How to remove metadata from a PDF
A PDF often carries more than its pages: who wrote it, what program made it, when it was edited, and sometimes attachments or scripts. LocalRedactor removes these whenever it exports a file.
Open LocalRedactorFree to try. No account. Nothing uploaded.
Your PDF is opened, redacted and checked in your browser. It is not uploaded. Do not take our word for it: you can check with your browser’s own tools. See how to check.
Remove metadata with LocalRedactor
- Look at what is there. In your PDF viewer open File, Properties. Author, title, subject, keywords, creator and producer are the usual fields.
- Open the file in LocalRedactor. Drop it on the page. It stays in your browser.
- Add the marks you need. Export needs at least one mark. If the file is only being cleaned, add one box on a blank margin. It will appear as a box on that page.
- Export and read the receipt. Metadata scrubbing is always on. The receipt lists what was removed, by kind and count, and the verifier confirms nothing was left.
What gets removed on every export
- The document information fields: title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and dates.
- The XMP metadata packet, which can repeat those fields and add more.
- Embedded files, scripts and other active content, such as JavaScript, launch actions and form-submit actions.
- Objects the file no longer needs, including leftovers from earlier edits.
Why bother
A redacted page can sit in a file whose properties name the person who wrote it, the client, or the draft. Removing the text from the page and leaving the properties undoes part of the work.
What it does not do
- There is no metadata-only mode yet. Export needs at least one mark, so a file with nothing to hide needs one small box on a margin.
- Visible content is not metadata. A name printed in a header or footer stays until you mark it.
- Links that point to a web address are kept, because they are part of what the page shows. Check them yourself if the address is sensitive.
- Encrypted PDFs are refused.
Questions
Does it remove the author name?
Yes. The author and the other document information fields are removed from every file the app exports, and the verifier checks that none are left.
Will my PDF look the same afterwards?
Pages look the same except for the boxes you marked. Metadata is not drawn on the page.
Does it remove the dates?
The creation and modification dates in the document information are removed with the rest of it.
Redact a PDF nowFree to try. No account. Nothing uploaded.