What is PDF metadata, and where does it live?

PDF metadata is information about the document that is not part of the visible page content — title, author, subject, keywords, producer, creator application, creation date, modification date, and an extended "XMP" block that can carry arbitrary additional fields. Per the ISO 32000-1 specification, metadata lives in two places: the Document Information Dictionary (the legacy /Info entry in the file catalog) and the XMP Metadata Stream (a newer Adobe XML-based block). Most PDF readers show only the Document Info fields; more sophisticated tools can inspect both. Both are visible to anyone with access to the file.

Why does PDF metadata leak information?

Because most metadata is set automatically by the source application based on the operating system's user account, the application's configuration, and the original file's history — without the user thinking about it. The Word document I edited as "Jordan Smith" on a Mac at "/Users/jordan/Documents/Acme/Q3-Pricing-Draft-v4.docx" produces a PDF whose Author = "Jordan Smith", Creator = "Microsoft Word 2026", Producer = "Microsoft: Print To PDF", and (in some configurations) embeds the original file path in XMP. None of those values are visible on the page, but all of them ship with the file.

How do I view the metadata of a PDF I received?

Adobe Reader: File → Properties (Cmd/Ctrl+D), Description tab. Preview on Mac: Tools → Show Inspector. Edge / Chrome: usually need the full Acrobat or a dedicated tool. Command line: pdfinfo filename.pdf (from the Poppler utilities) or exiftool filename.pdf for the XMP block. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata tool inspects all fields and the XMP block in your browser without uploading the file. For a forensic-quality inspection of every metadata field, use exiftool — it shows the largest set.

How do I edit metadata in a PDF I am sending?

Most professional PDF tools have a metadata editor. Adobe Acrobat Pro: File → Properties → Description tab — edit Title, Author, Subject, Keywords directly; the Custom panel handles additional fields. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata tool exposes all the standard fields plus XMP in your browser. Command line: exiftool can write arbitrary metadata fields with -TAG=value syntax. For documents going out under your own name where the original metadata is fine, edit only what is wrong. For documents where you want to remove all originating-information, scrub instead.

What does it mean to "scrub" PDF metadata?

Scrubbing means removing every non-essential metadata field, replacing personally-identifying values with neutral or empty values. The result is a PDF with the visible page content intact but with no Author name, no original Title field, no Producer string, no XMP block, and no Creation/Modification dates that would betray the document's history. The visible content is unchanged. ScoutMyTool's PDF Scrub Metadata tool does this in the browser. For sensitive workflows (whistleblower protection, anonymous tender submissions), scrubbing is mandatory; doing it manually field-by-field is error-prone, so a dedicated scrub tool is the right choice.

Is my PDF uploaded when I use a free metadata editor?

Depends on the tool. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata and PDF Scrub Metadata tools run entirely in your browser tab using pdf-lib — the PDF and any metadata stay on your machine. Server-based metadata services (Smallpdf, iLovePDF, several "PDF info" sites) upload the file to their infrastructure to extract or edit metadata. For documents where the metadata itself is the sensitive content (a leaked document being analysed by a journalist, for example), client-side tools are essential. For a routine "fix the author name on my Word PDF" workflow, either is fine.

What is "exiftool" and when should I use it?

exiftool is a free command-line tool (Phil Harvey) that reads and writes metadata in dozens of file formats including PDF, JPEG, RAW images, and Office documents. For PDF metadata it is the most-comprehensive option available — it shows every XMP field, every Info dictionary entry, every embedded thumbnail, and can write arbitrary tags. For occasional metadata editing, the browser tools are easier. For forensic work, batch metadata operations, or audit pipelines where every field must be inspected, exiftool is the standard. Install via brew, apt, or download from exiftool.org.

Free PDF metadata editor — change author, title, dates (2026)

10 min read

Free PDF metadata editor — change author, title, dates (2026)

By ScoutMyTool Editorial Team · Last updated: 2026-05-20

A friend who runs an architectural firm once sent me a "blind" tender PDF — the firm name was supposed to be redacted so the procurement panel would judge the proposal anonymously. I opened the file, hit Cmd-D for Properties, and the Author field read "Sarah Lin", the Title field read "Acme Tender Submission Draft v6", and the Producer string identified her exact Adobe Acrobat version. The PDF had been anonymised on the page; it had never been anonymised in the metadata. She re-submitted after scrubbing. This article is the practical guide to what lives in PDF metadata, why it routinely leaks information, and how to inspect, edit, or scrub it for free.

