How to redact a screenshot properly

Covering is not the same as removing

Many markup tools draw shapes on a layer above the image. If the saved file keeps those layers, or the original survives inside the file, the hidden content can come back. Even in a flat image, a semi-transparent highlighter or a thin marker stroke can leave text readable once someone adjusts the contrast.

Built-in tools have had bugs here too. In 2023 researchers showed that screenshots cropped with Google Pixel's Markup tool and the Windows Snipping Tool could be partly restored, because the edited image was written over the original file without removing the leftover data. The issue became known as aCropalypse.

What true redaction does

Redact Image changes the pixels themselves. When you export, every redacted area in the saved file is replaced: solid boxes with a flat colour, pixelation and blur with the processed result. There is no layer to remove and no copy of the original inside the file, and the exported file carries no metadata. The preview shows exactly what will be exported.

Use solid boxes for anything sensitive

Blur and pixelation look tidy, but they keep some information. Short strings such as numbers, codes and passwords can sometimes be recovered from pixelated or blurred text, especially when the font and layout are known. Redact Image labels these modes as possibly reversible. For passwords, account numbers, ID numbers and personal details, use solid boxes, which replace the pixels completely.

Step by step

1. Optional: run Screenshot Leak Check to find keys, email addresses, card numbers and similar text you might miss.
2. Open Redact Image and drop the screenshot, or paste it with Ctrl+V or Command+V.
3. Drag boxes over each sensitive area, or use the brush for irregular shapes. Choose Solid for anything that must stay secret.
4. Zoom in and check every area, including small text in corners, title bars and address bars.
5. Download the redacted image and share that file, not the original.

Easy to forget

• Cropping is often better than covering. If a sidebar or tab bar is not needed, crop it out entirely.
• The same information may appear more than once: in a window title, a URL, a notification or a second screenshot.
• The unredacted original still contains everything. Keep it somewhere private or delete it.