Every PDF you send carries details you never typed: the author's name, the app and version that made it, and when it was created and edited. Some carry much more. One PDF you can check by hand. A folder of contracts, invoices or reports needs a method that cleans them all, and the common free one leaves more behind than it claims.

We tested it, and our own cleaner, on the same four real PDFs: a Word export, a PDF signed with Acrobat Sign, a PDF from Adobe Express, and a PDF with an iPhone photo in it.

What hidden information is in a PDF?

  • Document properties: author, the app that made it, created and modified dates.
  • XMP metadata: a second copy of the same details, plus IDs that can link versions of a file.
  • Photos inside the PDF: each placed photo keeps its own EXIF data, including the phone model and GPS position.
  • Digital signatures: the signer's name and certificate, and the signing date.
  • Content Credentials (C2PA): a signed record of which app made or edited the file. Adobe Express adds them.
  • Earlier versions: a PDF edited in place can still contain the old values.

How do I remove metadata from multiple PDFs at once?

Your options, easiest first:

  • Our PDF cleaner: drop in several PDFs, and each is rewritten without its metadata, including photos inside it. 10 per batch on Pro, 50 on Business; download them together as a zip. No software to install.
  • Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid): the Action Wizard can run "Remove Hidden Information" on a whole folder.
  • ExifTool and qpdf (free, Terminal): removes the document properties, but in our test it left a photo's GPS, a signature and Content Credentials. Details below.

How to remove metadata from multiple PDF files on a Mac

macOS has no built-in way to clean PDF metadata in bulk. Preview can show a PDF's details, but it doesn't strip them from a batch of files. On a Mac, your choices are our PDF cleaner on the website, Acrobat Pro if you have it, or ExifTool and qpdf in Terminal (both install with Homebrew).

How to remove metadata from multiple PDFs on Windows

File Explorer's "Remove Properties and Personal Information" is built for photos and Office files and covers little in PDFs. The same three choices apply: our PDF cleaner, Acrobat Pro, or ExifTool and qpdf (the Terminal steps below also run in WSL).

Does printing to PDF remove metadata?

Partly. "Microsoft Print to PDF" or macOS "Save as PDF" makes a new file, so the original's author and history don't carry over. But the new file gets its own details instead: the app that printed it, the date, and often the file name as its title. It can also drop links, bookmarks and form fields. It's fine for a one-off, slow for a folder.

Stop it happening in the first place

If your PDFs come from Word, run File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document before exporting. That removes your name and comments from the Word file, so the PDF never gets them. It helps with new documents, not ones you already have.

Is removing PDF metadata with ExifTool permanent?

Not on its own, and ExifTool says so itself: "ExifTool PDF edits are reversible." It adds an update to the end of the file instead of rewriting it. We ran the usual command on the Word PDF, then undid it with exiftool -PDF-update:all=, and the author's name came straight back.

ExifTool's documentation recommends rewriting the file with qpdf afterwards, which makes the removal permanent. As a folder loop in Terminal (Mac, Linux, or WSL on Windows):

mkdir -p clean
for f in *.pdf; do
  exiftool -q -all:all= -o /tmp/strip.pdf "$f" && qpdf --linearize /tmp/strip.pdf "clean/$f"
  rm -f /tmp/strip.pdf
done

That removed the document properties and XMP from all four files. It left behind:

PDF Still there after ExifTool + qpdf
PDF with an iPhone photo The photo's phone model (iPhone 15 Pro) and GPS position
Acrobat Sign PDF The digital signature, with the signer's details and signing date
Adobe Express PDF The Content Credentials
Word PDF Nothing we could find

None of those are document metadata, so metadata tools don't look at them. The GPS one surprises people: the document looks clean in every properties panel, while a photo inside it still says where it was taken.

What our PDF cleaner removed from the same files

PDF Removed Left
Word PDF Author, dates, software, IDs, XMP Nothing
PDF with an iPhone photo Dates, the photo's EXIF and GPS Nothing
Acrobat Sign PDF Author, dates, software, IDs, XMP, the signature An empty, unsigned signature box
Adobe Express PDF Author, dates, software, IDs, XMP, titles, Content Credentials Nothing

Each file is rewritten from scratch, not patched, so nothing can be restored. Signatures are removed by default, because they name the signer. You can keep them, but they'll show as invalid, since cleaning changes the file. Every cleaned PDF is opened again and checked before you get it.

For developers: whole folders through the API

For a shared drive or a document pipeline, the metadata removal API cleans each PDF with one call:

for f in *.pdf; do
  url=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.aimetadatacleaner.com/v1/clean \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $AMC_API_KEY" -F "file=@$f" \
    | python3 -c "import sys, json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['download_url'])")
  curl -s -o "clean-$f" "$url"
done

A version that reports what each file contained, and handles errors, is in our bulk metadata guide. Python recipes, and what pypdf and pikepdf miss, are in removing PDF metadata in Python. The API is part of the Business plan.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove metadata from multiple PDFs at once?

The easiest way is a batch cleaner like our PDF page: 10 PDFs at once on Pro, 50 on Business, photos inside included. Free: ExifTool plus qpdf in Terminal, which removes document properties but not signatures, Content Credentials or photo data inside the PDF.

How do I clear PDF metadata on a Mac?

macOS has no built-in option for it. Use an online PDF cleaner, Acrobat Pro, or ExifTool followed by qpdf in Terminal.

Is removing PDF metadata with ExifTool permanent?

No. ExifTool appends an update, and the old values stay in the file until it's rewritten. Running qpdf afterwards makes it permanent.

Does removing metadata from a PDF remove the photo metadata inside it?

Not with metadata tools. A photo placed in a PDF keeps its own EXIF data, including GPS. It has to be cleaned inside the PDF, which our cleaner does.

Does removing PDF metadata change the content?

No. Text, images, fonts, links and layout stay the same. Removing a digital signature removes the signature, not what was signed.

Is there a free bulk PDF metadata remover?

ExifTool plus qpdf is free and handles document properties across a folder. Our PDF page cleans one PDF at a time, three a month, on a free account.