Remove metadata from any PDF

What metadata a PDF reveals about you

PDF metadata is everything a PDF stores besides the pages you see. Word, Pages, InDesign, Acrobat and scanner apps fill it in automatically every time you export or save. Anyone who receives the file can read it in a few clicks, no PDF metadata viewer needed:

• Author and companySensitiveThe name on your account, and the company set up in Word or Acrobat.
• Creation softwareRevealingThe app and version that made it: Microsoft Word for Mac, InDesign, a scanner app.
• Created and modified datesRevealingWhen you wrote it and when you last changed it, to the second, with your time zone.
• Title, subject, keywordsRevealingOften left over from a template or an earlier client.
• Earlier versionsSensitiveEdits saved on top of the original can keep the old text and pages inside the file.
• Photos inside the PDFSensitiveEach image keeps its own EXIF: GPS location, camera, serial number, even Content Credentials.
• Comments and attachmentsRevealingReview notes, hidden files and layers that don’t show when you scroll.

The details are written twice: once in the document properties (the Info dictionary of the PDF standard, ISO 32000) and once in an XMP metadata block. Clearing the fields in a PDF reader’s properties window often leaves the XMP copy behind, and saving the change adds a new version on top of the old one instead of replacing it.

How to remove metadata from a PDF

MetaClean works as a PDF metadata remover and viewer in one: you see every field before anything changes. It works the same on a Mac and on Windows 10 and 11, and takes a few seconds per file.

1. 1

   Open the PDF in MetaClean

   Choose Documents › Single document and pick your PDF, or drop it on the window. Nothing is uploaded; the file is read on your computer.

2. 2

   Read the privacy warning

   Every finding is listed in plain words and grouped: personal details, dates and software, document details and the photos embedded in the PDF.

3. 3

   Choose what to remove

   The Privacy preset selects names, company and the location and camera details of embedded photos. Tick anything else you want gone, field by field.

4. 4

   Save the clean copy

   MetaClean rewrites the PDF without the selected fields and without the earlier versions stored inside it, then saves the copy in a “Clean” folder beside your original.

Edit PDF metadata instead of removing it

Sometimes you want the right details in the file, not none. Switch to Edit metadata to change the title, author, subject, keywords, creation software and dates, or clear a field to remove just that value. MetaClean updates the document properties and the XMP copy together, so Acrobat, Preview and every browser show the same thing. More ways to do it, with or without Acrobat, in how to change the author of a PDF.

Check the metadata is really gone

A remover that doesn’t check its own work can leave the XMP copy or an earlier version behind. MetaClean inspects the saved copy again, confirms every field you selected is gone and that the visible document is unchanged, and only then shows Clean copy verified with a list of what was removed.

Photos are cleaned without being recompressed, so they look exactly the same. For photos and videos on their own, see the photo metadata remover and the free EXIF viewer; for AI labels on images, how to remove the AI label and the C2PA remover.

Every way to remove PDF metadata, compared

You’ll find four common ways to clean a PDF. Here’s what each one actually does:

Acrobat Pro’s Remove Hidden Information does a thorough job, as part of a monthly subscription. MetaClean does it once for $5, and cleans Word, Excel and PowerPoint files the same way, including on a Mac, where Office has no Document Inspector.

Remove metadata from many PDFs at once

Sending a whole proposal pack or a folder of scans? Drop the folder into Documents › Batch folder: MetaClean cleans every PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OpenDocument file inside, subfolders included (see the guides for Word, Excel and PowerPoint). And with Watch Folders for documents, every new file saved into your folder is checked automatically, with a one-click prompt when it exposes something.