SSN or a minor's name can be recovered from what looks like a redacted filing, which is exactly the outcome the rules exist to prevent.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(a) asks filers to redact to the last four digits of a Social Security number, a minor's initials, the year of birth, and the last four digits of a financial account number.
KeptPDF is built to help you apply that minimization: it flattens each redacted page so the identifier underneath is destroyed, not hidden, and it runs in your browser so the unredacted draft is never uploaded. It does not replace your judgment or your local rules, so confirm the requirements for your court and review the filing before you submit it. You can verify it yourself in the network tab.
A filled rectangle just sits on top of the text. Move it, switch viewers, or copy the page, and the hidden content is back.
The page is flattened to an image, so the text underneath is destroyed. There is nothing left to uncover.
The identifiers a filing usually has to lose
Auto-detect surfaces the data the rules target, so you can redact to the version the rules allow, like leaving only the last four digits of an SSN.
Social Security and taxpayer IDs
SSNs and ITINs are flagged across the document, so you can black out all but the last four digits where the rule allows it.
Financial account numbers
Bank, card, and other account numbers are detected so they do not appear in full on a public record.
Names of minors and birth dates
Names and dates tied to a person are surfaced for your review, so you can reduce a child to initials and a birth date to the year.
A Pro certificate for the production
Pro adds a signed audit record of exactly what was redacted, useful to attach to a production or keep in the file. The recipient can re-check it in their browser.
How to redact a court filing
Three steps, entirely on your device. Permanent, verifiable, no upload.
Open your filing
Drop your file onto the page or pick it from your device. It loads into your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Mark what to redact
Auto-detect finds names, dates, Social Security numbers, account numbers, and more. Draw boxes over anything else you want gone.
Download the clean copy
Save it. The marked content is permanently gone: the page is flattened to an image, not hidden behind a box. Give the result a quick review before you share it.
Permanent removal, nothing uploaded.
True text destruction
Each redacted page is flattened to an image, so the text layer is gone, not just covered with a shape. Content under a redaction box cannot be copied, selected, or recovered. Review the result before you share it.
Auto-detect the obvious stuff
One pass finds names, dates, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses, and emails across the whole filing, so you are not hunting for each one by hand.
Never uploaded
There is no upload step. The filing is processed entirely in your browser, so the original is never part of a network request and never sits on anyone else's server.
Redaction certificate (Pro)
Pro adds a signed PDF and JSON audit record listing every redacted span, category, and page, which is handy for productions and compliance files. Anyone you send it to can re-check the fingerprint in their own browser, with nothing uploaded.
More for the litigation workflow
Number your exhibits, compare two drafts, and read the guides written for discovery work.