Remove Metadata
Clear the title, author, subject, keywords, creator and producer from a PDF in your browser. Dates and XMP data stay; details below. No upload.
Upload PDF File
Read the full guide: How to Remove Metadata from a PDF (and What Stays Behind)
About This Tool
Remove Metadata empties the standard document properties of a PDF. Add the file, keep or untick the boxes under Select Metadata to Remove, click Remove Metadata and download the copy named with _no_metadata. Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator and Producer are cleared when ticked and present in the file.
The tool edits the PDF's document information dictionary, the properties most readers show under File, Properties, using the open-source pdf-lib library. When pdf-lib opens a file it writes its own name into Producer, and into Creator if the file had none, and the tool then blanks those values. That is why Producer nearly always appears in the Removed list shown after processing.
Several things are left in place. The Creation Date and Modification Date boxes have no effect at present: the original creation date is kept and the modification date becomes the moment you processed the file. The embedded XMP block, which often repeats the author and the creating software, is not touched. Custom properties added by document systems stay, and so does everything on the pages, such as names in footers, comments and attachments. Sanitize PDF and the Deep Metadata Sanitizer go further, including removing XMP.
Processing happens in your browser tab and the PDF is not uploaded. Before a protocol summary, report or tender document goes outside your organisation, open the cleaned copy in View Metadata and confirm what remains, then read the pages themselves for names in headers and footers.
Step-by-step instructions and common mistakes: How to Remove Metadata from a PDF (and What Stays Behind).
How to Use
Add your PDF
Drop one PDF on the upload area or click to browse.
Choose the fields
Under Select Metadata to Remove all eight boxes start ticked. Use Select All or Deselect All, or untick single fields.
Remove
Click Remove Metadata. The confirmation lists each field that was cleared.
Download and check
Download the _no_metadata copy and open it in View Metadata to see what is left.
Use Cases
Removing a drafter name
Clear the author recorded by a company template before a PDF goes to an external site, client or partner.
Hiding working titles
Blank a project code or working title stored in the Title and Subject fields that readers can see in document properties.
Files for a public website
Remove creator and producer software names from reports and brochures before they are posted online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which fields does it clear?
Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator and Producer, when they are ticked and present in the file.
Are the creation and modification dates removed?
No. Those two boxes currently do nothing. The original creation date is kept and the modification date changes to when the tool ran. Sanitize PDF removes the dates.
Does it remove XMP metadata?
No. The XMP block is left unchanged. Sanitize PDF and the Deep Metadata Sanitizer both remove it.
Why does Producer show as removed when my file had none?
pdf-lib writes its own name into Producer when it opens the file, and the tool then clears it. If you untick Producer, the saved copy names pdf-lib as the producer instead of the original value.
Will the pages or comments change?
No. Page content, comments, form data and attachments are left exactly as they were; only the listed properties are edited.