StillReadable

Runs in your browser · nothing is uploaded

That ‘redacted’ file? Still readable.

Drop a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or image. StillReadable finds what is still recoverable — text under black boxes, tracked changes, author names, hidden sheets, GPS — and shows it to you before anyone else finds it.

Drop a file here

PDF · Word · Excel · PowerPoint · JPEG · PNG · WebP · TIFF

No file handy? Inspect a specimen:

Verifiable: a strict Content-Security-Policy blocks every connection except this site. Load the page, go offline — it still scans.

How it works

  1. Drop a file. A scanner in a Web Worker reads it right here on this page — it is never uploaded.
  2. Read the case file. Every finding shows the recovered content itself, why it matters, and where it hides.
  3. Clean it — Pro. Download a scrubbed copy, re-scanned to prove the findings are gone.

What we find

Every check runs in your browser, and every finding is shown in full — the recovered content included. Free, unlimited, before you decide anything.

  • PDF

    Text under redaction boxes

    • Invisible and white-on-white text
    • Redaction marks that were never applied
    • Comments — and who wrote them
    • Attachments, layers, and form fields
    • Earlier versions still inside the file
    • Author, producer, and edit metadata
  • DOCXWord

    Deleted text, still in the file

    • Every tracked change, with author and date
    • Comments and the full list of people
    • Hidden and white-on-white text
    • Cropped images that keep the original
    • Company, editing time, template paths
  • XLSXExcel

    Hidden sheets, full of data

    • Sheets marked hidden — or “very hidden”
    • Hidden rows and columns with content
    • Pivot caches holding the raw source rows
    • Data connections and server names
    • Comments, external links, defined names
  • PPTXPowerPoint

    Speaker notes you forgot

    • Hidden slides, still in the deck
    • Objects parked just off the slide
    • Comments and their authors
    • Cropped pictures that keep the original
    • Leftovers on masters and layouts
  • JPGPNGPhotos

    GPS down to the street

    • Camera, lens, and serial numbers
    • Owner and artist names
    • Edit history and software trails
    • The embedded thumbnail from before your crop
    • Text notes hidden inside PNG files

Prove it

Don’t take our word for it. Watch the network.

  1. Open DevToolsRight-click this page, choose Inspect, and open the Network tab. That panel shows every request the page makes.
  2. Drop in a fileScan anything — a filing, a contract, a photo. Use a sample document if you would rather not test with your own.
  3. Watch nothing happenThe scan makes no request to any other site — anything in the list is just this site loading its own code. There is no upload endpoint to send your file to.
Network panel, during a scan

No third-party requests · 0 uploads — the file never leaves this tab

Turn Wi-Fi off — it still scans.

Enforced, not promised: a strict Content-Security-Policy on every response blocks connections to anywhere but this site. Once the page has loaded, you can go offline and keep scanning.

Pricing

The paywall is a decision, not a timer: scan first, read every finding free, and pay once only when you want the fix.

What Scan (free) and Pro include
ScanFreeforeverProwas $39, now $29one-timeLaunch price — first 100 buyers
Scans and filesUnlimitedUnlimited
Every finding shown in full — recovered content includedIncludedIncluded
Sample documents to try in ten secondsIncludedIncluded
Cleaned-file downloads, every formatNot includedIncluded
Batch mode — multiple files at onceNot includedIncluded
Verification Record — the before/after findings report (PDF)Not includedIncluded
Every format we add laterNot includedIncluded

One payment, any number of your devices. 14-day refunds — email hello@stillreadable.com.

For scale: Acrobat Pro runs about $240 every year, and enterprise metadata-cleaning tools run $89–98 per seat. Pro is one payment, and scanning stays free either way.

Questions

Is anything uploaded?

No. The scanner runs in a Web Worker inside this page: your file is read in your browser’s memory and never leaves it. There is no upload endpoint to send it to, and the Content-Security-Policy on every response blocks connections to anywhere but this site — open DevTools and watch a scan make no request to any other site.

What does “recoverable” mean?

Content a reader can get back out of the file without special skills: text sitting under a drawn black box, deleted text still stored as a tracked change, a hidden sheet’s data, the original picture behind a crop, the GPS position in a photo. StillReadable finds what is still recoverable and shows it to you in full.

Is this a compliance guarantee?

No. StillReadable shows what it found, and Pro re-scans every cleaned file to show before and after. It is not legal advice, not a certification, and not a substitute for professional review of a sensitive release. What it gives you is evidence.

What about scanned PDFs?

Pages that are pictures of text are out of scope: there is no OCR, so words inside a scanned image are not read and cannot be checked. The scan notes this so a clean-looking result on a scanned file is never mistaken for a verdict.

Why one-time and not a subscription?

Because the work happens on your machine — cleaning a file costs us nothing to run, so there is nothing to meter. You pay once; the license works on any number of your devices, and every format we add later is included.

What about refunds?

14 days, no questions. Email hello@stillreadable.com from the address you paid with.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Everything — scanning and cleaning — runs locally once the page has loaded. Load it, switch Wi-Fi off, and scan; that is also the easiest way to prove nothing is uploaded.

Which browsers are supported?

Current Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, and Safari 17 or newer — desktop or laptop is the comfortable place for big files. It is all standard web APIs; there is nothing to install.