PDF Metadata

What is PDF metadata?

Every PDF carries a set of document properties — a title, an author, the software that produced it, and creation and modification timestamps. Most people never look at them, but they travel with the file, so whoever you send the document to can read them.

Does this remove everything a PDF knows about me?

No, and it is important to be precise about that. It clears the document properties, and it can strip EXIF data from embedded JPEG photos. It does not touch XMP, a second metadata format some PDFs carry: the reference to an XMP block can be dropped, but the block itself is still written into the saved file, so removing the reference would claim a removal that had not happened. If a document genuinely must be scrubbed before you send it, use a dedicated tool such as exiftool and verify the result.

What is EXIF, and why would a PDF have it?

EXIF is metadata stored inside photographs — camera make and model, the settings used, and often the GPS coordinates where the picture was taken. When a photo is placed into a PDF, that data usually goes with it, so a document built from phone pictures can quietly carry the locations they were taken.

Will clearing metadata change how the document looks?

No. Document properties are stored separately from page content, so clearing them leaves text, images and layout untouched. Stripping EXIF removes only the metadata block inside each photo — the image itself is copied across unchanged, not re-compressed, so quality is identical.