Remove PDF Metadata
See what your PDF quietly reveals about you — author, software, timestamps — and strip it out.
Processed on your device — no upload
How to remove PDF metadata
- Choose the PDF you are about to send somewhere.
- Read what it currently reveals — author, software, timestamps.
- Press strip. A clean copy downloads to your device.
How it works
Alongside its pages, a PDF carries a small information dictionary: title, author, subject, keywords, the application that created it, the library that wrote it, and the creation and modification timestamps. Almost all of it is filled in automatically, and almost nobody who sends a PDF knows it is there.
It leaks more than it looks. Author is usually the account name on the computer that made the file, which is often a person's real full name. Creator names the software and frequently its version, which tells a reader what you run and how out of date it is. Timestamps reveal when a document was really written — awkward when the covering email says it took a fortnight.
The tool reads those entries and shows you exactly what is set before changing anything, because the useful part is often simply finding out. Stripping then blanks every standard entry and writes the timestamps as the Unix epoch rather than today's date — since “cleaned this afternoon” is itself a small disclosure.
Be clear about the limits. This clears the standard document information dictionary. A PDF can also carry XMP metadata packets, per-image EXIF inside embedded photographs, and annotations bearing author names. For everyday sending this is the right clean-up; for genuinely high-stakes anonymity, treat it as one step of several and have the result checked.
A worked example
You are applying for a job and about to email cv.pdf. Before sending, you drop it into the tool.
Four fields come back. Author reads your full legal name as configured on your laptop — fine here, but not on an anonymous submission. Creator says Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365. Title reads cv-v7-FINAL-usethisone, the working filename from before you tidied it. Created shows a date eight months ago.
The title is the interesting one. It is not the filename — you renamed that — it is an internal field carried over from the document that was saved as. Some readers and some email clients display it in the window bar instead of the filename, so the recruiter may see cv-v7-FINAL-usethisone rather than cv.
Press Strip metadata and download. You get cv-clean.pdf and Cleared 4 metadata fields. The pages are untouched; only the hidden information dictionary changed.
If the CV was assembled from scans or photographs, remember that images can carry their own EXIF data with camera and location details — that lives inside the image, not in the document dictionary, and is not cleared by this step. Read why uploading such a file is worth avoiding for the wider version of this argument.
Questions
Does this anonymise a document?
It clears the properties a PDF carries: author, title, producing software, timestamps. That does anonymize the file's metadata, but words written inside the document are content and stay exactly where they are.
What metadata does a PDF actually store?
Title, author, subject, keywords, the creating application, the producing library, and creation and modification timestamps. Most of it is filled in automatically by whatever software made the file.
Why does it matter?
Author is usually the computer account name, often a real full name. Creator names your software and version. Timestamps show when the document was really written. None of that is visible on the page, and all of it travels with the file.
Is my document uploaded to be cleaned?
No — which would rather defeat the purpose. The metadata is read and rewritten in your browser on your own device, and the file is never transmitted.
Does this remove everything identifying?
It clears the standard document information dictionary. It does not clear XMP packets, EXIF data inside embedded images, or author names attached to annotations. For everyday use this is the right clean-up; for high-stakes anonymity it is one step of several.
Why are the dates set to 1970 rather than removed?
Because some readers dislike a missing date, and writing today's date would itself reveal when you cleaned the file. The Unix epoch is an unambiguous placeholder that says nothing.
Will the pages change at all?
No. Only the information dictionary is rewritten. Text, images and layout are untouched.
My file shows no metadata. Is that normal?
Yes — some generators write nothing. Saving a clean copy still normalises the dates and the producer entry that would otherwise be added on save.
Can I edit the metadata instead of clearing it?
Not in this tool, which is deliberately a one-button strip. Setting a deliberate title and author needs a full PDF editor.
Does this delete or strip the metadata, or only hide it?
It removes it. Delete PDF metadata, strip PDF metadata and remove PDF metadata all name the same thing here: the fields are written out empty rather than blanked in the viewer, so a tool reading the raw file finds nothing.