How to remove metadata from a PDF
A PDF often says who made it, with what, and when, without showing any of it on the page. Here is how to see it and remove it before you share the file.
What a PDF remembers
Most PDFs store an author (often your full name or your computer's user name), a title, the program that created the document, the program that turned it into a PDF with version numbers, and the dates it was created and last changed. Many also carry an XMP packet repeating all that, sometimes with edit history, plus private application data (PieceInfo) and a unique file ID. None of it appears on the page, but anyone can open the document properties and read it.
Why it matters
A CV, a legal filing, a quote or a leaked document can reveal a name, a company's software or an edit date you did not intend to share. The metadata is a separate problem from what is written in the document itself.
In Word, before you export
If the PDF comes from a Word document, Microsoft's Document Inspector removes document properties and personal information from the Word file: go to File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document. Microsoft recommends running it on a copy, because the removal cannot always be undone. It cleans the Word file; it does not clean a PDF that already exists.
In Adobe Acrobat Pro
Adobe's help describes a Sanitize document feature in Acrobat Pro: choose All tools, Redact a PDF, Sanitize document, then Remove all (or Selectively remove to pick items), and save the sanitized copy. It removes much more than metadata, including comments, attachments, scripts and hidden layers, which is useful when you want that but heavier than you may need. Acrobat Pro is a paid product.
In the browser, without uploading
The PDF metadata remover lists what each PDF carries as soon as you drop it, before anything is changed: the author, title, subject, keywords, creating program, PDF producer and dates, plus how many XMP packets, whether there is private PieceInfo data, and whether it has a file ID. Press Remove metadata and download the cleaned PDF.
- Removed: the information dictionary, XMP metadata on the document and on pages, images and fonts, PieceInfo private data, the file ID, and objects nothing refers to any more.
- Kept as they are: pages, text, fonts, images, links, bookmarks and form fields.
- Name: the cleaned file keeps its original name, because a name like report-clean.pdf would itself say the file was scrubbed. The file on your device is never changed; the cleaned copy is a new download.
On a test PDF with a title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and two dates, the tool reported removing 8 info fields, and reading the result back showed none of them while the page count stayed the same.
Everything happens inside your browser tab, so the document never leaves your device.
What it cannot see
It removes document metadata only. Names written in the text, in comments, in headers and footers, or in the EXIF data of photos placed on the pages are not touched. To hide visible content, see how to redact a PDF, and clean photos with the EXIF remover before you put them in a document. For the photo side of this problem, read what EXIF data is.
Questions
Can I just see the metadata without removing it?
Yes. Drop the PDF on the PDF metadata remover and read the list; nothing changes until you press Remove metadata.
Does removing metadata change how the PDF looks?
No. Pages, text, fonts, images, links, bookmarks and form fields are kept; only the metadata and unreferenced objects are removed.
Does it remove the author name written inside the document?
No. It only removes metadata. Names in the visible text, comments or embedded photos need separate attention.
Is my PDF uploaded to remove the metadata?
No. The file is read and rewritten by code running in your browser tab, so a CV, contract or legal filing never leaves your device.