All guides

How to remove metadata from a PDF before you share it

Published October 28, 2026 by Jason Nel

Every PDF carries information that isn’t on the page. Open the document properties in almost any PDF reader and you may find the author’s full name, the company’s name, the program and computer that made the file, and the exact date and time it was created and last changed. Most of the time that’s harmless. Sometimes it gives away more than you mean to share.

What PDF metadata contains

  • Document properties: title, author, subject, keywords, the application that created the document (such as Microsoft Word), the PDF producer (the software that wrote the PDF) and the created and modified dates. Some programs add custom properties too, like a company name, a document number or a template name.
  • XMP metadata: a hidden block of XML that usually repeats the properties above, and may add the editing history, document IDs and more.
  • Metadata on images and pages: photos placed into a document can keep their own XMP data, which can include camera details or the name of the person who edited them.
  • App-private data: programs such as Adobe Illustrator can store their own editing data inside the PDF.
  • Older copies: when a PDF is edited and saved again, some programs add the changes to the end of the file and leave the old version, including the old properties, still inside it.

Why remove it?

  • Anonymity. A report, complaint or document published without a name can still name its author in the properties.
  • Client and business confidentiality. Lawyers and consultants often reuse templates; the properties can show another client’s name or the original author.
  • Job applications. A CV whose properties say “Created with Resume Builder 3” or show a former employer’s template isn’t a good look.
  • Publishing online. Search engines read the title property and may show it in results, so an old working title can turn up in public.

How to remove metadata step by step

  1. Open Remove PDF metadata and choose your PDF. It’s read in your browser and never uploaded, which matters when the whole point is privacy.
  2. Look at the Found in this file list to see the properties the file carries now.
  3. Keep Remove all metadata selected and click the button. This removes the properties, the XMP metadata on the document and on its pages and images, app-private data and leftover older copies.
  4. Download the cleaned PDF. To check, open it in your PDF reader and look at File › Properties (or Document Properties). The fields should be empty.

Want to set a proper title instead?

Choose Edit properties. The current title, author, subject, keywords and application names are filled in, so you can correct them, or clear a box to remove that property. You can keep or drop the created and modified dates. A clear title helps when the PDF goes on a website, because browsers show it in the tab and search engines may use it in results.

What metadata removal doesn’t do

  • It doesn’t touch the page. Names, signatures and numbers printed on the pages stay. To hide those, use Redact PDF; our guide to redacting a PDF properly explains how.
  • It doesn’t change the file name. Rename the file itself if the name gives something away.
  • PDF/A status is lost. Archival PDF/A files need their XMP metadata. If you need an archive copy, convert the cleaned file again with PDF to PDF/A.