Remove PDF Metadata

What a PDF stores besides text

Inside every document there is a dictionary of details: author, title, the program it was made in, creation and modification dates, and sometimes an organization name. Next to it usually sits a second copy of the same data in XMP format, plus an identifier that lets two copies of the document be recognized as the same file.

All of this travels along with your contract, résumé, or business proposal, and any viewer reads it in seconds.

Traces left behind by cleaning in other services

PDF edits are appended to the end of the file without touching the old contents. Edit a document, and the previous version of the author details stays inside, simply unreferenced. The tool shows such sets in a separate table and removes them along with the current ones.

Reviewer comments are a second trace of this kind. Every comment records the author's name and time. The comment text stays in place; the name under it is removed.

What gets removed

• document details: title, author, subject, keywords, program, dates, organization;
• XMP at any level: document, pages, images;
• data from previous edits and redundant file revisions;
• the document identifier that links copies together;
• PieceInfo blocks: private notes left by Word, Illustrator, and InDesign;
• optional, by checkbox: comment author names, embedded files, scripts, and actions on opening.

Image metadata

Photos carry their own fields: coordinates, camera model, serial number. Use metadata removal to strip them, and EXIF viewer to see what is stored there.