Redact PDFs before pasting into ChatGPT.
Free, open-source PDF redaction for Mac. Strip names, emails, addresses, and account numbers on-device in seconds, then paste, upload, or summarize with ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini without leaking a single word of PII.
Universal binary · macOS 14+ · 80 MB · Signed and notarized · Nothing uploaded, nothing tracked
The moment a PDF leaves your Mac, so does everything in it.
Pasting into ChatGPT or Claude
Every name, email, and account number in that PDF is now inside a chat log on someone else's servers. Once it's out, it's out.
iLovePDF or Smallpdf
Upload your confidential PDF to their server. Hope their privacy policy is real. Hope they actually delete it.
Preview.app's redaction
Visual-only. The redacted text is still inside the PDF. A copy-paste, a screen reader, or an AI tool reveals it instantly.
RedactDesk runs entirely on your Mac. Strip the sensitive parts first, then use any AI tool you want.
How RedactDesk works
Drop in a PDF
Drag and drop any confidential PDF. Contracts, medical records, case files, financial statements. Multi-page supported.
AI detects sensitive spans, on-device
Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, dates, URLs, and secrets. Eight categories, detected by OpenAI's open-source privacy-filter model running locally on your Mac.
Export, then paste into ChatGPT
Export a clean, permanently redacted PDF. Safe to upload to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other AI tool without leaking a single word of PII.
Built for people who use AI with sensitive documents.
Fully local AI
Runs entirely on your Mac using the on-device privacy-filter model. No network requests for inference, ever. Your PDFs never reach OpenAI, Anthropic, or any other server.
Eight PII categories
Person names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, account numbers, private URLs, dates, and secrets. Exactly the information you do not want a chatbot memorizing.
Permanent redaction
Text is deleted from the PDF, not just visually covered. Safe to share with any AI tool, client, or counterparty.
Bulk review
Toggle entire categories with one click. Process 40-page contracts as fast as single paragraphs, then hand the clean version to ChatGPT or Claude.
Universal binary
Runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. macOS 14 Sonoma and later.
Open source, free forever
MIT licensed. Audit the code, fork it, verify the privacy claims yourself. No subscription, no sign-up, no account.
Your documents never leave your Mac.
RedactDesk was built to answer one question: what would a PDF redactor look like if privacy were not an afterthought?
No servers. No accounts. No analytics on your documents or detections. No telemetry. The AI model runs on-device, so nothing ever reaches OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any third party. The only network request the app makes is to check for updates, and you can turn that off.
Do not take our word for it. Audit the source code on GitHub
Frequently asked questions
Stop pasting your clients’ PDFs into AI tools unredacted.
Download RedactDesk, strip the PII on-device, then use any AI you like.