Guide
What your PDF says about you, and how to change it
Every PDF carries information that isn’t on its pages: a title, an author, the program that made it, when it was created and changed. Most people never see it, but search engines, document systems and anyone who opens File → Properties do. Sometimes it’s useful; sometimes it reveals more than you meant to share, such as a personal name on a company report or an old draft’s title. This tool shows what’s there, lets you change it, and can remove it completely.
What the properties are
- Title: shown in browser tabs and reader title bars, and often used by search engines as the headline for a PDF.
- Author: usually filled in automatically with the name of the computer’s user.
- Subject and keywords: descriptive fields used by document management systems.
- Creator: the application that made the original, like Word or InDesign.
- Producer: the software that wrote the PDF.
- Created and modified: dates, which reveal when a document was really prepared.
The privacy check
Next to the fields, the tool reports things worth knowing before you send or publish a file:
- an XMP metadata block, a detailed XML copy of the properties that can include editing history,
- JavaScript, which some readers run when the file opens,
- attached files that travel inside the PDF,
- comments and annotations, form fields and bookmarks,
- application data on pages, private data that design software leaves behind.
Warnings appear for JavaScript and attachments, because removing metadata doesn’t remove them.
Editing for publishing
If PDFs on your website show up in search results as “untitled” or with a file name, give each a clear title, like you would a web page. Turn on Show the title instead of the file name so readers display it too. When the file has an XMP block, keep Remove the old XMP copy on; otherwise some readers keep showing the old values.
Stripping before sharing
Remove all metadata clears every property, the XMP block, and the application data stored on pages. Use it before sending documents outside your organisation, posting forms publicly, or sharing files anonymously, for example for peer review.
Metadata is only part of a document’s hidden information. Also check:
- comments and reviewer names: Remove PDF Annotations,
- names and numbers in the text: Redact PDF,
- who may open the file: Protect PDF.
Archival files (PDF/A)
PDF/A files must carry XMP metadata. Removing it makes a file no longer valid PDF/A. If you work with an archive that requires PDF/A, keep the original.
Nothing is uploaded
The file is read and rewritten in your browser. That matters most precisely for the files you’re cleaning up: the ones that shouldn’t leave your hands with hidden details attached.
A worked example: publishing a report on a website
A small charity is about to upload its annual report.
- Open the PDF: the title reads Microsoft Word - AR2026_final_v7.docx, the author is a volunteer’s full name, and the privacy check shows an XMP block.
- Type the title Annual Report 2026, Riverside Food Bank, set the author to the charity’s name, and add keywords such as annual report, food bank, Riverside.
- Keep both options on and save.
- Upload the new file. Browser tabs and search results now show a proper title, and the volunteer’s name is gone.
Dates
Creation and modification dates can be changed or cleared. Clearing them is part of anonymising a file; changing them to misrepresent when a document was made is something to avoid, especially for contracts and evidence.
Checked against the current version of the PDF Metadata Editor on .