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InkOut PDF
Redact PDFs in your browser, then check the output
A black box drawn in most PDF editors only covers the text. InkOut PDF rebuilds the pages you mark as images in a new PDF, then scans the whole output file for the text you covered. It runs in your browser; your file is never uploaded.
Hi Product Hunt, I made InkOut PDF.
The problem it solves is an old one: in most PDF editors, a black rectangle just sits on top of the text. Select, copy, paste, and the "redacted" words come back. Court filings and government reports have leaked this way more than once.
What InkOut PDF does instead:
- Every page you mark is rendered to an image at 144 ppi with the boxes burned in, and placed into a brand-new PDF. Document info, XMP metadata, form fields, attachments and JavaScript aren't carried over.
- After export, it re-opens the output file and scans the whole file for the text you covered. If that check fails, the download stays disabled and you see "Review needed".
- Everything happens in your browser. The only network requests are for the app's own code from inkoutpdf.com, so you can watch the DevTools network tab while you use it.
Limits, so nobody is surprised:
- Redacted pages become images, so text on those pages can't be selected or searched anymore.
- On pages you don't redact, the text stays, but links and form fields stop working.
- There's no OCR, so scanned pages need manual boxes.
- It needs an internet connection, and I've only tested it in Chrome so far.
Pricing: free for files up to 5 pages. Pro is $4.99 for a 24-hour pass (one-time, no subscription) or $7.99/month, and adds unlimited pages, keyword search-and-redact and multiple files. The checker for PDFs someone else redacted is free with no page limit.
Two things I'd love feedback on:
1. Does the export check make you trust the output more, and is there a check you'd expect that isn't there?
2. What kind of documents do you actually need to redact?
I'll be around all day to answer questions.
About InkOut PDF on Product Hunt
“Redact PDFs in your browser, then check the output”
InkOut PDF was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 0 upvotes and 1 comments, placing #376 on the daily leaderboard. A black box drawn in most PDF editors only covers the text. InkOut PDF rebuilds the pages you mark as images in a new PDF, then scans the whole output file for the text you covered. It runs in your browser; your file is never uploaded.
On the analytics side, InkOut PDF competes within Productivity, Privacy and Legal — topics that collectively have 681.4k followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how InkOut PDF performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted InkOut PDF?
InkOut PDF was hunted by Feicheng Kong. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of InkOut PDF including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Feicheng Kong