How to remove hidden metadata from a PDF

Updated on October 22, 2026

That information is called metadata. Most PDF programs write it into the file automatically, and most people never look at it. Anyone who gets the file can, though: in most PDF viewers it’s one click away, under Document properties.

What a PDF can say about itself

• Title, author, subject and keywords. The author is often the name of the account on the computer that made the file, or the name in your Office license, which may be a former school or employer.
• The software that created or converted the file, sometimes with its version.
• Dates: when the file was created and when it was last changed. A “fresh” quote that was created two years ago tells its own story.
• XMP metadata: a second, more detailed copy of this information, plus anything design programs add. It can hold an editing history.

How to see and remove it

1. Open PDF metadata and choose your PDF. You can add several PDFs at once. A PDF with a password asks for it in the preview.
2. Look at what the file says about itself. The tool shows the title, author, subject, keywords, the software it was made and converted with, the dates, whether there is XMP metadata, and and any custom fields. With several files, it shows the first one.
3. Keep Remove everything (the default). That wipes the title, author, subject, keywords, software names, dates, custom fields and all XMP metadata. Want to keep a title? Choose Replace: the fields show what the file has now. Clear the ones that must go, such as Author, and edit the rest. Dates and software names are removed either way.
4. Click Remove metadata and download the copy. The cleaned file ends in -clean.pdf, or -metadata.pdf with Replace. Several files come back together in one ZIP.
5. Check the result. Open the copy and look under Document properties. The fields should be empty, or show only what you typed.

What metadata removal doesn’t do

Metadata is the information about the file. The content of the file stays exactly as it was:

• Text, images and comments on the pages stay. Need to hide a name or number on a page? Use Redact PDF, which removes it from the file.
• Form fields, bookmarks, attachments and layers stay. To turn form fields and comments into a fixed part of the page, use Flatten PDF.
• Photo details inside images can stay. The XMP metadata of images is removed, but camera details stored inside a JPEG picture are not.
• The file name stays yours to choose. “final-v3-johns-edits.pdf” says something too. Rename the file before you send it.

A PDF that was saved many times can also hold leftovers from earlier versions. The tool removes the metadata the PDF uses, but it doesn’t guarantee that every old copy hidden in the file is gone. For a really sensitive document, create a fresh PDF from the source document and then clean that one.

Good to know

• A digital certificate signature becomes invalid in the cleaned copy. The tool tells you when that happens. Clean the file before it’s signed, not after.
• A PDF/A file loses its PDF/A status, because PDF/A requires XMP metadata. Keep the original if you need it for archiving.
• A password or editing restrictions don’t come back: a PDF you opened with its password, or one with only editing restrictions, comes back without them. To lock the cleaned copy again, use Protect PDF.

Frequently asked questions