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PDF Metadata Editor
View, edit and strip title, author and producer fields.
What it does. Every PDF carries metadata: title, author, subject, keywords, the software that produced it, and creation and modification dates. The author field is frequently a real name or a corporate username, and it travels with the document to everyone who receives it.
Runs in your browserNothing uploadsNo signupWorks offline
How to use PDF Metadata Editor
- Drop in the PDF to see every metadata field.
- Edit what you want to keep, or strip everything.
- Export the cleaned document.
What a PDF says about you
| Field | Typical content | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Author | A real name or username | Often the biggest leak |
| Producer | The exact software and version | Reveals your toolchain — and is rewritten every time the file is saved |
| Creator | The originating application | Shows the source document |
| CreationDate | To the second, with time zone | Establishes a timeline |
| ModDate | Last modified | Contradicts a claimed date |
| Title | Often the original filename | Can reveal a template or client |
The Title field is the sleeper. It frequently holds the original filename from whichever document produced the PDF, so a proposal exported from a template can arrive titled with the previous client's name.
The time zone in the dates
PDF dates include a UTC offset. That narrows down where a document was produced, which is occasionally more than the sender intended to share.
Combined with the Producer field naming a specific software version, a PDF can be quite identifying.
Producer has a second quirk: it is rewritten every time the file is saved, by whatever wrote it. So it does not tell you what created the document — it tells you what touched it last.
For most documents none of this matters. For an anonymous submission, a whistleblowing disclosure or anything where authorship is deliberately withheld, it matters a great deal — and it is invisible unless you go looking.
Metadata is not the only hidden content
Stripping metadata is one step. A PDF can also carry embedded attachments, an XMP metadata packet separate from the document information dictionary, comments with author names, an outline quoting headings verbatim, and earlier revisions retained by incremental saving.
Removing the Author field addresses one of those.
For anything genuinely sensitive, check all of them — and remember that covering text with a shape removes nothing, which is a different and more serious version of the same mistake.
Frequently asked questions
What does a PDF reveal about me?
Typically your name or username in the Author field, the exact software and version in Producer, the originating application in Creator, and creation and modification dates with a UTC offset that narrows down your location.
Why does my PDF have someone else's name in the title?
The Title field usually carries the original filename from the source document. A proposal exported from a template often arrives titled with the previous client's name.
Does stripping metadata make a PDF anonymous?
No. It removes one category. Embedded attachments, XMP packets, comment author names, the document outline and revisions kept by incremental saving all persist and need checking separately.
Do PDF dates include a time zone?
Yes, as a UTC offset. Combined with a specific Producer version, that makes a document more identifying than most people expect.
Why can I not edit the Producer field?
Because whatever software writes a PDF stamps its own name there on save — this tool cannot leave it untouched any more than Acrobat can. It is shown read-only so the value you see is the truth about the file you started with, not a setting you can control.
Does editing metadata change the document?
No. Metadata sits alongside the page content, so editing it leaves every page byte-identical.