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Privacy Scanner

Find hidden metadata, tracking data, and privacy risks.

Scan PDF files for hidden privacy risks for free. HonestPDF's browser-based privacy scanner detects metadata, embedded scripts, tracking data, and personal information in your PDFs. All analysis happens on your device — your documents never leave your browser. Instant results.

100% Client-Side Scanning

Your PDF is processed entirely in your browser. No data is uploaded anywhere. The scanner detects emails, phone numbers, credit cards, and URLs.

Drag & drop your PDF files

or browse to choose files

Maximum 1 filePDF only

100% Private
Files Never Leave Your Device

Why Scan PDFs for Sensitive Data?

Before sharing a PDF — whether via email, cloud storage, or public posting — it's critical to verify it doesn't contain unintended personal information.

What We Detect:

  • Email AddressesPersonal or corporate email addresses embedded in the text.
  • Phone NumbersInternational and local phone number formats.
  • Credit Card NumbersCommon credit/debit card number patterns.
  • URLsWeb links that might point to internal or private resources.

Our Privacy-First Approach:

Your PDF is scanned entirely within your browser using pattern matching. No text, data, or file content is ever sent to any server. If your browser supports Chrome's Built-in AI, an optional AI enhancement pass can detect contextual risks that simple patterns miss.

Key Benefits:

  • Automatic Detection – Pattern-based scanning finds emails, phone numbers, addresses, and other personal data in your PDF
  • Visual Highlighting – Detected sensitive items are highlighted directly on your document for easy review
  • One-Click Redaction – Send detected items to the redact tool instantly to permanently remove them
  • No File Uploads – Your documents are scanned entirely in your browser, never uploaded anywhere

Privacy First:

Privacy Scanner processes your PDF locally using in-browser text extraction and pattern matching. No data is ever transmitted to external servers. Your documents stay on your device.

Frequently Asked Questions

What personal data can the scanner detect?
The scanner detects common PII patterns including email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and other personal identifiers.
Does this tool upload my PDF to a server?
No. All scanning happens in your browser using local text extraction and pattern matching. Your document never leaves your device.
Can I redact the detected items?
Yes. After scanning, you can send detected items directly to our Redact PDF tool to permanently remove them from the document.
How accurate is the detection?
The scanner uses pattern-based matching to find common PII formats. It works best with digitally-created PDFs. For scanned documents, use our OCR tool first to extract text.
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Found sensitive data? Use Redact PDF to permanently remove it before sharing.

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