Blur sensitive info in screenshots

How to blur sensitive info in screenshots

To blur sensitive info in a screenshot, cover every private detail with a box that permanently replaces those pixels, then save a new image. A good redaction can’t be undone by the person who receives it: the original text is gone from the file, not just hidden behind a layer. This tool does that in three steps: mark, check, export.

Redacting matters most for screenshots you put in help articles, bug reports, training material and sales decks. A single visible email address or customer name in a public help center is a privacy problem you can avoid in a minute. When you blur a screenshot online, also check where the file goes: here, the redaction runs in your browser, and only the optional AI detection sends the image to our server, where nothing is stored.

What to redact in a screenshot

Look beyond the obvious fields. Sensitive details often sit in corners and sidebars:

• Personal data: names, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses and profile photos.
• Account and payment data: account numbers, card digits, invoice totals and order IDs.
• Secrets: API keys, tokens, passwords, recovery codes and internal URLs.
• Context clues: browser tabs, bookmarks, notifications, chat previews and file names that reveal more than you meant to share.

Blur, pixelate or solid box?

All three styles replace the pixels in the image. They differ in how they look and how much of the original shape they keep.

The tool sizes blur and pixel blocks to the image, large enough that text can’t be read back. Still, light blurs and small pixel blocks made in other tools have been partly reversed in the past, especially on short, known formats such as numbers. For anything that grants access or moves money, use a solid box.

How to redact a screenshot step by step

1. Take the screenshot at the size you plan to publish, so you see exactly what readers will see.
2. Add it to the tool and draw boxes, or click the AI detection to have sensitive details marked for you.
3. Read the whole image yourself. Draw a box over anything the AI missed and delete boxes over things that are fine to show.
4. Pick the style per box, then download the image as PNG or JPG, or copy it.
5. Open the downloaded file and zoom in once more before you share it.

Best practices for redacted screenshots

Use demo data when you can

The safest screenshot has nothing to hide. For help articles and tutorials, a demo account with invented names saves you from redacting every image and looks tidier than a page full of blurs.

Redact the same thing the same way

Pick one style for each kind of data across a document. Consistent redaction reads as deliberate; a mix of styles looks careless.

Keep the original private

The download is a new file. Your original screenshot still holds everything, so don’t attach it by mistake and delete it when you no longer need it.

Common redaction mistakes

• Drawing a shape in a slide or document editor over the image. Anyone can move the shape or copy the image out underneath.
• Cropping a sensitive area out of view in an editor that keeps the full image in the file.
• Covering the field but leaving the same email in the page title, a tooltip or the browser tab.
• Trusting automatic detection alone. AI is a fast first pass, not a guarantee; always check the result yourself.