Remove personal data from a PDF
Payslips, contracts, and official letters are full of personal data you don't always want to pass along: a name, home address, ID number, or account number. If you need to forward, share, or paste that PDF into an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Claude, Dikke Stift removes the sensitive parts for you first.
Your PDF stays in your browser on your own computer. Nothing is sent, stored or shared.
How to remove personal data from a PDF
- Go to the main tool and upload your PDF in step 1, or drop it into the text box.
- Dikke Stift reads the PDF and automatically flags personal data it recognizes.
- Review the highlights. If something got flagged that should stay visible, click ✕.
- Click 'Next' and copy or download the clean text.
Why this matters
Most privacy regulations, including the GDPR, treat personal data as something you should only share when there's a real reason to. That gets harder to control once a document is forwarded, uploaded to a cloud tool, or pasted into an AI chatbot. Stripping out the sensitive parts first keeps the document useful while cutting that risk.
Tip: Working with documents from the same sender often (the same kind of form every time)? Save recurring words under 'My words' so they get flagged automatically from now on.
More ways to use Dikke Stift
- Anonymize a document before sharing it with AI
- Anonymize research data and interviews
- Anonymize a resume or CV
Frequently asked questions about removing personal data from PDFs
What personal data does the tool recognize automatically?
Among other things: names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, account numbers (IBAN), and company names. It also recognizes national ID number formats, including the Dutch BSN. You can set sensitivity from just fixed-pattern numbers to anything that looks like personal data.
Does this give me back a redacted PDF with black bars?
No. Dikke Stift extracts the text from your PDF and removes the sensitive parts from it, so you get clean text back rather than a PDF with black boxes over the personal data. For most uses (forwarding, sharing, pasting into an AI tool) that clean text works just as well, often better.
Is this free to use?
Yes. Dikke Stift is completely free, with no account, limits or watermark, and everything happens locally in your browser.