How to Blur or Redact Sensitive Information in Screenshots
Sharing a bug report, documentation guide, or customer support ticket? Never leak API keys, auth tokens, email addresses, or internal metrics. Here is how to redact screenshots safely.
⚠️ Critical Warning: Do Not Use Translucent Digital Highlighters
A common and dangerous mistake on iOS and Mac is scribbling over text with the default black digital highlighter or marker tool. Because digital highlighters have opacity levels (e.g., 85%), anyone who downloads your image can adjust brightness, contrast, and exposure to reveal the hidden text underneath in seconds.
The 3 Safe Methods to Mask Information
To truly protect private information, the underlying pixel values must be mathematically rewritten or replaced before the image leaves your machine:
1. Glass Blur
Calculates a Gaussian or Box blur matrix over the bounding box. Retains the aesthetic layout of the page while rendering text completely illegible.
2. Mosaic Pixelation
Downsamples the selected region into chunky color blocks. This is the industry standard for developer logs, Jira tickets, and bug reports.
3. Solid Blackout
Replaces the entire bounding box with 100% opaque black pixels. Recommended for HIPAA, PCI-DSS compliance, credit cards, and master passwords.
Step-by-Step: Redacting in Chrome in 10 Seconds
Capture the Screen with GoFully
Click the GoFully extension icon and choose your capture mode (Full Page, Visible Area, or Selected Region).
Select the Redaction Tool
In the toolbar at the top of the editor, click the Redact button. Choose your style: Blur, Pixelate, or Blackout.
Draw Across Sensitive Fields
Click and drag over passwords, auth tokens, database credentials, or personal names. The blur is processed in local browser memory with zero cloud uploads.
Copy or Save
Click Copy to Clipboard (Ctrl+C / Cmd+C) to paste directly into Slack, Linear, or GitHub, or download as a high-resolution PNG.
Pre-Sharing Security Checklist
Auto-redact finds the sensitive text for you
Open the Blur menu in the editor and choose Auto-redact sensitive info. GoFully reads the screenshot on your device and covers what it finds.
What it covers
Emails, card numbers, phone numbers, ID numbers, IP addresses and API keys.
You stay in control
Each match gets a black box. Move or delete any box, then add your own blur for anything it missed.
Undo in one step
Cmd/Ctrl+Z removes every auto-redact box at once.
Read the full walkthrough
See How to Auto-Redact Emails, Card Numbers and API Keys in Screenshots in the guides list.
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