Blackbar
Safely redact, edit & save any page as a clean PDF.
Black out private info so it's truly unrecoverable (the characters are destroyed, not blurred), then tidy and edit the page and save it as a clean PDF or HTML.
- Pay once No subscription, ever
- 100% local No tracking, no analytics
- No account No sign-up, no email
Blackbar lets you safely redact a web page (the blacked-out text is genuinely destroyed, not just covered), then edit and clean the page and save it as a tidy PDF or HTML. One click, 100% local, no account.
If you have ever screenshotted a confirmation page, blurred a number in an image editor, and hoped nobody could recover it, Blackbar is the honest fix. It removes the actual characters before you print or save, so there is no recoverable text left behind.
What Blackbar does
- Safely redact private info. Black out an element, a text selection, or auto-detect emails, card numbers, SSNs, phone numbers, IBANs and long ID numbers, then destroy them. The characters are replaced with solid bars in the live page, so anything you print or save contains no recoverable text.
- Edit and clean a page before printing. Drop ads, navigation, comments and clutter with Keep/Remove, and edit the text inline to fix a typo or a value before it goes to paper.
- Print or save as a tidy PDF or HTML. Blackbar prepares a clean, print-ready copy. Use Print or Save as PDF through your browser’s print dialog, or Save as HTML to keep a self-contained local file.
Why it’s different
Most “redaction” tools just blur or draw a box over text. That is a trap: a blur can often be reversed, and a covering box usually leaves the original words sitting right underneath in the page or PDF, still selectable, searchable, recoverable.
Blackbar takes a safer path: it replaces the underlying characters (with █) before you print or save. The secret text is gone from the document itself, not merely hidden from view. That guarantee is the part we test hardest. Our checks prove that after redaction no fragment of a secret survives in the page’s text, in form-field values, or in the saved copy.
Private by design
Blackbar uses Chrome’s activeTab + scripting model and requests no host permissions at all. It only touches a page after you click the Blackbar icon and press Start, never in the background, never on every site. Everything happens 100% locally: no servers, no uploads, no analytics, no tracking, no remote resources. Your document never leaves your machine.
One-time price, no subscription
Blackbar is a one-time purchase of $12: no subscription, no account, no email. The free tier (Keep / Remove + Print) cleans up and saves any page; Pro unlocks Redact (element, selection, and auto-detect PII) and Edit (inline text fixes), with a 14-day Pro trial for new installs.
More from the store
Six other products, same rules: no subscriptions, all on your device.
Blackbar: common questions
Is the redaction really unrecoverable?
Yes. Blackbar replaces the actual characters with block glyphs before you print or save, instead of blurring or covering them. The original text is removed from the document, so a redacted PDF or HTML file contains no recoverable text. This is the behaviour the test suite specifically proves.
How is this different from blurring?
A blur or a black box is cosmetic. The words usually still exist underneath and can be selected, searched, or reversed. Blackbar destroys the characters themselves, so there is nothing left to recover.
Can I save the page as a PDF or HTML?
Both. Choose Print or Save as PDF and pick Save as PDF in your browser print dialog, or use Save (HTML) to download a clean, self-contained file. The redacted parts have no recoverable text in either format.
Is my data private?
Completely. Blackbar uses activeTab plus scripting with no host permissions, runs only after you click, and works 100% locally. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no tracking and no remote resources.
Is it a subscription?
No. It is a one-time $12 purchase for Pro, with no subscription, no account, and no email. The free tier (Keep/Remove plus Print) costs nothing.
- How to redact a PDF so the text can't be recovered A black box over text is not redaction. Here is why the words are usually still there, how to actually destroy them, and how to check your file before you send it.
- How to redact a bank statement before you share it What to hide and what to keep when you redact a bank statement for a landlord, a loan, or a visa, and how to do it without uploading the file anywhere.
Why one-time, and why private
Most useful little tools are sold as a subscription you resent, or are free because you are the product. Neither sits right with us, so here is the trade we make instead.
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Pay once, own it
One purchase, then it is yours. No recurring fee, no renewal you forgot about, no premium tier holding your own work hostage. The price you see is the whole price, and a license covers up to three of your devices.
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Your data stays with you
Each tool asks for the fewest permissions it needs and does its work inside your browser. No analytics, no telemetry, no account to leak. The only call a paid extension ever makes is a license check to our own server, carrying your key and a random device id and nothing else. Your content never leaves your device.
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Works in every Chromium browser
The extensions install and behave the same in Chrome, Brave, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi and Arc. The two games are self-contained HTML5 that also run offline and install as an app.