The nine metadata fields that matter

PDF metadata lives in two places — the legacy Document Information Dictionary (the /Info entry in the file catalog) and the modern XMP Metadata Stream — both defined in the ISO 32000-1 specification.¹ Most PDF readers show only the Info fields; XMP can carry arbitrary extra data. The fields that matter most:

Field	What it is	Who sets it	What it leaks
Title	Document title shown in PDF viewer tab and "File → Properties" dialog.	Source application (Word, InDesign, Pages). Often the original file name.	Original document name — "Q3 Pricing Draft v4" — even if the visible content has changed.
Author	Original author name.	Source app pulls from the operating-system user account or app settings.	Real name of the original creator — often a problem when documents pass through multiple hands.
Subject	Optional descriptor; rarely populated by source apps.	Manually, when set at all.	Project codename, working title, or internal classification ("CONFIDENTIAL — Project Kingfisher").
Keywords	Comma-separated tags for indexing.	Manually, or by document-management systems.	Internal taxonomy tags, client codes, or matter numbers from the originating system.
Producer	PDF library that wrote the file (e.g., "Microsoft: Print To PDF", "Adobe PDF Library 17.0").	Automatically by the producing application.	What software the document was produced with — useful forensic signal in litigation and journalism.
Creator	Original authoring application (e.g., "Microsoft Word 2026", "LaTeX").	Automatically by the producing application.	What software the original was written in — distinguishes a "Microsoft Word" PDF from a "LaTeX" PDF or a Photoshop PDF.
Creation date	When the source document was first created (not when the PDF was exported).	Automatically by the producing application.	Earliest known existence of the document — can reveal pre-deal drafting timelines or pre-disclosure conversations.
Modification date	When the PDF was last modified.	Automatically by the PDF writer.	When the file was last edited — useful for ordering versions during e-discovery.
XMP metadata	Extended metadata in the Adobe XMP namespace — can include almost anything.	Adobe products, automated workflows, content-management systems.	Edit history, named GUIDs, parent-document references, custom workflow tags, RAW-image source references.

Six real-world leakage scenarios

Metadata that seems benign in isolation can be material in context. Six common scenarios and the realistic risk of each:

Scenario	What leaks	Real risk
Sending a "final" contract to a client	Author = your name; Producer = your Word version; Modification date = your last edit.	Low — the client expects to know who sent it. But the Creation date may reveal that the contract has been around longer than you implied.
Submitting a "blind" proposal in procurement	Author = your real name; XMP may carry your organisation name; Producer reveals your software stack.	High — many procurement processes are explicitly anonymous; metadata leaks defeat the anonymisation and may disqualify the bid.
Whistleblower / source-protection journalism	Author, organisation, software, file path of the original.	Extreme — has been the cause of real-world source identification. Always run a metadata scrub on documents from sensitive sources before publishing.
Sending a redacted document to opposing counsel	Author, Modification date, and (in some viewers) the unredacted version via edit history.	High — the unredacted source can sometimes be recovered from XMP if the redaction was done by overlay rather than content-stream removal.
Posting a PDF publicly on a website	Author (if your real name was on the OS account), Producer, file path embedded in some fields.	Moderate — most readers will never look at the metadata, but search engines index it and OSINT researchers routinely scrape it.
Forwarding a PDF inside an organisation	Original author (may be a different person than the forwarder).	Low — internal communication. But forwarded-PDF metadata is how "who started this rumour" investigations sometimes get resolved.

For sensitive workflows — anonymous tenders, whistleblower documents, redacted litigation production — metadata scrubbing is mandatory and is the kind of step that gets forgotten when the focus has been on the visible content. Build the scrub into the workflow rather than treating it as a one-off.

Inspecting metadata — three free tools

ScoutMyTool PDF Metadata. scoutmytool.com/pdf/pdf-metadata opens the PDF in your browser tab, parses the metadata locally, and displays all standard Info fields plus the XMP block. Nothing is uploaded.
Adobe Reader / Preview / Edge. Open the PDF, File → Properties (Cmd/Ctrl+D) shows the Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, and dates. The Custom tab in Adobe Reader shows any application-specific fields. None show the full XMP block by default.
exiftool (CLI). exiftool filename.pdf dumps every metadata field including the entire XMP block. The most thorough free inspector available; recommended when you need to audit every field before publication. Install via brew, apt, or download.

Editing metadata — five steps

Inspect first. Use one of the inspection tools above to see what is actually in the file. Edit blindly and you may overlook fields you did not realise existed.
Open the editor. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata editor displays each standard field as an editable input. Adobe Acrobat Pro: File → Properties → Description.
Edit the relevant fields. Title, Author, Subject, Keywords are the most-edited; Producer and Creator are usually left as-is. For dates, picking a generic value (e.g., the first day of the relevant month) avoids leaking the precise creation moment.
Save the modified PDF. Use Save As so you keep the original with its full metadata in case you need to refer back.
Verify with the inspector. Run exiftool or the ScoutMyTool inspector on the new file to confirm the changes applied and no field was missed.

Scrubbing — when "edit" is not enough

For sensitive workflows you do not want to surgically edit each field — you want to wipe them all and start with a clean baseline. Scrubbing removes every non-essential metadata field and replaces personally-identifying values with empty strings or neutral defaults. The visible page content is unchanged; the audit trail is gone.

ScoutMyTool's PDF Scrub Metadata tool does this in one pass in the browser:

Author, Title, Subject, Keywords cleared.
Producer and Creator set to neutral generic values.
XMP metadata block removed entirely.
Custom application-specific fields removed.
Creation and Modification dates either cleared or set to a generic value.

