How to white out text in a PDF
Whiteout covers part of a page with a movable box whose colour and opacity you choose, which is ideal for tidying a document before you send it. It hides content visually — if the words must actually be removed from the file, use redaction instead.
Whiteout is the digital version of correction fluid. It is the quickest way to remove a stray mark, an old letterhead, a page number that no longer fits, or a line you want to retype somewhere else.
It is deliberately simple: a rectangle you can move, resize and recolour. That makes it useful for presentation, and unsuitable as a privacy tool — a point worth being clear about before you send a document to anyone.
Step by step in Overtype
1. Open the PDF
Open Overtype in Chrome and choose the file. It stays on your computer throughout.
2. Pick the whiteout tool
Drag a box over whatever you want to hide. Drag its edges to resize, or drag the middle to move it.
3. Match the page
Adjust the colour and opacity so the box blends into the background — white for plain paper, a tint for coloured stock, partial opacity when you want to soften rather than erase.
4. Add anything that replaces it
If new wording goes in the same place, add a text box on top, or edit the underlying paragraph directly.
5. Export
Save the finished PDF to your computer.
Why this works on your device
The cover box is drawn into the page by the extension itself while the document is open in your browser, so a whiteout pass involves no upload, no account and no waiting on a conversion queue. It also means you can do it to an internal document without a policy conversation about where the file went.
Questions
- Is whiteout secure?
- No. It hides content visually but the text underneath remains in the file. For anything confidential, use redaction, which deletes the characters and verifies they are gone.
- Can I move the box after placing it?
- Yes. Whiteout boxes stay movable and resizable while you are editing, so you can nudge them until the page looks right.
- Can I use a colour other than white?
- Yes. Both colour and opacity are adjustable so the box matches the page it sits on.