# Redact Email Addresses from PDFs > Find and mask every email address — including those buried in headers, footers, and email-thread exports — automatically. **Try it:** https://www.redact-pdf.ai/sign-up **See pricing:** https://www.redact-pdf.ai/pricing ## Why email addresses need protection An email address is direct personal data under GDPR and a high-value target for phishing. Email threads exported to PDF often contain hundreds of addresses across To/From/Cc fields, signature blocks, and quoted history. Manual redaction at this scale is error-prone. ## When to redact email addresses Almost any document destined for a third party, regulator, or court filing should have email addresses removed unless they are essential to the record. - Court submissions and discovery productions - Audit packets shared with external accountants - FOIA / public-records responses - Email-thread exports archived to PDF ## How email detection works Our analyzer detects standard email patterns (`name@domain.tld`) plus obfuscated variants ("name [at] domain dot com") common in scanned documents. For PDFs originating from email clients, every header and quoted block is scanned. Detection works on scanned faxes and screenshots through built-in OCR. ## How it works 1. **Upload single files or a full batch** — Drop your email-export PDFs into the uploader. Batch sizes of hundreds of files are common in our pipeline. 2. **Select "Email" in the PII categories** — You can combine Email with Person, Phone, and Address detection in the same pass. 3. **Verify in the Studio** — Spot-check a few pages. The Highlight tool marks detections without masking so you can audit before committing. 4. **Download the rasterized output** — Email addresses are physically removed from the document, not just hidden under a black box. ## For litigation teams Discovery productions often involve thousands of emails. Processing them in batches with consistent, audit-traceable redactions saves dozens of paralegal hours per matter. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does it work on scanned email printouts? Yes. Our OCR layer extracts text from images and scans before running PII detection. Accuracy depends on scan quality. ### Will it catch obfuscated addresses like "john [at] acme dot com"? Common obfuscation patterns are detected. For unusual formats, add them to "Always Redact" terms to catch them deterministically. ### Can I keep our company's internal email domain visible? Yes. Add your domain to "Excluded Terms" and it will never be auto-masked. ## Related guides - https://www.redact-pdf.ai/redact/names-from-pdf.md - https://www.redact-pdf.ai/redact/phone-numbers-from-pdf.md - https://www.redact-pdf.ai/redact/addresses-from-pdf.md --- Primary keyword: redact email addresses from PDF Audience: legal, medical, accounting, real-estate Built on Microsoft Azure infrastructure (SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, HIPAA-eligible) with Swiss / EU data residency. Documents are never used to train AI models.