You export a document to PDF, send it off, and the recipient opens File → Properties. There's your name, filled in by Word from your Office account or your computer's user name. Or worse: a previous employer's name, carried over from a template you reused years ago.

Here's how to find every place your name can hide in a PDF, and how to remove it.

Where your name can be in a PDF

  1. The Author field. The one File → Properties shows. Word, Pages, Google Docs exports and most other apps fill it in automatically.
  2. The hidden XMP copy. PDFs keep a second copy of the details (author, title, tool, dates) in a block called XMP. Changing the Author field in some apps leaves this copy untouched, so the old name is still inside.
  3. Comments and highlights. Every sticky note, highlight and markup records the name of the person who made it. That's how Acrobat shows who said what.
  4. Digital signatures. A signed PDF holds the signer's name and certificate, plus the signing time.
  5. Photos inside the PDF. A photo placed in the document can carry its own details: artist name, copyright, camera and location.
  6. Editing history. The XMP block can record a trail of saves, the apps used and document IDs from earlier versions.
  7. The file name. It sounds obvious, but "Jane-Smith-draft-v3.pdf" says it all.

The name can also be on the pages themselves, in a header, footer or title page. No metadata tool touches what's printed on the page. Remove that in the original document.

Check what your PDF says

  • Any PDF reader: File → Properties (or Document properties) shows the Author field and the basic details.
  • Comments: open the comments panel in Acrobat, Preview or your browser's PDF viewer and see whose names appear.
  • Everything at once: drop the file on our PDF metadata page. Without an account, it reads the PDF in your browser, without uploading it, and lists what it finds: author name, software, dates, editing history, signatures, AI labels and photo details.

Stop your name going in to begin with

Word (Windows): before exporting, go to File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document, and remove Document Properties and Personal Information. To stop Word adding it to this document again, keep the option "Remove personal information from file properties on save" ticked in the Trust Center's privacy settings.

Word (Mac): Word → Preferences → Security & Privacy → Remove personal information from this file on save.

Google Docs: the PDF download usually takes the document's title and little else, but check File → Properties on the result anyway.

Remove it from a PDF you already have

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Use Remove Hidden Information or Sanitize Document (in the Redact tools). Both clear the author, the XMP copy and other hidden data. You need the paid version. Just editing the Author field in File → Properties isn't enough, because the XMP copy can keep the old name.

Mac Preview

Preview can't edit the author. Printing to a new PDF (File → Print → PDF → Save as PDF) rebuilds the file and can drop the old details, but it can also lose links and form fields.

ExifTool

exiftool -all:all= file.pdf hides the author, but it doesn't delete it. ExifTool adds an update to the end of the file and leaves the original details above it. We tested this on a PDF exported from Word: the author name was still in the file afterwards, and ExifTool's own undo command restored it. ExifTool's documentation recommends rewriting the file afterwards with qpdf --linearize in.pdf out.pdf, and in our test that made it permanent.

Our PDF metadata remover

The PDF metadata remover rewrites the whole file, so there's no older copy left inside. It removes the author and the XMP copy, the title, subject, keywords, software, dates and editing history. It also removes digital signatures by default (you can choose to keep one) and strips artist, camera and location details from photos inside the PDF. Then it opens the clean file again to confirm none of that is left.

It leaves your content alone, and that includes comments and highlights. They're part of the document, so their names stay. If you don't want those names in the file, delete the comments or flatten them before cleaning.

A quick checklist before you send

  1. Name the file something neutral.
  2. Check the pages for your name in headers, footers or a title page.
  3. Delete or flatten comments you don't want to share.
  4. Clean the file's hidden details.
  5. Open File → Properties on the result and check it's blank.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my PDF show someone else's name as the author?

The author field is usually copied from the document it was made from. If you started from a template, a colleague's file or an old document, their name can come along. It can also be the name on the computer or Office account that made the file.

How do I remove the author from a PDF for free?

Clean the source document before exporting (Word's Inspect Document), or use our PDF metadata remover: a free account includes 3 cleans a month. On the command line, ExifTool followed by qpdf also works.

If I change the author in File → Properties, is the old name gone?

Not always. PDFs keep a hidden XMP copy of the same details, and some apps only change the visible field. Some tools also add the change on top of the old data instead of replacing it. Rewriting the file removes both.

Do comments in a PDF show my name?

Yes. Each comment, highlight and sticky note records its author's name. Metadata cleaners, including ours, leave comments in place, because they're part of the document. Delete or flatten them if you don't want the names shared.

Can I anonymise a PDF for blind peer review?

Yes. Remove your name from the pages, headers and file name. Delete tracked changes and comments in the source document, then clean the PDF's hidden details. Finally, check File → Properties on the result.

Does removing the author change how the PDF looks?

No. The pages, text and images stay exactly as they were. The only visible difference can come from a digital signature, which is removed unless you choose to keep it.