Redact Legal and Court Documents Before You File

Before you file in a U.S. federal court, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 generally requires you to cut Social Security numbers, taxpayer-ID numbers and financial-account numbers down to the last 4 digits, birth dates to the year, and minors' names to initials. InkOut PDF rebuilds each page you redact as an image instead of drawing a shape over the text, then scans the whole output file for the hidden text. The file is processed in your browser and never uploaded.

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Not legal advice. The filer is responsible for redaction. Check your court's local rules and any orders in your case.

What federal courts require you to redact

Under FRCP 5.2(a), unless the court orders otherwise, an electronic or paper filing that contains any of the following may include only:

InformationWhat the filing may show
Social Security or taxpayer-identification numberLast 4 digits
Date of birthYear only
Name of a person known to be a minorInitials only
Financial-account numberLast 4 digits

Rule 5.2(b) lists exemptions, such as the record of an administrative or agency proceeding. Criminal cases follow a parallel rule, Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, which also covers home addresses (city and state only). Individual districts can add their own guidance. The Central District of California, for example, tells filers to show home addresses as city and state only, and to take care with driver's license numbers, medical records, employment history and other sensitive information. It also states in capital letters that "it is the responsibility of the filer" to comply with the redaction rules (C.D. Cal.).

Why the black-box mistake keeps happening

In January 2019, a court filing by Paul Manafort's lawyers was published with redactions that didn't work. The BBC reported that the mistake "allowed anyone to view the text beneath blacked out sections of the online documents" (BBC News). The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey warns that "highlighting text in black or using a black box over the data in MS Word or Adobe Acrobat will not protect the data from being able to be seen," and points out that metadata and earlier revisions can leak too (D.N.J.).

A real redaction tool deletes the content and cleans the metadata. InkOut PDF rebuilds each page you redact as a flat image with the boxes burned in and writes a new PDF, without the document metadata, form fields, attachments or JavaScript. It then re-opens the exported file, checks the redacted pages for extractable text and scans the whole output file for the text you covered. Search the final file yourself as well.

How to redact a court filing with InkOut PDF

  1. Finish the document first. Redact the final version and save it under a new name, such as Motion-REDACTED.pdf. The D.N.J. page recommends the same naming habit.
  2. Open the PDF in InkOut PDF. It runs in your browser, with no upload and no account.
  3. Box every identifier, including in exhibits, signature blocks, headers and footers. On a PDF with real text, Pro can search for a number or name and mark every match at once. Scanned exhibits have no searchable text (InkOut PDF has no OCR), so draw those boxes by hand.
  4. Leave the last 4 digits, the year or the initials visible where the rule allows them. Box only the part that has to go.
  5. Export and review the automatic check. Then search the downloaded file for each removed identifier yourself.

Important: redacted pages are no longer text-searchable

InkOut PDF turns only the pages you redact into images. Pages you don't redact keep their original text, although links and form fields on them stop working. Some courts require text-searchable filings. For example, C.D. Cal. Local Rule 5-4.3.1 requires documents to be published to PDF from the original word-processing file "to permit the electronic version of the document to be searched," and prohibits PDF images created by scanning paper documents, with limited exceptions such as some exhibits (C.D. Cal. Local Rules, Chapter I). If your court requires searchable text on every page, you can:

Other legal documents people redact

FAQ

What information must be redacted in a federal court filing?

Under FRCP 5.2(a), unless the court orders otherwise: Social Security and taxpayer-ID numbers and financial-account numbers (last 4 digits only), birth dates (year only) and minors' names (initials only). Your district's local rules or an order in your case may require more.

Who is responsible if a court filing isn't properly redacted?

The filer. The Central District of California states that it is the responsibility of the filer to comply with the redaction requirements, and the District of New Jersey says the responsibility for redacting personal identifiers rests solely with the parties.

Is drawing a black box in Word or Acrobat enough?

No. A shape drawn over text leaves the text in the file. Use a tool that removes the content, then check the exported PDF by searching for the redacted terms.

Will the redacted PDF still be text-searchable?

Pages you redact in InkOut PDF become images, so their text isn't searchable. Pages you don't redact keep their text. If your court requires searchable text, redact in the source document or add OCR afterwards.

Is it safe to redact confidential legal documents online?

It depends on the tool. Many online PDF tools upload your file to their servers. InkOut PDF processes the file in your browser and never uploads it.

Sources (checked 2026-10-20)