Scrub before sending any document to a source-protection-sensitive context. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance on PII handling (SP 800-122) specifically calls out metadata as a leakage vector for document workflows.²

The CLI path — exiftool for batch and scripts

For batch metadata workflows on Linux / macOS, exiftool is the right tool:

# Inspect every metadata field
exiftool document.pdf

# Edit specific fields
exiftool -Title="New Title" -Author="" -Subject="" document.pdf

# Strip all metadata (note: writes a backup as document.pdf_original)
exiftool -all= document.pdf

# Batch scrub a directory
for f in *.pdf; do
  exiftool -all= -overwrite_original "$f"
done

The -all= flag removes every metadata field that exiftool knows about, which is far more thorough than most GUI tools. For documents where every metadata field must be gone, this is the safest path.

PDF Metadata — the primary inspect/edit tool.
PDF Scrub Metadata — for one-pass complete removal.
Batch list metadata — extract metadata from a directory of PDFs.
Comparable properties summary — compare metadata across many PDFs.
Permanent Redact — pair with scrubbing for full anonymisation.
Protect PDF — encrypt after scrubbing to lock the file.
PDF redaction guide — sister article on removing visible-content PII.
PDF security best practices — broader security framing.

Frequently asked questions

What is PDF metadata, and where does it live?: PDF metadata is information about the document that is not part of the visible page content — title, author, subject, keywords, producer, creator application, creation date, modification date, and an extended "XMP" block that can carry arbitrary additional fields. Per the ISO 32000-1 specification, metadata lives in two places: the Document Information Dictionary (the legacy /Info entry in the file catalog) and the XMP Metadata Stream (a newer Adobe XML-based block). Most PDF readers show only the Document Info fields; more sophisticated tools can inspect both. Both are visible to anyone with access to the file.
Why does PDF metadata leak information?: Because most metadata is set automatically by the source application based on the operating system's user account, the application's configuration, and the original file's history — without the user thinking about it. The Word document I edited as "Jordan Smith" on a Mac at "/Users/jordan/Documents/Acme/Q3-Pricing-Draft-v4.docx" produces a PDF whose Author = "Jordan Smith", Creator = "Microsoft Word 2026", Producer = "Microsoft: Print To PDF", and (in some configurations) embeds the original file path in XMP. None of those values are visible on the page, but all of them ship with the file.
How do I view the metadata of a PDF I received?: Adobe Reader: File → Properties (Cmd/Ctrl+D), Description tab. Preview on Mac: Tools → Show Inspector. Edge / Chrome: usually need the full Acrobat or a dedicated tool. Command line: pdfinfo filename.pdf (from the Poppler utilities) or exiftool filename.pdf for the XMP block. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata tool inspects all fields and the XMP block in your browser without uploading the file. For a forensic-quality inspection of every metadata field, use exiftool — it shows the largest set.
How do I edit metadata in a PDF I am sending?: Most professional PDF tools have a metadata editor. Adobe Acrobat Pro: File → Properties → Description tab — edit Title, Author, Subject, Keywords directly; the Custom panel handles additional fields. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata tool exposes all the standard fields plus XMP in your browser. Command line: exiftool can write arbitrary metadata fields with -TAG=value syntax. For documents going out under your own name where the original metadata is fine, edit only what is wrong. For documents where you want to remove all originating-information, scrub instead.
What does it mean to "scrub" PDF metadata?: Scrubbing means removing every non-essential metadata field, replacing personally-identifying values with neutral or empty values. The result is a PDF with the visible page content intact but with no Author name, no original Title field, no Producer string, no XMP block, and no Creation/Modification dates that would betray the document's history. The visible content is unchanged. ScoutMyTool's PDF Scrub Metadata tool does this in the browser. For sensitive workflows (whistleblower protection, anonymous tender submissions), scrubbing is mandatory; doing it manually field-by-field is error-prone, so a dedicated scrub tool is the right choice.
Is my PDF uploaded when I use a free metadata editor?: Depends on the tool. ScoutMyTool's PDF Metadata and PDF Scrub Metadata tools run entirely in your browser tab using pdf-lib — the PDF and any metadata stay on your machine. Server-based metadata services (Smallpdf, iLovePDF, several "PDF info" sites) upload the file to their infrastructure to extract or edit metadata. For documents where the metadata itself is the sensitive content (a leaked document being analysed by a journalist, for example), client-side tools are essential. For a routine "fix the author name on my Word PDF" workflow, either is fine.
What is "exiftool" and when should I use it?: exiftool is a free command-line tool (Phil Harvey) that reads and writes metadata in dozens of file formats including PDF, JPEG, RAW images, and Office documents. For PDF metadata it is the most-comprehensive option available — it shows every XMP field, every Info dictionary entry, every embedded thumbnail, and can write arbitrary tags. For occasional metadata editing, the browser tools are easier. For forensic work, batch metadata operations, or audit pipelines where every field must be inspected, exiftool is the standard. Install via brew, apt, or download from exiftool.org.

Inspect or edit PDF metadata in your browser, free

Browser-based; the PDF and its metadata never leave your machine. Inspect, edit, or scrub — pick the operation that matches the workflow.

Open the free PDF Metadata tool →