PDF Search and Delete Text

Delete text from the PDF document with search strings.

Try it live: PDF Search and Delete Text → API Tester — send a real request from your browser.

POST /v1/pdf/edit/delete-text

When using regular expressions in JSON payloads, ensure that backslashes are properly escaped. For example, a single backslash \ should be written as \\.

Attributes

Attributes are case-sensitive and should be inside JSON for POST request. for example: { "url": "https://example.com/file1.pdf" }

Attribute	Type	Required	Default	Description
url	string	Yes	-	URL to the source file url attribute
callback	string	No	-	The callback URL (or Webhook) used to receive the POST data. see Webhooks & Callbacks. This is only applicable when async is set to true.
httpusername	string	No	-	HTTP auth user name if required to access source URL.
httppassword	string	No	-	HTTP auth password if required to access source URL.
searchStrings	array[string]	Yes	-	The array of strings to search.
redactions	array	No	-	A list of redaction objects, each defining a rectangular area to remove or cover. Each redaction object includes the following fields:
page	integer	Yes	-	The zero-based index of the page where the redaction should be applied. For example, 0 = first page.
x	float	Yes	-	The X-coordinate of the top-left corner of the redaction box, in PDF units (points). Use PDF Edit Add Helper to measure coordinates.
y	float	Yes	-	The Y-coordinate of the top-left corner of the redaction box, in PDF units (points). Use PDF Edit Add Helper to measure coordinates.
width	float	Yes	-	The width of the redaction area in points. Use PDF Edit Add Helper to measure coordinates.
height	float	Yes	-	The height of the redaction area in points. Use PDF Edit Add Helper to measure coordinates.
replacementLimit	integer	No	0	Limit the number of searches & replacements for every item. The value 0 means every found occurrence will be replaced.
caseSensitive	boolean	No	true	Set to false to don’t use case-sensitive search.
regex	boolean	No	false	Set to true to use regular expression for search string(s).
MakeUnsearchable	boolean	No	false	If true, the output PDF is made unsearchable by replacing all pages with images. If false, the document remains searchable with only the specified text removed.
name	string	No	-	File name for the generated output, the input must be in string format.
expiration	integer	No	60	Set the expiration time for the output link in minutes. After this specified duration, any generated output file(s) will be automatically deleted from PDF.co Temporary Files Storage. The maximum duration for link expiration varies based on your current subscription plan. To store permanent input files (e.g. re-usable images, pdf templates, documents) consider using PDF.co Built-In Files Storage.
pages	string	No	all pages	Specify page indices as comma-separated values or ranges to process (e.g. “0, 1, 2-” or “1, 2, 3-7”). The first-page index is 0. If not specified, the default configuration processes all pages.
password	string	No	-	Password for the PDF file.
async	boolean	No	false	Set async to true for long processes to run in the background, API will then return a jobId which you can use with the Background Job Check endpoint. Also see Webhooks & Callbacks
profiles	object	No	-	See Profiles for more information.
outputDataFormat	string	No	-	If you require your output as base64 format, set this to base64
removeTextUnderPatch	boolean	No	true	Controls whether to remove text under the patch or not
usepatch	boolean	No	false	Controls whether to use a patch or not
patchColor	string	No	#000000	Controls the color of the patch
DataEncryptionAlgorithm	string	No	-	Controls the encryption algorithm used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataEncryptionKey	string	No	-	Controls the encryption key used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataEncryptionIV	string	No	-	Controls the encryption IV used for data encryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionAlgorithm	string	No	-	Controls the decryption algorithm used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information. The available algorithms are: AES128, AES192, AES256.
DataDecryptionKey	string	No	-	Controls the decryption key used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.
DataDecryptionIV	string	No	-	Controls the decryption IV used for data decryption. See User-Controlled Encryption for more information.

Showing Redacted Text

By default when we delete text using post-tag-pdf-edit-delete-text it will simply remove text leaving a space where the text was.

In the case where you need to blackout deleted text it can be acheived using following profiles parameters.

• Set UsePatch parameter to true.

• Set PatchColor parameter to color we want to use for redacting in hex format. For example: 'PatchColor': '#000000'.

In case we want to only blackout text, but not remove it so that we can still copy it, we can do so using RemoveTextUnderPatch parameter and set it to false.

If RemoveTextUnderPatch is set to false then a user could still copy the text making the redaction less secure than you might require!

{
 "profiles": "{'UsePatch': true, 'PatchColor': '#000000', 'RemoveTextUnderPatch': true}"
}

Query parameters

No query parameters accepted.

