Review & data · guide
What Edit PDF metadata does
Edit PDF metadata shows what a PDF says about itself, including the author, the software that made it and when, and lets you change the Title, Author and Subject or remove the lot. It reads both places metadata lives, the document properties and the hidden XMP packet, because clearing only one leaves the other naming the author. When it removes the document properties or an XMP packet, it deletes the object from the file, not just the link to it. Nothing is uploaded.
How to remove metadata from a PDF
- Choose one PDF Select the PDF to inspect. Its Title, Author, Creator and Producer, and how many fields its XMP packet holds, are shown before anything changes; nothing is uploaded.
- Edit or remove Change the Title, Author or Subject, or tick Remove all metadata to delete the document properties, the XMP packets attached to the document, its pages and its images, and private authoring data, and replace the file identifier with a random one. Check the three boxes before you save: they are filled from the file only while they are empty, so after you open a second PDF in the same tab they can still hold the first PDF's values. Unless Remove all metadata is ticked, a save writes what the three boxes say and deletes any of the three whose box is empty.
- Save and read the report Select Save metadata and read the report. After a full removal the saved copy is re-opened and checked for leftovers, and the report lists what removing metadata does not touch, such as comments and form values.
Worked example
Take your name out of a report exported from Word before it goes on a website.
- Starting point
- Choose the PDF. Before anything changes, the tool shows its Title, Author, Creator and Producer, and how many fields its XMP packet carries.
- What to do
- Tick Remove all metadata and select Save metadata. To publish with a title, open the saved copy, untick Remove all metadata, type the Title, clear the Author and Subject boxes unless you want them, and save again.
- Result
- After the first save, expect a copy whose name ends in -no-metadata.pdf. Open it here again: Title, Author, Creator and Producer say Not set and XMP says None.
If the result is not right
If a name is still visible on a page, edit the source or use an appropriate redaction workflow. Do not assume that clearing Author removes every personal reference.
Limits worth knowing
- Names can also occur in page text, pictures, annotations or other structures. Metadata cleanup is not complete anonymisation.
Questions and answers
How do I remove the author's name from a PDF?
Tick Remove all metadata and save. That clears the author from both the document properties and the XMP packet, which can hold a second copy. To replace the name instead, type the new one in Author and save; the document's old XMP packet is removed so it cannot contradict the new name. Comments and form fields can carry names too, and are not changed.
Should I remove metadata from a PDF before publishing it?
Usually, yes. Remove anything you did not choose to publish: a personal name in Author, an old draft's heading in Title, the software named in Creator and Producer, and the dates. A Title you chose is worth keeping: after Remove all metadata, open the cleaned copy, untick Remove all metadata, type the Title, clear the Author and Subject boxes unless you want them, and save again. If the file must be PDF/A, clean it first and convert it last, because PDF/A requires an XMP packet.
What does Remove all metadata leave behind?
Everything that is content rather than metadata: the text on the pages, comments and annotations with their authors, form field values, file attachments and digital signatures, and any camera data inside embedded photos. After a full removal the report reminds you of all of these except the photo data; Flatten PDF and Redact PDF deal with comments, form values and page text. A digital signature stays in the file but stops validating, because saving here rewrites the whole file, so remove metadata before a document is signed. A photo can also carry its own XMP packet inside the image data. Remove all metadata does not clear it, and if it is still readable in the saved file the removal stops with a Verification failed error instead of giving you a file.
Can I change the Creator, Producer or dates?
Not by typing: this page edits the Title, Author and Subject, and only shows the Creator and Producer. Remove all metadata deletes those along with the Keywords, the creation and modification dates and the XMP packet, and you can then type a Title back into the cleaned copy. Emptying the Title, Author or Subject box and saving deletes that field, and, as with any edit here, the document's XMP packet.
How can I check the metadata is really gone?
Open the saved copy here again: it is read the same way before anything changes, so Title, Author, Creator and Producer should say Not set and XMP should say None. A full removal is also checked before you get the file: the result is re-opened and searched, in its structure and its raw bytes, and you get an error instead of a file if an information dictionary or XMP packet is left. A viewer's Properties panel may read only one of the two places metadata is kept, so it is not proof on its own.
Does saving here add its own name or a new date to the file?
No. Many PDF tools write their own name into Producer and stamp a new modification date whenever they save; this one does not, so the saved file says only what you left in it. Remove all metadata also replaces the file's permanent identifier with a random one, so the cleaned copy cannot be matched to the original by that identifier.