How to verify a redacted PDF

Every redaction Omitly makes writes a signed, tamper-evident audit report and embeds it inside the redacted PDF — unless you choose Password-protect, which is not sealed and carries no verifiable report. Anyone with Omitly can check that the file is unchanged since it was sealed and read what the report records, without the file ever being uploaded.

Verify a redacted PDF

1. On the welcome screen choose Verify a redacted PDF, or with a document open use More ▾ → Check a redacted PDF….
2. Choose the redacted PDF. Omitly reads the embedded audit report, re-checks the seal over the exact bytes of the file, and shows the verdict.

Verification runs entirely on your machine. The document you are checking never leaves your computer.

What the verdict means

• Safe to Send — every check that applies to this file passed. This is integrity, not proof of who produced the file; compare the key fingerprint out of band if origin matters to you.
• Needs Review — a check found something a person should look at before you share the file — for example a recoverable earlier version, text under a white box, or an attachment.
• Needs Review — problems found — a check found content a reader could recover, such as text under a dark box. Review the items before you share the file.
• Cannot Verify — the check could not read enough of the file to give a result — for example, a password-protected PDF — and the result says why.
• Seal INVALID — the document or its report was altered after sealing. Do not rely on it.
• Seal REMOVED — the file was re-saved or changed after sealing, so the seal no longer covers these bytes. Do not rely on it.
• No Omitly audit report found — the PDF carries no Omitly audit report. It was not redacted by Omitly, or the report was stripped. Omitly treats this as unverified, never as a silent pass.

Reports sealed before the current report format (legacy reports) show older verdicts instead, such as Seal intact & verified, or a seal that is intact but a report noting the redaction did not fully pass. Review any warnings before you share the file. Some older reports show a caution that the seal proves integrity but not that the recorded verdict describes the content.

Export a one-page certificate

From the Verify result, choose Save certificate to save a single-page PDF — the verdict, the delivered file’s hash, the redaction counts and the signing key’s fingerprint (older reports show recorded input and output hashes instead) — to file with the matter or hand to a client, a regulator or the court.

Can the recipient check it themselves?

Partly. The signed report travels inside the PDF, so anyone with Omitly can run Verify and see that the file is unchanged since it was sealed. The report is the sealer’s own record of what was removed, and anyone can seal with their own key. To rely on who sealed it, compare the key fingerprint with the sender through another channel.