How to Erase in a PDF (and What You Can't Erase)

Use the PDF eraser in 4 steps

1. 1

   Open the Eraser

   Go to Eraser and select your PDF. The toolbar has Select, Eraser, Pen and Draw, with Eraser active.

2. 2

   Mark up the page

   Use Pen or Draw to write and sketch. Press E at any time to switch back to the eraser.

3. 3

   Erase

   Click a stroke to delete it, or hold and drag across several strokes. A trail shows where you dragged, and every stroke it touches disappears.

4. 4

   Save PDF

   Click Save PDF. Only what is left on the page is written into the file, which downloads ending in -edited.pdf.

How this eraser works

• It removes whole strokes. Dragging across part of a stroke deletes the entire stroke, not just the part you touched. To keep half a line, undo and redraw it.
• Dragging only catches pen and draw strokes. Other objects you added, such as text, shapes or notes made in the full editor, are removed by clicking them directly.
• It is undoable. Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on Mac) brings back everything removed in one erase drag at once.
• It works per page. Strokes on other pages are never touched.

Why you can't erase text or images already in the PDF

The eraser cannot remove the original content of the file. The page notice says so: it only removes things you add in this editor. The same is true of edits you saved in an earlier session, because saving merges them into the page.

For content that was already there, pick the tool that matches what you want:

• Hide a word, a stamp or a smudge: cover it with Whiteout PDF. It looks erased, but the text is still in the file underneath and can be copied.
• Remove a whole page: use Delete Pages.
• Remove a text watermark: try Remove Watermark.
• Clear form entries or leftover comments: the full Edit PDF editor lists existing comments in its Comments panel so you can see what the file contains.

Eraser vs. Undo vs. Delete

Undo steps back through your actions in order, which is fastest for the last mark. Delete (Select a stroke, then press the Delete key) removes one specific object. The Eraser is quickest when you want to scrub out several strokes scattered across an area, such as a crossed-out sketch, without clicking each one.

Erasing in Preview or Acrobat

Desktop apps that save drawings as annotations let you remove them later. In macOS Preview, click a shape or sketch annotation and press Delete. In Adobe Acrobat, select the drawing with the selection tool and press Delete. Marks saved by KissThePDF are part of the page and can't be selected that way, so do your erasing before you close the editor.

Frequently asked questions