Remove PDF Metadata, or Edit the Title and Author

See what a PDF says about itself, then strip it or rewrite it. The file is processed in your browser and is not uploaded.

Runs in your browserFree, no sign-upLast reviewed October 13, 2026

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Quick answers

How do I remove metadata from a PDF?: Choose the PDF above, leave Action on Remove all metadata and download the result. The tool deletes the Info dictionary (title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, dates and custom entries), every XMP metadata stream and the file identifier, and lists each field before and after.
How do I change the author of a PDF?: Set Action to Set new title, author, subject, keywords, type the name into New author and leave the other boxes empty with Keep the value already in the PDF selected. Only the Author field changes; the title, dates and other fields stay as they were.
How do I remove only the author name from a PDF?: Choose Set new, set Fields left blank above to Remove that field from the PDF, leave New author empty and retype the title, subject and keywords you want to keep. Blank boxes are removed, filled boxes are written.
What metadata does a PDF contain?: Up to eight standard properties: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator (the authoring app), Producer (the software that wrote the PDF), CreationDate and ModDate. Many files also hold an XMP packet repeating these in XML, custom entries such as Company, and a file identifier.
Can I remove PDF metadata without uploading the file?: Yes. This page reads the PDF into your browser's memory, rewrites it there and gives you the result as a local download. The document is not sent to a server.
Does removing metadata change how the PDF looks?: No. Pages, text, images, fonts and page count are untouched. Only the descriptive properties are deleted, so the file opens and prints the same. A PDF reader's tab or title bar may show the file name instead of the old title.

What PDF Metadata Editor and Remover does

This tool reads the properties stored inside a PDF (title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, created and modified dates) and shows them in a table. From there you can remove all of it or set a new title, author, subject and keywords. Remove all metadata deletes the whole Info dictionary, including custom entries, plus every XMP metadata stream and the file identifier, and the table shows each field before and after so you can confirm it is gone. It does not change what is on the pages, and it does not touch comment author names, form data, attachments or EXIF inside embedded photos. Encrypted PDFs are rejected. Files up to 40 MB are accepted.

PDF metadata fields and what each one reveals

These are the eight standard entries in a PDF's Info dictionary, the ones a reader shows under Document Properties.

Field	What it holds	Typical value	Can be set here
Title	The document's name, often an old working title or the source file name	Budget Draft v3	Yes
Author	The person or account name from the authoring app	A full name or a computer login	Yes
Subject	A short description	Internal numbers	Yes
Keywords	Search terms	budget, internal	Yes
Creator	The application the document was written in	Microsoft Word	No, removed only
Producer	The software that converted it to PDF	macOS Quartz PDFContext with the OS version and build	No, removed only
Created (CreationDate)	Date and time the PDF was first made	2024-03-05 14:30 UTC	No, removed only
Modified (ModDate)	Date and time of the last save	2025-01-02 09:15 UTC	No, removed only

Dates are shown converted to UTC. The Producer string written by macOS includes the exact system version and build number.

What each action removes and what stays

Part of the PDF	Remove all metadata	Set new	Only show
Title, Author, Subject, Keywords	Removed	Replaced, kept or removed, as you choose	Unchanged
Creator, Producer, created and modified dates	Removed	Unchanged	Unchanged
Custom Info entries (Company, SourceModified and similar)	Removed	Unchanged	Unchanged
Document-level XMP metadata stream	Removed	Removed	Unchanged
XMP attached to pages or images	Removed	Unchanged	Unchanged
File identifier (ID)	Removed	Unchanged	Unchanged
Page content, text, images, fonts	Unchanged	Unchanged	Unchanged
Comment and annotation author names	Unchanged	Unchanged	Unchanged
Form field values, attachments, bookmarks	Unchanged	Unchanged	Unchanged
EXIF data inside embedded photos	Unchanged	Unchanged	Unchanged

Set new removes the document-level XMP stream because it would otherwise still contain the old title and author.

Worked examples: before and after

The first three use a 4-page test PDF with all eight fields set, one custom entry (Company), a document-level XMP stream and a second XMP stream attached to a page.

Strip everything

Action: Remove all metadata

Info fields removed: 9. XMP streams removed: 2. Every row in the After column reads (not set), Other Info entries reads None and XMP metadata streams reads None. Pages: 4, unchanged.

The output was reopened and searched for the author name, title, creator, producer and XMP text. None were found.

Change only the title

Action: Set new. New title: Public Report. Other boxes empty. Fields left blank above: Keep the value already in the PDF

Title changes from Budget Draft v3 to Public Report. Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer and both dates are identical before and after. XMP metadata streams goes from 2 (1 document-level, 1 on pages or images) to 1 (on pages or images only).

