Choose the right kind of copy.
Pagekind’s Redact image copy tool creates a new PDF from page images. It erases the pixels inside your marked areas before storing those images. Original PDF objects, hidden text, metadata, attachments and actions are not carried into the new file.
Every page becomes an image. The new copy loses search, selectable text, live forms, links, bookmarks, accessibility tags and certificate signatures. It has no PDF password protection. Your original file and editing history remain intact and are not sanitized. If you need a searchable or accessible redacted PDF, this workflow does not preserve those features.
Mark the areas that need to disappear.
- Open your PDF and finish any text or form edits first. Choose Tools → Redact image copy, or press Ctrl+K and search for “redact”.
- Drag a rectangle over each sensitive area in the image preview. For precise placement, expand Mark an exact area and enter its position and size as percentages.
- Use the page arrows or Ctrl+G to check every page. Repeated names, contact details and filled form values each need their own marks.
- Review the black areas. Remove an area from the list, or use Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y to undo and redo marks without changing PDF history. Gold outlines are editing guides and do not appear in the exported copy.
Preview the pixels you will export.
The preview uses the same masked pixels as the final PDF at your selected resolution. Choose 144 DPI for the standard image copy, 72 DPI for smaller files or 300 DPI for finer detail. Very large pages use a lower effective resolution to bound memory; the preview shows that DPI.
Visible content outside your marks remains, including visible annotations and form values. The tool does not find secrets automatically. Cropping a page or drawing an ordinary annotation rectangle does not remove hidden content.
Export, then review the new file.
Read and acknowledge the image-copy tradeoff, then choose Export redacted image copy and a new filename. While this tool is active, the main Export a copy button and Ctrl+S use this same export. Pagekind checks the PDF structure and the stored image pixels before reporting success.
Choose Open last exported copy to review the result in another tab. Keep it clearly named so you can distinguish it from the original before sharing. Pagekind does not send it to anyone for you.
Keep unfinished markings in view.
Marks stay with their open document tab. Until you export or clear them, Pagekind blocks PDF content changes and PDF-history Undo that would discard the pending marks. If you switch tools, the main save action becomes Review redactions and brings you back here. You can still read, navigate, switch tabs and undo individual marks.
Closing asks before discarding marks that have not been exported. Marks are not recovered after the app exits. A lost export reply triggers a check of the actual file; matching complete output is reused without overwriting it.
Pagekind 0.65.0 is an unsigned engineering preview. This workflow supports up to 128 MiB of input, 200 pages and 1,000 marked areas, with image memory limits. It is an image-copy workflow, not an object-preserving redaction engine or secure disk erasure. Clean Windows and broader independent document checks remain pending.
For a password-protected PDF.
The redacted image copy has no opening password. Exporting it from an encrypted PDF requires owner access. In Passwords, choose Enter owner password before exporting. Your original protected PDF remains unchanged.