Remove Metadata from PDF
Remove the author name, software, dates and hidden edit history from a PDF before you send it. The pages look exactly the same.
Drop a PDF
PDF · or click to choose
What is PDF metadata?
A PDF records more about itself than what is on its pages. Open its properties and you will often find an author name, the app that created it, the software that saved it, and the dates it was created and last changed.
Most of that comes from the computer, not from you. The author is usually the name on the account that wrote the original document, so a PDF made from a colleague's template can carry their name, or your company's. Many PDFs also hold a second, hidden copy of these details (XMP), along with document IDs and an editing history.
There is more inside some files. Photos placed in a PDF keep their own location and camera details. A digitally signed PDF names the signer and the signing date. Documents made or edited with AI tools can carry labels that say so.
Many tools only hide this information. They add an update to the end of the file that marks the old details as replaced, while the originals are still inside and can be recovered. This tool rewrites the whole file, so the old details are gone, then reads it again to check.
What gets removed
Author and software
The author name, and the app and software that created and saved the file, from both the document properties and the hidden XMP data.
Dates and edit history
Created and last-edited dates, document IDs and the editing history that apps such as Acrobat leave inside the file.
Signatures, photos and AI labels
Digital signatures (signer name and signing date) unless you keep them, the location and camera details inside photos in the PDF, and AI content labels (C2PA).
Why people remove it
Anonymous submissions
Blind peer review, anonymous applications and tip-offs all fall apart if the file names its author.
Sending contracts and proposals
A PDF built from an old template can name a previous client, a colleague or another company.
Publishing documents
Reports, white papers and forms you post online reveal who wrote them, with which software, and when.
Sharing photos in a document
Photos pasted into a PDF can still carry the place they were taken.
How it works
- Drop your file. Signed out, we show you what it carries, read in your browser without uploading it.
- Clean it. With a free account it is sent over an encrypted connection to our server in Germany and cleaned there. The original is deleted as soon as it is done.
- We check it. The clean file is read again to confirm nothing identifying is left and that the file is intact.
- Download it. The download works once. The clean file is then deleted, or after 15 minutes if you never download it.
Other ways to remove PDF metadata
Some of the apps you already use can remove part of it. Here is what each does, and what it misses.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
The Redact tools include Remove Hidden Information (called Sanitize Document in newer versions), which removes metadata properly. It needs the paid version; the free Acrobat Reader cannot do it.
Microsoft Word, before you export
Use File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document to remove your name from the Word file first. The PDF you then export still records the app and the dates.
Preview on a Mac
Preview shows some of the properties but has no option to remove them. Exporting or printing to a new PDF still records the app and the date.
With ExifTool
The command below blanks the visible fields, but ExifTool adds its change as an update at the end of the file, and its own documentation notes that the original details can be recovered. The file has to be rewritten afterwards to remove them for good.
exiftool -all:all= document.pdfQuestions
How do I remove metadata from a PDF?
Drop the PDF above, then create a free account (or sign in) and click Clean file. When it is done, download the clean copy. Free accounts can clean 3 PDFs, videos or RAW photos a month.
How do I remove the author name from a PDF?
Cleaning removes it. The author name is stored in two places, the document properties and the hidden XMP data, and both are removed. The clean file is read again afterwards to confirm no name is left.
Will the PDF look different afterwards?
No. The pages, text and images stay the same. Only the hidden information is removed.
What happens to a digitally signed PDF?
By default the signature is removed, because it names the signer and the signing date, and changing the file would break it anyway. If you need the signature, tick Keep the digital signature before cleaning.
Does it remove GPS from photos inside the PDF?
Yes. Photos placed in a PDF often keep their own location and camera details. These are removed without changing the photos.
Can removed PDF metadata be recovered?
Not from a file cleaned here. The whole file is rewritten, so the old details are no longer inside it. That is not true of every tool: some only add an update on top, and the originals can still be read.
Is it safe to upload a confidential PDF?
It travels over an encrypted connection to our server in Germany. The original is deleted as soon as it is cleaned, and the clean copy after you download it, or after 15 minutes. Nobody looks at it.
Does it remove text or comments I can see on the page?
No. It removes hidden metadata only. Anything visible on the page, including comments and attached files, stays as it is.
Also clean Videos and RAW photos. Photos (JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC) never leave your device: clean them in your browser. Developers can do all of this through our API.