Image privacy redaction — Troubleshooting

Worked example

If the export fails, a letter still shows or the covered area is too big, suspect an empty mask, a small pixel size or a wide brush.

If the export reports that you should brush over the area first, no region is marked. This also happens after Clear all marks or after pressing Escape while the image is focused, which wipes every stroke. Paint again, check that the area shows blue, and run the export.

If one letter still peeks out, the block grid did not reach it. Raise Pixel size from 18 px to 36 px or more, and paint a wider band that overshoots the text by a few pixels on each side. Smaller blocks cover less per block, so a narrow stroke can miss an edge character.

If the covered area looks far bigger than you intended, the brush was larger on the image than it looked on screen, or a big pixel size expanded each touched block. Lower Brush size to 20 to 30 px for tight lines and use Erase mark to clean the overshoot rather than starting over.

If you cannot paint on a phone because the page scrolls, use a larger Brush size and make slow single strokes. On a screenshot wider than 3000 px, edit on a desktop screen so the brush is accurate. Never share the file until you have reopened the saved result and checked every region.

Screenshot with a marked private region

Export with manually covered region

The Escape key clears every mark at once, so avoid pressing it by habit while the image is focused.