Remove Metadata from a PDF
Upload a PDF, tick the document properties you want to clear (title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer, creation date and modification date) and click Remove Metadata. The fields are cleared in your browser and you download a cleaned copy.
Before you start
- Where your file is processed
- In your browser. The file is read and processed on your device and is not uploaded to PDFYork.
- Account
- Not required. Without an account you can run 3 tasks per day across all tools. A free account raises the limit.
- Cost
- Standard tool. Free accounts can run 14 standard tasks per day.
How to Use
Upload the PDF
Drop your file onto the upload area.
Choose fields
Tick the properties to clear, or use Select All.
Remove
Click Remove Metadata. The tool lists the fields it removed.
Download
Save the cleaned copy and share that version.
What PDF metadata can reveal
Most PDFs carry document properties that you rarely see. The Author field often holds the full name from the computer or Office account that created the file. Creator and Producer show the software and version used, and the creation and modification dates show when the document was made and last changed. Anyone can read them in File > Properties in a PDF reader.
What this tool removes, and what it does not
This tool clears the eight fields in the PDF's document information dictionary listed above. PDFs can also contain an XMP metadata packet, plus content that is not metadata at all, such as comments, attachments, hidden layers or JavaScript.
- To also remove the XMP metadata packet, attachments, JavaScript and links, use Sanitize PDF.
- To remove comments and highlights, use Remove Annotations.
- To check what is stored before and after, open the file in View Metadata.
- To remove visible text from a page, metadata tools will not help; delete the text block in Edit PDF, which removes the underlying text.
Use Cases
Anonymous submissions
Remove your name from the Author field before submitting a paper for blind peer review.
Client deliverables
Clear internal author names and software details before sending a report to a client.
Public documents
Strip creation dates and author details from PDFs published on a website.