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How to Hide Text in PDF: The Complete Guide

  • By Lena
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  • Updated on November 18, 2025
Introduction:
Sometimes, you may need to hide text in PDF files to safeguard personal information, confidential content, or sensitive data. Whether for privacy or professionalism, knowing how to conceal content effectively is essential. This SwifDoo PDF guide will provide you with all the necessary details.
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1. How to Hide Text in PDF with Redaction

SwifDoo PDF is one of the finest PDF redaction tools available for Windows users. It allows you to redact private text, images, and other sensitive content in a document using different colors. Depending on your needs, you can unredact the specific content or delete the redactions before saving the file within the software.

In addition to PDF protection, SwifDoo PDF stands out as a comprehensive PDF software for editing, annotating, converting, and performing other PDF-related tasks.

Here’s how to hide text using SwifDoo PDF:

Step 1. Download and install SwifDoo PDF on your Windows desktop. Import your required PDF file into the program.

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Step 2. Browse to the Protect tab in the top toolbar and select the Redaction menu in the secondary menu bar.

Redaction

Step 3. Use the croshair to choose the region to be redacted. And click Apply Redaction.  

Apply Redaction

Step 4. Confirm the action to remove the selected text content permanently from your document.

Alternatively, you can click Protect > Search & Redact and enter the sensitive information in the pop-up pane. This includes sensitive numbers, name, and other personal or confidential information. Choose the matched items, then press Apply All Marks.

Search & Redact

2. How to Hide Text in PDF by Blacking Out

SwifDoo PDF also helps black out text in PDFs without redacting by providing a write-out tool. You can change the color to hide personal details or sensitive information whenever necessary. The advanced color picker allows you to pick a color to effectively mask sensitive information.

Check out to learn the details.

Step 1. Download and launch SwifDoo PDF on Windows computers.

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Step 2. Open the PDF file in which you want to black out text.

Step 3. Tap the Edit tab in the top toolbar and select White-out in the secondary menu.

White-out

Step 4. Click the inverted triangle icon and pick the black color under Theme Colors. You must cover any confidential/sensitive or unwanted information with your cursor. Once done, save your edited PDF document.

Hide Text in PDF by Blacking Out

3. How to Hide Text in PDF by Shapes

SwifDoo PDF also excels as a lightweight yet powerful PDF markup tool. Its rich annotation features help you add shapes, besides many other annotations, to mark up and hide PDF text.

You can draw rectangle boxes with black highlights or simply place a text box over the text area to temporarily hide it in the PDF. With these options, you can uncover the hidden text whenever needed.

Step 1. Launch the SwifDoo PDF software on your Windows PC and open your required PDF file in the workspace.

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Step 2. Navigate to the Annotate tab in the top toolbar. And select the Shapes menu in the secondary menu bar. Choose the Rectangle shape from the dropdown menu.

Rectangle

Step 3. Next, place the cursor on the text you wish to conceal and outline it with a rectangle. Once done, right-click the shape and select Properties.  

Properties

Step 4. Select the Filling and Border Color as black in the sidebar. Then, black out text in the PDF and save the edited file.

Change Filling Color

4. How to Hide Text in PDF Online

Another way to black out text in a PDF on the go is to use a credible web-based tool. While several options are available, we found PDFzorro as the perfect solution for you. With this web-based solution, you can easily hide text in a PDF online for free. PDFzorro lets you blackout or white-out text areas irrevocable in the PDF.

Learn how to hide text in PDF for free with PDFzorro.

Step 1. Open PDFzorro on your web browser. Scroll down and select the Whiteout/Blacken PDF tool.

PDFzorro 

Step 2. Click Upload to import your desired PDF file. Alternatively, you can even drag and drop your PDF file directly.

Step 3. Once imported, click Completed in the center. Select a page where you want to hide the text.

Step 4. In the appearing menu, click the Black box at the top. And then apply either a black or white cover to your desired text.

Hide Text Online

Step 5. Move your cursor over the text you wish to hide and click Save.

Step 6. Now, select Finish/Download to download and store your updated PDF.

Quick Wrap Up

Learning how to hide text in PDF files helps ensure privacy, security, and professionalism in your documents. The proper tools make it easy and effective to redact sensitive details or mask temporary changes. Following the steps in this guide lets you confidently hide unwanted text with accuracy and ease. For an all-inclusive, safe, and legitimate solution, SwifDoo PDF proves to be a reliable choice.

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FAQs

  • Q:1. How do I hide text in a PDF document?
    Several ways are available to hide text in a PDF. We have already discussed three practical solutions for doing so using SwifDoo PDF. You can either redact text, black out specific text areas, or even add shapes over the text to black out text without redaction.
  • Q:2. How do I blur some text in a PDF?
    You can use desktop or online apps to blur text in a PDF. For example, SwifDoo PDF provides the redaction and annotation tool to obscure text. You can even export the specific page to an image, blur it with an image editor such as GIMP or Photoshop, and then reinsert it into the PDF.  
  • Q:3. How to make text black in PDF?
    One of the best ways to black out text is to use a reliable PDF editor. Depending on your needs, you can prefer either a desktop tool like SwifDoo PDF or online tools like PDFzorro, iLovePDF, and Sejda. With SwifDoo PDF, you can change the text color and redact PDF to hide sensitive information. In addition, beyond redaction, you get an all-in-one PDF management tool to handle your daily tasks.

Lena has been in the editing industry for 8 years. She is familiar with a variety of products that can make things easier, such as PDF tools, video recording software, iOS location changer, etc. She enjoys sharing her knowledge with users to help them solve problems in their work and life. In her spare time, she likes to play with her cat.

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