SnapOtter/apps/docs/tools/pdf/redact-pdf.md

description

description
Permanently remove text occurrences from a PDF (verified true redaction).

Redact PDF

Permanently remove specified text occurrences from a PDF using verified true redaction. The redacted text is completely removed from the file, not just covered with a black box.

API Endpoint

POST /api/v1/tools/pdf/redact-pdf

Accepts multipart form data with a PDF file and a JSON settings field.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
terms	string[]	Yes	-	Text strings to redact (1-50 terms, each up to 200 characters)
caseSensitive	boolean	No	false	Whether matching is case-sensitive

Example Request

curl -X POST http://localhost:1349/api/v1/tools/pdf/redact-pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer si_your-api-key" \
  -F "file=@contract.pdf" \
  -F 'settings={"terms": ["John Doe", "555-0123"], "caseSensitive": false}'

Example Response

{
  "jobId": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "downloadUrl": "/api/v1/download/a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890/contract.pdf",
  "originalSize": 245000,
  "processedSize": 243000,
  "found": 7
}

Notes

• Accepted input format: .pdf.
• This is a fast (synchronous) tool that returns the result directly.
• This performs true redaction: matched text is removed from the PDF content stream, not merely obscured visually.
• The found field in the response indicates how many occurrences were redacted.
• You can redact up to 50 terms in a single request.