Responses

Parameter	Type	Description
url	string	Direct URL to the final PDF file stored in S3.
outputLinkValidTill	string	Timestamp indicating when the output link will expire
pageCount	integer	Number of pages in the PDF document.
error	boolean	Indicates whether an error occurred (false means success)
status	string	Status code of the request (200, 404, 500, etc.). For more information, see Response Codes.
name	string	Name of the output file
credits	integer	Number of credits consumed by the request
remainingCredits	integer	Number of credits remaining in the account
duration	integer	Time taken for the operation in milliseconds

Example Payload

To see the request size limits, please refer to the Request Size Limits.

{
  "url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text/sample.pdf",
  "name": "pdfWithTextDeleted",
  "caseSensitive": "false",
  "searchString": "Invoice",
  "replacementLimit": 0,
  "async": false
}

Example Response

To see the main response codes, please refer to the Response Codes page.

{
  "url": "https://pdf-temp-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ZOSEQZFNVCYLD5N5CJFVIYQKBVLR8OKD/pdfWithTextDeleted.pdf?X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-Security-Token=FwoGZXIvYXdzECYaDKOO4WmO5C5shyOYYSKCAVsAo6VkB5HQjTBd9dMlJujQdEkPfNdPeLfq2mF54s2ESZBmIAJ5UgDUo3J9R475CCS4M3nuuo%2FSJwRy5gNiJdb1ZY0uCtP87x83nH%2B%2BSDu5JK%2F%2BEOrd3MREt8KE3BsQOrv%2FKMdnK%2BT5nJ2x2hC87vHue%2FudY7%2FWX54vx4tfFobEyhEozLbPnwYyKOdEsYYWH7e8tm7XV4UeKxCoKMaXSEPvOod80hR62qXnEI42fOsON3M%3D&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIA4NRRSZPHLUVIAIPX/20230220/us-west-2/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230220T205521Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=9f79c1a30d4f373e495e735e908375dad2ae6dcafcee761a477748c2b8298605",
  "pageCount": 1,
  "error": false,
  "status": 200,
  "name": "pdfWithTextDeleted.pdf",
  "credits": 21,
  "duration": 189,
  "remainingCredits": 96235635
}

Inconsistent URL Encoding in cURL Output: When using cURL to make API requests, the output JSON may show URL characters encoded as Unicode escape sequences. For example, the ampersand character (&) may appear as \u0026 in the cURL output. This is normal JSON encoding behavior and does not affect the validity of the URL. The URL will function correctly when used, as JSON parsers automatically decode these escape sequences. If you’re parsing the response programmatically, your JSON parser will handle this conversion automatically.

Code Samples

CURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/edit/delete-text' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'x-api-key: *******************' \
--data-raw '{
"url": "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-text/sample.pdf",
"name": "pdfWithTextDeleted",
"caseSensitive": "false",
"searchString": "Invoice",
"replacementLimit": 0,
"async": false
}'

JavaScript/Node.js

var https = require("https");
var path = require("path");
var fs = require("fs");


// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
const API_KEY = "***********************************";


// Direct URL of source PDF file.
// You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/pdfdotco/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/    
const SourceFileUrl = "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf";
// PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
const Password = "";
// Destination PDF file name
const DestinationFile = "./result.pdf";


// Prepare request to `Delete Text from PDF` API endpoint
var queryPath = `/v1/pdf/edit/delete-text`;
// JSON payload for api request
var jsonPayload = JSON.stringify({
    name: path.basename(destinationFile), password: password, url: SourceFileUrl, searchString: 'conspicuous'
});

var reqOptions = {
    host: "api.pdf.co",
    method: "POST",
    path: queryPath,
    headers: {
        "x-api-key": API_KEY,
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Content-Length": Buffer.byteLength(jsonPayload, 'utf8')
    }
};

// Send request
var postRequest = https.request(reqOptions, (response) => {
    response.on("data", (d) => {
        // Parse JSON response
        var data = JSON.parse(d);
        if (data.error == false) {
            // Download PDF file
            var file = fs.createWriteStream(DestinationFile);
            https.get(data.url, (response2) => {
                response2.pipe(file)
                    .on("close", () => {
                        console.log(`Generated PDF file saved as "${DestinationFile}" file.`);
                    });
            });
        }
        else {
            // Service reported error
            console.log(data.message);
        }
    });
}).on("error", (e) => {
    // Request error
    console.log(e);
});

// Write request data
postRequest.write(jsonPayload);
postRequest.end();

Python

import os
import requests # pip install requests

# The authentication key (API Key).
# Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
API_KEY = "******************************************"

