PDF Metadata Editor
View, edit, or strip hidden metadata — title, author, dates, producer, and more.
100% Private
Runs entirely in your browser. No uploads. Your files stay private.
What PDF Metadata Is — and Why Cleaning It Matters
Every PDF carries an Info dictionary at the document root that stores Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator (the source application like Word or InDesign), Producer (the library that wrote the file, e.g., Adobe PDF Library, pdf-lib, ReportLab), CreationDate, and ModDate. Modern PDFs may additionally carry an XMP metadata stream — an XML packet with the same fields plus extensions for Dublin Core, IPTC, and tool-specific data. Both are invisible in the main view but exposed by every PDF reader's Properties dialog and by command-line tools like pdfinfo.
PDF Metadata reads and rewrites both the Info dictionary and the XMP packet using pdf-lib, entirely in your browser. The fields are surfaced in a form, edits are written back into the dictionary, and the file is re-serialized — page content, fonts, vector graphics, and images are not touched. The Producer field is automatically updated to reflect that pdf-lib wrote the modified file (this is required by the PDF specification when re-saving).
Stripping metadata is a privacy hygiene step before publishing. Author fields often contain real names, Creator fields can leak internal tooling (e.g., "Confidential Internal Build"), and timestamps reveal when a document was prepared. The Clear All button blanks every field at once. To go further, the PDF Flatten tool can also remove embedded annotations and form data that may carry comments or filled-in personal information.
Conversely, accurate metadata makes PDFs findable. Document management systems (SharePoint, M-Files, Box) and search platforms (Google Scholar, internal Confluence search) rely on Title and Keywords for indexing. A PDF with no Title falls back to its filename, which is often unhelpful ("final-v3.pdf").
Dates can be entered in PDF date format (D:YYYYMMDDHHmmSS+HH'mm') or as ISO strings — pdf-lib normalizes both. Leaving CreationDate empty is allowed; some archival systems treat that as a flag that the document is metadata-cleansed.
There are limits: encrypted PDFs cannot be parsed by pdf-lib until they are unlocked, so password-protected files must be cleared with the PDF Password tool first. Existing digital signatures will be invalidated by any modification, including metadata edits — this is part of the PDF signing standard. And custom metadata schemas embedded in the XMP packet are preserved on read but not exposed for editing in this UI.
All processing is local. The file is loaded into a Blob in your tab's memory, parsed by pdf-lib, modified, and offered as a download. There is no upload endpoint behind this tool.
Common Use Cases
01
Strip author identity before publishing
Remove your name, internal username, or company-issued license details from a PDF before publishing it to a public website or sending to outside counsel.
02
Fix titles for DMS indexing
Set a clean Title so SharePoint, M-Files, or Confluence index the PDF under the right name instead of falling back to the filename.
03
Clear timestamps for confidentiality
Remove CreationDate and ModDate so external parties cannot infer when the document was drafted or last edited.
04
Add keywords for searchability
Tag a research paper or product spec with keywords so internal full-text search and external indexers like Google Scholar surface it correctly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, and ModDate — every field in the standard PDF Info dictionary. The XMP packet is also updated to keep both representations in sync.
No. Metadata sits in the Info dictionary and the XMP stream, which are separate from page content streams. Text, images, fonts, and vector graphics are untouched.
Yes — Clear All blanks every Info dictionary field and clears the XMP packet in one click. The file is then re-saved with empty metadata except the Producer, which pdf-lib must update per the PDF spec.
The PDF specification requires the Producer field to identify the library that last wrote the file. pdf-lib sets it to its own identifier on save. To override, type a new value into Producer before downloading.
No — this tool only edits the Info dictionary and XMP. To strip annotations and form data, run the file through PDF Flatten afterwards, then return here for a final metadata wipe.
No. pdf-lib refuses to parse encrypted streams. Use the PDF Password tool to remove protection first, then edit metadata.
Yes. Any modification to a signed PDF — including metadata edits — invalidates existing signatures. This is a property of the PDF signing standard, not a tool limitation.
Both PDF date format (D:YYYYMMDDHHmmSS+HH'mm') and ISO 8601 strings are accepted. pdf-lib normalizes the value before writing it back.
No. Reading and writing happen entirely in your browser via pdf-lib. The PDF stays in tab memory and never reaches a server.
Not in this UI — each file is handled individually so you can review the metadata before saving. For programmatic batch wipes across hundreds of PDFs, a desktop tool like exiftool or qpdf is more efficient.
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