Edit PDF Metadata
Edit PDF Metadata shows the document properties stored inside your PDF and lets you rewrite them: title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and the creation and modification dates. You can also wipe every field at once before sharing a file.
1 Add your file
Enter the open password to use it here. It is checked in your browser and never sent anywhere.
2 Choose your options
How to edit PDF Metadata
Add your PDF
Every metadata field currently stored in the file is read and shown to you.
Edit or clear the fields
Change what you want, or press Clear every field to strip the lot before sharing.
Download the updated PDF
Only the document properties change — your pages are untouched.
The dossier every PDF carries about itself
PDFs store descriptive fields in two places: an older document information dictionary and a newer XMP block. Most files have both, they do not always agree, and clearing one while leaving the other is a common way to think a file has been cleaned when it has not.
The Author field is filled in automatically from the account name on the computer that created the document, which is why files intended to be anonymous so often are not. Producer strings name the exact library version used, and timestamps carry a timezone offset.
A worked example
A tender response is prepared from a template a colleague made. It goes to the
client with their name in the Author field and a Title reading Bid v7 - final -
lowball option, inherited from the template's own properties. Neither appears
anywhere on the page; both are one keystroke away in any reader's document
properties dialog.
Limitations worth knowing
- Metadata is not the only identifying information. The filename, annotation authors, form values and bookmark titles are all separate.
- Content hidden behind a shape is still in the file — see Redact PDF for removing rather than covering.
- Editing fields does not change how any page renders, which also means it cannot fix anything visible on the page.
- For published documents, filling these fields in properly helps search engines and cataloguing — the aim is to control them, not to empty them reflexively.
- Some producers write their own metadata when a file is processed, so clear fields as the last step before sending.
Further reading
Related tools
Edit PDF Metadata — frequently asked questions
It is the document properties your reader shows under File Information: title, author, subject, keywords, the software that made it, and when. It is set automatically, which is how a document sent to a client can quietly carry the name of the employee who wrote it, or an internal file path in the title.
It removes one obvious layer, not every trace. Content can still identify you, and some PDFs carry an XMP metadata stream and per-object information that a simple property edit does not reach. Treat it as good hygiene rather than a guarantee of anonymity.
Creator is the application the content was authored in — Word, InDesign, LaTeX. Producer is what turned it into a PDF, which is often a different program. Both are set automatically and both can be more revealing than people expect.
Yes. Both dates are freely editable. Bear in mind that a PDF with a creation date that contradicts other evidence looks worse than one with no date at all.
Not at all. Only the document information dictionary is rewritten; every page object is copied across untouched.