How to white out text in a PDF, and when to redact instead
· 4 min read
Cover a wrong date, a typo or a logo with a white box and type over it in your browser, and know the one case where covering is not enough.
What whiting out does, and what it does not
Whiteout is correction fluid for a PDF: a white box painted over part of the page, so that what was there no longer shows, and usually some new text typed on top of it. It is the right tool for a wrong date on a form, a typo in a scanned letter, a price that changed on a brochure, or a logo you would rather not print.
It covers; it does not remove. The text under the white box is still in the file. Anyone can select it, copy it, search for it, or delete the box and read it. The editor says so in the box’s own settings for exactly this reason. For a name, an account number, a signature or anything that must not be recoverable, use Redact PDF instead, which takes the content out of the file; the guide on redacting a PDF permanently explains the difference and how to check it.
Step by step
- Open Edit PDF and add the file. It stays in your browser.
- In the toolbar choose Whiteout (under Annotate; the W key selects it too) and drag a box over what should disappear. Drag the corners to fit it to the line; a slightly larger box hides edges better than a tight one.
- To put something in its place, choose Add text, click on the white box and type. Match the font and size from the formatting bar; for a scanned form, a plain sans-serif at the size of the printed text reads naturally.
- If the text you are covering is editable text rather than a scan, consider the simpler route: click into the paragraph and change the words. Nothing needs covering, and the old words are gone from the file.
- Choose Save PDF and download. The original on your device is untouched.
Whiteout, edit, or redact?
- Whiteout
- A visual correction on a scan or a form, where the old content is not secret: a date, a typo, a price, a logo. Fast, and the file still contains what was there.
- Edit the text
- The page has real text and you want different words. The paragraph reflows and the old words leave the file. Not possible on a scan unless you run OCR first.
- Redact
- The content must not be recoverable: personal data, signatures, account numbers, anything you would not want copied out of the file. The text and picture under the box are removed, and the box is painted afterwards.
What to expect
- A white box on a page that is not pure white (a scan with a grey tint, a coloured form) shows as a brighter patch. Pick the box and set its colour to the paper tone in its settings.
- Whiteout is page content, not a sticky note: every reader shows it, printing shows it, and flattening is not needed.
- Searching the saved file still finds the covered words, because they are still there. That is the reason redaction exists.
- Forms with fields are better corrected in Fill and sign, where the answer lives in the field and can be retyped.