Redact an ID document before uploading it

Forms ask for proof of identity and then keep the copy forever. This removes the parts that are worth stealing and brings the file down to whatever limit the form printed.

• The digits are removed from the file, not covered with a rectangle.
• Ends at the size the form asks for, or says it could not get there.
• Neither step uploads anything, which is the entire point here.

Check what the form is entitled to ask for

Before redacting anything, it is worth knowing which parts of an identity document the recipient is actually allowed to hold. Many organisations ask for a full copy out of habit and are entitled to considerably less, and several identity schemes publish guidance about masking part of the number for exactly this reason.

What this tool does is mechanical: it removes what you tell it to remove, from the file rather than from the surface. A black rectangle drawn over a number leaves the number underneath, recoverable by anyone who selects the text, and that is how a redaction fails without looking like it failed.

The size limit is the other half of the job

Forms that ask for identity documents are the same forms that print a hundred-kilobyte limit and refuse the upload without explaining. The compression here aims at the number rather than at a quality preset, and keeps the largest file that still fits, so the document stays legible at the size the form allows.

If the number is out of reach it says so, names the size it actually reached and suggests splitting, rather than handing back an over-limit file as though it had worked. Page one is drawn on screen first, because only you can tell whether what is left is still readable.

Nothing is uploaded at either step. An identity document is the single worst file to hand to a free online tool and one of the most commonly handed over, because the alternative is a limit nobody can meet by hand. There is no need to: both steps here run inside the tab.

Can I mask only part of the number?

Use the redaction tool directly, where you can draw over exactly the region you want covered.

What if it cannot reach the limit?

It says so and names the size it reached. It never reports a miss as a success.

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