# Base URL for PDF.co Web API requests
BASE_URL = "https://api.pdf.co/v1"

# Direct URL of source PDF file.
# You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/pdfdotco/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/    
SourceFileURL = "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf"
# PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
Password = ""
# Destination PDF file name
DestinationFile = ".\\result.pdf"

def main(args = None):
    deleteTextFromPdf(SourceFileURL, DestinationFile)


def deleteTextFromPdf(uploadedFileUrl, destinationFile):
    """Delete Text from PDF using PDF.co Web API"""

    # Prepare requests params as JSON
    parameters = {}
    parameters["name"] = os.path.basename(destinationFile)
    parameters["password"] = Password
    parameters["url"] = uploadedFileUrl
    parameters["searchString"] = "conspicuous"

    # Prepare URL for 'Delete Text from PDF' API request
    url = "{}/pdf/edit/delete-text".format(BASE_URL)

    # Execute request and get response as JSON
    response = requests.post(url, data=parameters, headers={ "x-api-key": API_KEY })
    if (response.status_code == 200):
        json = response.json()

        if json["error"] == False:
            #  Get URL of result file
            resultFileUrl = json["url"]            
            # Download result file
            r = requests.get(resultFileUrl, stream=True)
            if (r.status_code == 200):
                with open(destinationFile, 'wb') as file:
                    for chunk in r:
                        file.write(chunk)
                print(f"Result file saved as \"{destinationFile}\" file.")
            else:
                print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")
        else:
            # Show service reported error
            print(json["message"])
    else:
        print(f"Request error: {response.status_code} {response.reason}")

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

namespace PDFcoApiExample
{
  class Program
  {
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    const String API_KEY = "***********************************";
    
    // Direct URL of source PDF file.
        // You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/pdfdotco/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/
    const string SourceFileUrl = "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf";
    // PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
    const string Password = "";
    // Destination PDF file name
    const string DestinationFile = @".\result.pdf";

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      // Create standard .NET web client instance
      WebClient webClient = new WebClient();

      // Set API Key
      webClient.Headers.Add("x-api-key", API_KEY);

      // Prepare requests params as JSON
      Dictionary<string, string> parameters = new Dictionary<string, string>();
      parameters.Add("name", Path.GetFileName(DestinationFile));
      parameters.Add("password", Password);
      parameters.Add("url", SourceFileUrl);
      parameters.Add("searchString", "conspicuous");

      // Convert dictionary of params to JSON
      string jsonPayload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parameters);

      // URL of `Delete Text from PDF` API call
      string url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/edit/delete-text";

      try
      {
        // Execute POST request with JSON payload
        string response = webClient.UploadString(url, jsonPayload);

        // Parse JSON response
        JObject json = JObject.Parse(response);

        if (json["error"].ToObject<bool>() == false)
        {
          // Get URL of generated PDF file
          string resultFileUrl = json["url"].ToString();

          // Download PDF file
          webClient.DownloadFile(resultFileUrl, DestinationFile);

          Console.WriteLine("Generated PDF file saved as \"{0}\" file.", DestinationFile);
        }
        else
        {
          Console.WriteLine(json["message"].ToString());
        }
      }
      catch (WebException e)
      {
        Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
      }

      webClient.Dispose();


      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("Press any key...");
      Console.ReadKey();
    }
  }
}

Java

package com.company;

import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
import okhttp3.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;

public class Main
{
    // The authentication key (API Key).
    // Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
    final static String API_KEY = "**********************************";

    // Direct URL of source PDF file.
    // You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/pdfdotco/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/    
    final static String SourceFileUrl = "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf";
    // PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
    final static String Password = "";
    // Destination PDF file name
    final static Path DestinationFile = Paths.get(".\\result.pdf");


    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
    {
        // Create HTTP client instance
        OkHttpClient webClient = new OkHttpClient();

        // Prepare URL for `Delete Text from PDF` API call
        String query = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/edit/delete-text";

        // Make correctly escaped (encoded) URL
        URL url = null;
        try
        {
            url = new URI(null, query, null).toURL();
        }
        catch (URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        // Create JSON payload
        String jsonPayload = String.format("{\"name\": \"%s\", \"password\": \"%s\", \"url\": \"%s\", \"searchString\": \"conspicuous\"}",
                DestinationFile.getFileName(),
                Password,
                SourceFileUrl);

        // Prepare request body
        RequestBody body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json"), jsonPayload);

        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
            .url(url)
            .addHeader("x-api-key", API_KEY) // (!) Set API Key
            .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .post(body)
            .build();

