What metadata is hidden inside a PDF?
PDF metadata lives in the Document Information Dictionary and the XMP metadata stream. Most PDF viewers hide these fields — you'll never see them just by reading the document. But anyone who opens the file with Acrobat or runs it through a metadata tool will see them instantly.
High-risk fields
- Author — your full name
- Creator — "Microsoft Word for …"
- Producer — Acrobat version
- Company — from Office settings
- CreationDate
- ModDate — last edit timestamp
Can also contain
- Keywords & subject tags
- Revision history (number)
- Track changes content
- Embedded fonts metadata
- Hidden layers
- Custom properties
Real risk: Journalists have traced confidential government PDF leaks back to specific users by reading the Author and last-modified metadata. PDFs are not anonymous documents.
Method 1 — Remove PDF metadata online (free, 30 seconds)
The easiest way: upload your PDF to RemoveMD. All metadata fields are stripped instantly — no software to install, no file stored.
- Create a free account at removemd.com (anonymous, no email required)
- Upload your PDF from the dashboard
- Download the cleaned PDF — Author, Creator, Producer, dates: all gone
Method 2 — Adobe Acrobat (paid)
If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, the Document Properties dialog lets you clear individual fields, while the Sanitize feature does a deeper clean:
Quick method — Document Properties
- Open the PDF in Acrobat
- File → Properties (Ctrl+D)
- On the Description tab, clear Author, Subject, Keywords
- Click OK → Save
Deep clean — Sanitize Document (Acrobat Pro)
- Tools → Redact → Sanitize Document
- Acrobat removes metadata, embedded content, hidden layers, and scripts
- Save the sanitized copy
Note: Sanitize is more thorough than Properties alone.
Method 3 — macOS Preview (free, basic)
macOS Preview can remove some PDF metadata by printing to PDF — essentially re-exporting without most properties. This is not exhaustive but removes the obvious fields:
- Open the PDF in Preview
- File → Print (⌘+P)
- Bottom-left dropdown → Save as PDF
- Name the file and save
⚠️ This method is less thorough — some XMP metadata may survive.
Method 4 — ExifTool (command line, free)
exiftool document.pdf
# Remove all metadata, save to document_clean.pdf
exiftool -all= -o document_clean.pdf document.pdf
# Batch-clean all PDFs in a folder
exiftool -all= *.pdf
ExifTool operates on the metadata layer only — it does not remove embedded fonts, images, or track changes. For a deeper scrub, use the online method above.
Which method should you use?
Clean your PDF in 30 seconds
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