Replace the author and drop the rest

Action: Set new. New author: Sam Lee. Other boxes empty. Fields left blank above: Remove that field from the PDF

Author becomes Sam Lee. Title, Subject and Keywords read (not set). Creator, Producer and both dates are still present, because Set new never touches them.

A PDF printed from macOS

Action: Only show the metadata

Title, Author, Subject, Keywords and Creator read (not set). Producer shows the macOS version and build followed by Quartz PDFContext, Created and Modified show the print time, and File identifier (ID) reads Present.

After Remove all metadata on the same file, all three are gone and the identifier reads None.

Info dictionary and XMP: why a PDF stores its metadata twice

A PDF can describe itself in two places. The older one is the Info dictionary, a small set of labelled strings: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate and ModDate. The newer one is an XMP packet, a block of XML attached to the document that usually repeats the same values and can add more, such as an edit history or the name of the tool that last saved the file.

A remover that blanks only the Info fields leaves the XMP copy behind, and anyone who opens the file in a text editor or a metadata viewer can still read the author there. That is why this tool checks for XMP streams, counts them in the table, and deletes them along with the Info dictionary when you choose Remove all metadata. It deletes the dictionary itself, not just the eight standard fields, so custom entries added by office software go too.

The file is rewritten from scratch on save, so the old values are not left behind in an earlier revision of the file.

Limits to know before you share the file

The contents of an XMP stream are not parsed or displayed. The table reports how many streams exist; a value stored only in XMP is removed by Remove all metadata but is not shown to you first.
Names on comments, highlights and sticky notes are part of each annotation, not of the document metadata, and remain.
Photos placed in the PDF can carry their own EXIF data, such as camera model or GPS position, inside the image data. That is not removed.
Hidden layers, text under redaction boxes, form entries and attached files are content, not metadata, and are left alone.
Removing XMP means a PDF/A file no longer conforms to PDF/A, since that standard requires it.
A digitally signed PDF will show its signature as invalid afterwards, because any rewrite changes the signed bytes.
Creator, Producer and the two dates can be removed but not set to new values.
Encrypted PDFs, including ones that open without a password but restrict editing, are rejected. Files over 40 MB are not accepted.

Step by step

1
Click PDF file and choose the document. It is read by your browser, not sent anywhere.
2
Set Action to Remove all metadata, Set new title, author, subject, keywords, or Only show the metadata.
3
For Set new, fill in New title, New author, New subject or New keywords. Use Fields left blank above to decide whether an empty box keeps the existing value or removes that field.
4
Read the Metadata before and after table to confirm each field, the XMP metadata streams row and the File identifier (ID) row.
5
Download the result. It is saved with -no-metadata or -metadata-edited added to the name, and the original file is not modified.

Answers to common questions

Is this PDF metadata remover free?

Yes. There is no account and no watermark, and the only limit is the 40 MB file size cap.

Does it remove XMP metadata as well as the document properties?

Yes. Remove all metadata deletes the document-level XMP stream and any XMP streams attached to pages or images, in addition to the Info dictionary. The XMP metadata streams row in the result table should read None in the After column.

How can I view PDF metadata without changing the file?

Set Action to Only show the metadata. The tool lists the eight standard fields, the names of any custom Info entries, how many XMP streams the file has and whether it carries a file identifier. No download is produced.

Why are the created and modified dates removed instead of reset?

A date is optional in a PDF, so the cleanest way to hide when a file was made is to leave it out. Writing a new date would only replace one timestamp with another, the moment you cleaned the file.

What is the file identifier and why remove it?

It is a pair of ID strings in the PDF's trailer, generated when the file is created and saved. It contains no name, but two copies of a document can share part of it, which can link them to a common source. It is optional in an unencrypted PDF.

Can I change the creation date or producer of a PDF?

Not with this tool. It can set Title, Author, Subject and Keywords, and it can remove Creator, Producer and both dates, but it does not write new values for those four.

Will keywords with commas be kept as typed?

Yes. The Keywords box is written to the PDF as one string exactly as entered, so a list like finance, q3, report keeps its commas. Accented and non-Latin characters in any field are stored as Unicode.

Does the tool work on a password-protected PDF?

No. An encrypted file cannot be read or rewritten here, and the tool says so instead of producing a damaged file. Remove the password in a PDF reader, then run the unlocked copy through this page.

Is the original file changed?

No. The tool only creates a new copy for download. The file on your device still contains its metadata, so share the downloaded copy and delete or keep the original as you see fit.