Selection
Select moves or resizes an edit. Crop trims only the exported copy.
Tool guide and support
Blackout Studio uses a familiar Paint-style ribbon, with secure redaction added where it matters.
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How to use Blackout Studio
- Open an image or PDF, drag a file in, or paste a screenshot.
- For a PDF, choose Blackout, Blur, or Pixelate and click a word to apply the effect directly. Use the PDF Pages strip to move between pages.
- Use Paint-style tools to crop, add arrows, boxes, circles, text, highlighted areas, numbered steps, or freehand marks.
- Choose a colour, opacity, and size in the ribbon. Use the brush shape and XS–XL size controls for freehand work.
- Select any edit to move or resize it. Ctrl+C copies, Ctrl+X cuts, Ctrl+V pastes, Ctrl+Z undoes, and Ctrl+Y redoes.
- Choose Export secure copy. Share that export—not the original.
Ribbon tools
Image & clipboard
Open loads an image or PDF. Paste imports a screenshot or a copied edit. Undo and Redo step through edit history.
Privacy tools
Blackout permanently covers pixels. Blur softens them. Pixelate mosaics them. Click PDF text to snap a tool to a word.
Brushes
Brush draws freehand callouts. Choose Circle or Square, then XS, S, M, L, or XL.
Shapes & annotations
Box, Arrow, Circle, Highlight, Text, and Step make a screenshot easy to understand.
Colours & view
Choose from a structured 256-colour indexed palette or quick swatches. Set opacity from 0–100%, change size in pixels, and use minus, plus, or Fit to control zoom.
Frequently asked questions
Does Blackout Studio upload my files?
No. Processing happens locally on your Windows device. The app has no account, upload, tracking, advertising, or cloud processing features.
Are privacy effects permanent?
Yes. Blackout, blur, and pixelation are flattened into the exported copy. Always share the exported copy, not the original.
What makes the PDF export secure?
The exported PDF is rebuilt as image-only pages. Its original PDF text cannot be selected, copied, searched, or recovered from the exported document.
What happens to metadata?
Image exports are newly encoded, so source EXIF and other source metadata are not carried forward. PDF exports are newly created image-only documents, with no source text layer or document metadata.
Contact support
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