Redact a PDF without uploading it

Check for yourself that nothing is uploaded

1. Open the network list. Open LocalRedactor, then open your browser’s developer tools (F12, or Ctrl+Shift+I) and choose the Network tab.
2. Use the app as normal. Open a PDF, mark some text and export. Do it with a file you do not mind testing on.
3. Read the list. You will see requests for this site’s own files, loaded when the page opened. There is no request carrying your PDF. The privacy page lists the one other address the app may contact, and when.
4. Go offline. Reload the page once, then turn off your network connection and redact another file. It still works, because nothing needed the network.

What the browser enforces

The site sends a Content-Security-Policy header that tells your browser which addresses the page may contact. Scripts on the page may only connect to this site and to one license address. A request to anywhere else is refused by the browser itself, whatever the code tries. There is no analytics script, no third-party font, and no embedded widget on this page or in the app.

What is stored on your device

Two small records: how many free exports you used today, and, if you activate a license, its end date. Never your files, their names, or the license key.

What it does not do

• The program itself is downloaded from this site each time you visit, so you trust that code the way you trust any web page. You can inspect it, and the privacy page explains how.
• The one request that can leave the page is a license check. It sends the key you typed, and only when you press Activate. It never includes a file or anything from one.
• A first visit needs a connection to load the app. After it has loaded, redacting works with the network off, but there is no installed or offline app.
• The site runs on Cloudflare, which may keep ordinary server logs for requests to its pages. Those are requests for the page, not for your file.
• Password-protected (encrypted) PDFs are refused, and files over 50 MB are not opened.

Questions

How do I know the file is not uploaded?

Watch the Network tab in your browser’s developer tools while you open and export a file, or turn the network off after the page loads and redact anyway. Both are described above.

Does it work offline?

After the page has loaded, yes: opening, marking, exporting and checking all run locally. The first load needs a connection, and there is no separate offline app.

Is local processing the same as compliance?

No. Keeping a file on your device is one fact about where the work happens. Whether it meets a rule that applies to you is a decision for you and whoever sets that rule.