How to remove hidden metadata from a PDF
Open Clean hidden data, keep Clean everything hidden selected, and press Clean it. The pages stay exactly as they are.
Clean hidden dataFree. Nothing is uploaded.
How to do it
- Open Clean hidden data and add one or more PDFs.
- Choose Clean everything hidden, Remove the hidden details, or Set new details.
- Untick Comments and notes or Attached files if you want to keep them.
- Press Clean it.
- Save the cleaned copy and send that one.
What a PDF carries besides its pages
Most PDFs record a title, an author, the program that made them and when, often your name as set on the computer that made it. Some also hold a second copy of those details in hidden XMP data, comments from earlier drafts, attached files, and scripts that run when the file opens.
The three choices
Clean everything hidden removes the details, the hidden XMP data, scripts and actions, and by choice comments and attached files: the one to use before a file goes outside. Remove the hidden details takes only the details. Set new details lets you write a proper title and author instead, and an empty box removes that detail.
What it does not touch
Words and pictures on the pages stay as they are. If a name or number is printed on a page, use Remove areas. The file name is not inside the file; rename it yourself before sending. To look at or take out attached files rather than drop them, use Attachments.
How to see what a PDF carries
Most readers show a document’s details under File, then Properties or Document properties: the title, author, the program that made it, and the dates. That is a good first check. Hidden XMP data, comments and attachments may not show there, so the result line of Clean everything hidden lists what it actually found and removed.
On a phone, many PDF viewers have a details or properties option in their menu that shows the same thing. Look at it once before and once after cleaning: the title, author and program lines should be empty afterwards, or show only what you typed with Set new details. If they still show old details, check that you opened the cleaned copy and not the original.
A worked example
You made your CV on an office laptop, and the PDF’s author is the name set on that laptop. Before sending it to another company, open Clean hidden data, keep Clean everything hidden, and press Clean it. If you like, run the cleaned copy again with Set new details, typing your own name as the author and Curriculum vitae as the title, so whoever opens the properties sees something sensible.
Common mistakes
Cleaning the details but leaving a give-away file name, such as Final_v3_with_HR_comments.pdf: rename the copy before sending. Cleaning a file and then editing it in another program, which may write its own details back in, so clean last. And expecting this to remove names printed on the pages, which it never touches.
Questions people ask
Will it change how the document looks?
No. Only hidden data is removed. The pages are not touched.
Is my file uploaded?
No. It is cleaned in your browser.
Does this site add its own metadata?
No. Results never carry this site’s name, and a test checks every tool’s output for it.
Does it clean a locked PDF?
Yes. Type the password when asked; the cleaned copy keeps the same password.
Is there anything it cannot clean?
Words and pictures on the pages, and anything that is part of them, such as a name inside a photo. Those need Remove areas.
Can I clean many files at once?
Yes. Add them all; each is cleaned the same way, and Save all keeps the cleaned copies together.
Your file stays on your device. Foolscap does the work inside your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is nothing for anyone to keep. How you can check