How to Edit PDF Metadata Using Editing Software (2026 Guide)

Two things about PDF metadata are worth knowing before you touch any of it. It lives in two separate places that can disagree with each other, so editing one and not the other is the usual reason a name you thought you deleted is still there. And the most widely recommended way to strip it does not actually destroy it. Both points are covered below, because the second one turns a privacy precaution into a false sense of security.

Two stores, one document

A PDF can carry the same metadata twice.

The document information dictionary, usually called DocInfo, is the older mechanism: a simple set of entries for Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate and ModDate. Creator names the application the content came from, such as a word processor. Producer names the software that wrote the PDF.

The XMP packet is the newer mechanism: an XML block embedded in the file which can hold the same fields under different names, plus copyright, description, rights statements and arbitrary custom properties.

Most files written in the last fifteen years have both, and nothing forces them to agree. Different software prefers different sources: Acrobat treats XMP as authoritative, while plenty of other tools read DocInfo. So if you change the Author in a tool that only writes DocInfo, another reader may still display the old name from the XMP packet, and vice versa. This is the single most common cause of "I removed my name and it is still showing."

One more field that no metadata editor can help with: the filename. "Q3 Internal Report - Draft v4.pdf" travels with the document whatever you strip from inside it, and it is frequently the most revealing thing attached to the file.

Seeing what is actually in there

Reading it is the step people skip, and it is the only one that tells you whether you have a problem.

• Any reader's document properties panel. Acrobat is File then Properties. Preview on a Mac is Tools then Show Inspector. These show the common fields and generally show one of the two stores rather than both.
• ExifTool, for the full picture: exiftool document.pdf. This is the only convenient way to see both stores at once, and it labels them, so you will see a PDF:Author alongside an XMP-dc:Creator and can tell whether they match.

Do this once on a document you exported from a word processor. The Author field is usually populated automatically from your operating system account name, which means every PDF you have ever sent may have had your account name in it. The timestamps record when the file was really produced, which is occasionally awkward.

What editing it does and does not achieve

Two of the usual reasons given for this are solid and one is mostly wishful.

Solid: how the document appears in search results. When Google indexes a PDF it can use the Title entry as the result title. A PDF with no Title typically shows up with its filename instead, which is why search results are full of entries called "Microsoft Word - Document1". If you publish PDFs on a website, setting a real Title is genuinely worth doing.

Solid: accessibility. The document Title is what a screen reader announces, and accessibility checkers flag a missing one. For anything with a public-sector or institutional audience this is a requirement rather than a nicety.

Mostly wishful: keywords as a ranking signal. Stuffing the Keywords field is very unlikely to affect how a PDF ranks. Search engines stopped relying on author-declared keyword lists a long time ago for exactly the reason you would expect. Fill it in for your own document management if that is useful to you; do not expect traffic from it.

Also solid, and the reason most people arrive here: privacy. Removing an author name, an internal draft title, or a timestamp before a document goes outside the organisation. That is the case where getting it right matters, so it gets its own section.

How to edit it

ExifTool, free

The most capable free option, and it can address both stores explicitly:

• exiftool -Title="Annual Report 2026" document.pdf
• exiftool -Author="Organisation Name" document.pdf
• exiftool -XMP-dc:Title="Annual Report 2026" document.pdf to set the XMP copy specifically

Note that it writes a .pdf_original backup beside the file by default, which is helpful while you are experimenting and something to remember to delete before you send the folder anywhere.

Acrobat Pro

File then Properties then the Description tab. Edit Title, Author, Subject and Keywords and save. Acrobat keeps DocInfo and XMP in step, which is its main advantage over piecemeal tools. Acrobat Reader, the free version, can display metadata but not change it.

Your source application

Often the easiest route and the one people forget. Word, LibreOffice and Pages all have document properties, and their PDF export carries them into the file. If you are going to produce the PDF anyway, set the title there and the exported file is correct from the start. This is also where an unwanted author name comes from, so it is where to fix it permanently rather than cleaning up every export.

What RaptorPDF does, which is not this

We have no metadata editor, and we are not going to pretend that a side effect is a feature. What does happen is worth knowing, because it surprises people either way:

• Most of our tools discard the original metadata. Merge, split, delete pages, reorder, annotate, page numbers, watermark and compress all build a new empty document and copy the page objects into it. The new document has neither the original information dictionary nor its XMP packet, so Title, Author, Subject and Keywords are gone, and the Producer field ends up naming the library we use rather than your software.
• Two of our tools preserve it. Password protection and form filling load the original document rather than rebuilding it, so the original metadata survives intact.

So if you want a title kept, do not route the file through a merge. And if you were relying on a merge to strip an author name, it does work, but read the next section before you treat that as a privacy procedure.

Removing it properly

Here is the trap. exiftool -all= document.pdf is the command everyone recommends for stripping PDF metadata, and afterwards exiftool will report the fields as gone. But ExifTool's PDF writer does not rewrite the file: it appends an incremental update, which is a legitimate PDF mechanism for recording changes. The previous values are still present in the earlier revision inside the same file, and ExifTool documents that they can be recovered. The deletion is reversible by design.

For document organisation that is irrelevant. For a document you are publishing, or sending to a counterparty, or filing in a public record, it means you have not removed anything. The fix is to rewrite the file afterwards so that only the current revision survives:

exiftool -all= document.pdf
qpdf --linearize document.pdf clean.pdf

Then check the result with exiftool clean.pdf and confirm both stores are empty.

Two alternatives, depending on what you have:

• Acrobat Pro's Sanitize Document function, which is built for this. It removes metadata, embedded attachments, hidden layers, JavaScript, form field data and content retained from earlier saves, and it rewrites the file. If a document matters, this is the right tool, and the fact that it exists separately from redaction tells you how many places a PDF can hide information.
• A rebuild, which is what our merge incidentally performs. Running a document through a page-copying merge produces a new file with no original metadata. It is a real effect and it is a side effect, so verify it with exiftool rather than trusting it, and remember it strips a Title you might have wanted to keep along with the Author you wanted gone.

And the part no tool addresses: rename the file. A sanitised PDF called "Settlement - internal draft 3.pdf" has told the recipient more than its metadata ever would.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Resources

• Protect PDF — Add passwords before sharing
• PDF Security Guide
• Redact Sensitive PDF Content
• What travels with an uploaded PDF