Redact a PDF by removing supported text, not covering it. Merge, split, compress, convert and stamp it too. Every tool writes a new file; the record in your Library stays as it was.
The tools work in your KuduDoc account. A free Personal account is enough to start, with no card and no expiry date.
The source record stays as it was; the copy loses the text.
Get the pages into shape
Combine files in your chosen order: the agreement first, its annexure after it.
Split by page range, or one file per page.
Reorder, rotate, remove and number pages. Straighten the scan; drop the duplicate.
Change the format or the size
A smaller file for email. Check fine print and photos at reading size.
Turn a Word or spreadsheet file into a PDF. Check tables afterwards.
Turn a PDF into a Word file you can edit. A scan needs a text layer first.
Complete the fillable fields in a PDF form, or start from official South African forms, already mapped.
Add your own signature and download the signed PDF, free on every plan. The PDF stays on your device. Sign a PDF, free →
A SARS form stuck on “Please wait…” opens on your device and saves as an ordinary PDF, free on every plan. Open a SARS PDF →
Label a draft, lock a copy
Label a copy DRAFT across its pages, so the next reader knows its purpose.
Add a password to a copy. The source record stays unlocked in the Library.
Take the password off a copy you own. You need the password to open it first.
Seal a copy, timestamp a file, compare two
Seal a finished copy so a later check can show it is unchanged since sealing. How a seal is checked →
Find the differences between two PDF files, word by word on each page, before you file either. Only have the file you were sent? Here is how to tell whether a PDF was changed.
Any file, free on every plan: only its fingerprint is sent, and you keep a record of when the file existed. How a timestamp works →
Put text back on the page
Add a text layer to a scan so you can search it and ask it questions. It uses AI credits; Business reads scans at 400 DPI. Check names and numbers against the scan.
A machine draft in another South African language, as a new file: from Afrikaans to English, for example. It is not a sworn translation.
Prepare the copy that travels
Remove supported readable text from a new copy, with a report of anything it could not remove. How redaction works →
Keep a checklist for the lender or the school, then share each copy with its own access. How document packs work →
Share a copy of your ID as a sealed scan of the copy a commissioner of oaths certified: view-only, until a date you choose.
No tools match that search. Try merge, redact, watermark or OCR.
If you black out text in a PDF with a box, an email address or ID number underneath can still be selected, copied and searched. KuduDoc redaction removes supported readable text from the copy.
Redaction looks for five kinds of personal information, SA ID numbers among them, and removes the supported readable text it finds from a new copy of the PDF. The report names anything it could only cover, and the five kinds it does not check, so you know what to look for yourself.
An address without Street, Road or Avenue can be missed, so check addresses yourself.
KuduDoc writes a separate copy and removes the text from it, so there is nothing left in that run of text to recover.
Three checks before a copy travels: read the report, open the new file and try to select the text, and look over scans by eye. Text inside images is reported, not silently skipped.
A lender wants three months of statements. Merge them into one copy, watermark it for this application and redact the ID numbers the lender does not need.
The school needs proof of the vaccination, not the whole clinic file. The copy drops the ID number and the clinic notes.
Not fully. Redaction removes readable text, not words inside a picture; the report marks those as covered only or skipped. Adding OCR text and redacting it still leaves the image underneath. Check each page and keep the copy back if details still show.
If it was only covered, yes. The words are still in the file, so anyone can select and copy them from under the box. Real redaction takes the text out: KuduDoc writes a new copy with the supported readable text removed, and reports anything it could only cover.
Redact the PDF in KuduDoc. It looks for South African ID numbers and four other kinds of personal information, and removes the supported readable text it finds from a new copy. An ID number inside a scan or photo is covered only or skipped, and the report says which. The original stays as it was.
Prepare the document people are meant to sign before you send it for signature. If a later reader needs a redacted version, keep the signed source record and prepare a separate copy for them.
No. Changing even one character changes the bytes, so an edited or redacted copy is a new file with its own fingerprint and will not match the original’s seal. Seal the copy if the recipient needs a point of reference for that file, and keep the signed original in your Library.
Yes, with a free Personal account: no card and no expiry date. Redact, merge, split and compress work in your KuduDoc account, so you sign in first. Making a scan searchable is different: it uses AI credits, which come with every plan (5 a month on Personal).
Start free on Personal and try the tools on your own documents.