Question 1

Is this real redaction or just a black box on top?

Accepted Answer

Real redaction. Each page is converted to a flattened image before the black boxes are baked in, so there's no hidden text layer left underneath to copy or extract.

Question 2

Will the PDF still be searchable after redaction?

Accepted Answer

No. Because pages become images, the output PDF is no longer text-searchable. This is intentional — it's what guarantees the redacted content is actually gone.

Redact PDF