        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        if (response.code() == 200)
        {
            // Parse JSON response
            JsonObject json = new JsonParser().parse(response.body().string()).getAsJsonObject();

            boolean error = json.get("error").getAsBoolean();
            if (!error)
            {
                // Get URL of generated PDF file
                String resultFileUrl = json.get("url").getAsString();

                // Download PDF file
                downloadFile(webClient, resultFileUrl, DestinationFile.toFile());

                System.out.printf("Generated PDF file saved as \"%s\" file.", DestinationFile.toString());
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                System.out.println(json.get("message").getAsString());
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            System.out.println(response.code() + " " + response.message());
        }
    }

    public static void downloadFile(OkHttpClient webClient, String url, File destinationFile) throws IOException
    {
        // Prepare request
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .build();
        // Execute request
        Response response = webClient.newCall(request).execute();

        byte[] fileBytes = response.body().bytes();

        // Save downloaded bytes to file
        OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(destinationFile);
        output.write(fileBytes);
        output.flush();
        output.close();

        response.close();
    }
}

PHP

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Cloud API asynchronous "Delete Text from PDF" job example (allows to avoid timeout errors).</title>
</head>
<body>

<?php 

// Cloud API asynchronous "Delete Text from PDF" job example.

// The authentication key (API Key).
// Get your own by registering at https://app.pdf.co
$apiKey = "***********************************";

// Direct URL of source PDF file. Check another example if you need to upload a local file to the cloud.
// You can also upload your own file into PDF.co and use it as url. Check "Upload File" samples for code snippets: https://github.com/pdfdotco/pdf-co-api-samples/tree/master/File%20Upload/    
$sourceFileUrl = "https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-split/sample.pdf";
// PDF document password. Leave empty for unprotected documents.
$password = "";

// Prepare URL for `Delete Text from PDF` API call
$url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/edit/delete-text";

// Prepare requests params
$parameters = array();
$parameters["password"] = $password;
$parameters["url"] = $sourceFileUrl;
$parameters["searchString"] = "conspicuous";
$parameters["async"] = true; // (!) Make asynchronous job

// Create Json payload
$data = json_encode($parameters);

// Create request
$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);

// Execute request
$result = curl_exec($curl);

if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
{
    $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
    
    if ($status_code == 200)
    {
        $json = json_decode($result, true);
        
        if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
        {
            // URL of generated PDF file that will available after the job completion
            $resultFileUrl = $json["url"];
            // Asynchronous job ID
            $jobId = $json["jobId"];
            
            // Check the job status in a loop
            do
            {
                $status = CheckJobStatus($jobId, $apiKey); // Possible statuses: "working", "failed", "aborted", "success".
                
                // Display timestamp and status (for demo purposes)
                echo "<p>" . date(DATE_RFC2822) . ": " . $status . "</p>";
                
                if ($status == "success")
                {
                    // Display link to the file with conversion results
                    echo "<div><h2>Conversion Result:</h2><a href='" . $resultFileUrl . "' target='_blank'>" . $resultFileUrl . "</a></div>";
                    break;
                }
                else if ($status == "working")
                {
                    // Pause for a few seconds
                    sleep(3);
                }
                else 
                {
                    echo $status . "<br/>";
                    break;
                }
            }
            while (true);
        }
        else
        {
            // Display service reported error
            echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>"; 
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display request error
        echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>"; 
        echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>"; 
    }
}
else
{
    // Display CURL error
    echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
}

// Cleanup
curl_close($curl);


function CheckJobStatus($jobId, $apiKey)
{
    $status = null;
    
  // Create URL
  $url = "https://api.pdf.co/v1/job/check";
    
  // Prepare requests params
  $parameters = array();
  $parameters["jobid"] = $jobId;

  // Create Json payload
  $data = json_encode($parameters);

  // Create request
  $curl = curl_init();
  curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array("x-api-key: " . $apiKey, "Content-type: application/json"));
  curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
  curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, true);
  curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
  curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
    
    // Execute request
    $result = curl_exec($curl);
    
    if (curl_errno($curl) == 0)
    {
        $status_code = curl_getinfo($curl, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        
        if ($status_code == 200)
        {
            $json = json_decode($result, true);
        
            if (!isset($json["error"]) || $json["error"] == false)
            {
                $status = $json["status"];
            }
            else
            {
                // Display service reported error
                echo "<p>Error: " . $json["message"] . "</p>"; 
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Display request error
            echo "<p>Status code: " . $status_code . "</p>"; 
            echo "<p>" . $result . "</p>"; 
        }
    }
    else
    {
        // Display CURL error
        echo "Error: " . curl_error($curl);
    }
    
    // Cleanup
    curl_close($curl);
    
    return $status;
}

?>

</body>
</html>