Initializing Secure Environment…
Initializing Secure Environment…
Every PDF carries a set of hidden properties, and they are rarely what you would choose: the author field is usually whoever was logged into the machine, and the creator field names the software. This tool reads all of them, lets you rewrite or blank each one, and saves a new file. It runs entirely in your browser using pdf-lib, so a document you are cleaning up before sending never leaves your device.
To edit PDF metadata, open the file in a browser-based properties editor, change the fields you want, and save. On ihatepdf, select your PDF and the title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and both dates are read straight out of the document information dictionary. Edit any of them, or click Clear all to blank the lot, then save the rewritten file. Nothing is uploaded — the change happens in your browser.
Metadata is the part of a document nobody proofreads. Send a CV built from an old template and the author field may still carry the name of the person who wrote the template. Send a client proposal and the title field may still read "Untitled 1" or, worse, the name of a different client. Because most readers show the Title in the window bar in preference to the filename, a stale title is visible to every recipient without them looking for it. Checking these fields before a document leaves your hands takes seconds, and this tool shows all of them at once rather than burying them in a properties dialog.
These are different goals. Editing is what you want when a document should carry correct information: the right title for a report going into a document management system, a real author for a published paper, an accurate creation date for an archive. Stripping is what you want when a document should carry none: a file going to an anonymous tender, a leak-sensitive disclosure, a document shared publicly. This tool does both — clear every field with one click, or set each deliberately. For stripping that also removes XMP streams and any recoverable origin data, follow up with Flatten PDF in Strip or Stealth mode.
Documents get proofread; their properties do not. A CV built on a downloaded template can carry the template author’s name for years. A proposal saved from a previous client’s file can still be titled with that client’s name — and because most PDF readers show the Title in the window bar in preference to the filename, that name is visible to the new recipient without them going looking for it. Court filings, tender submissions and journalism have all produced public embarrassments of exactly this kind. Checking these fields before a document leaves your hands takes about ten seconds, and this page shows all of them at once instead of burying them behind a properties dialog.
These are opposite goals and it is worth knowing which you want. Editing is for documents that should carry correct information: an accurate title for something going into a document management system, a real author for a published paper, a sensible creation date for an archive. Stripping is for documents that should carry none — an anonymous tender, a sensitive disclosure, a file being published openly. This tool does both, but be aware of the limit: it rewrites the document information dictionary, and a file may also carry an XMP metadata packet holding a second copy of the same fields. Where XMP is present you will see a warning here; for a file with nothing recoverable left, follow up with Flatten PDF in Strip or Stealth mode, which rasterises the pages and removes XMP as well.
Nothing in a PDF’s properties is typed by hand in normal use, which is exactly why the contents are so often wrong. Author is taken from the operating system account or the office suite’s user settings. Creator is stamped by the authoring application. Producer is stamped by whichever library performed the PDF export — which is why so many files in the wild announce themselves as having been produced by a printer driver nobody chose. Dates are set at export and then carried through subsequent saves, so a document’s stated creation date frequently belongs to an ancestor file rather than to the document you are holding.
The document information dictionary holds Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate and ModDate. Creator names the application the document was authored in; Producer names the library or driver that wrote the PDF itself.
The author field is normally filled in automatically from the account name on the computer that created the file — often a full name, a company username, or the name of whoever owned the original template. It is one of the most common accidental disclosures in shared documents.
No. It clears the document information dictionary only. A PDF can also carry XMP metadata streams, and its content may still identify you. For maximum anonymisation use Flatten PDF in Strip or Stealth mode, which rasterises the pages and removes XMP as well.
Yes. Both the creation and modification dates are editable here. Note that this changes what the PDF declares about itself; it does not change the timestamps your operating system records for the file.
No. Only the properties are rewritten. Pages, text, images and layout are untouched, and the file is saved without re-compressing anything.
Type them comma-separated and they are stored using the space-separated convention that PDF readers and desktop search indexers expect.
No. Reading and rewriting happen entirely in your browser using pdf-lib. Once the page has loaded you can disconnect from the internet and it still works.
Remove the password first with the Remove Password or Unlock PDF tool, then edit the properties.
Open the file here and every stored field is listed immediately — title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and both dates. Nothing is written unless you choose to save, so this doubles as a metadata viewer.
It can. Google indexes PDFs, and where a PDF has a Title field it is frequently used as the clickable headline in search results in preference to the filename or the first heading. A document published on a website with the title left as "Microsoft Word - draft3.docx" is showing that to searchers. Setting a real title is a small, genuine SEO improvement for any PDF you publish.
Yes, if the document is digitally signed. A cryptographic signature covers the file’s bytes, and rewriting the information dictionary changes them, so the signature will report as invalid afterwards. Edit the metadata before signing, never after.
One at a time here, but the "Copy from a PDF" button makes a batch quick: set one file up exactly as you want it, then for each subsequent document load it, copy the properties across, and save.
Creator names the application the document was authored in — Word, InDesign, LaTeX. Producer names the component that actually wrote the PDF bytes, which is often a different library or print driver. Together they are a reasonably reliable fingerprint of the toolchain that made the file.
Not at all. Only the properties are rewritten. Pages, text, images, fonts and layout are untouched, and nothing is re-compressed.
Almost always because the document began life as somebody else’s template, or was produced on a shared or previously-owned machine. The author field is filled in automatically from the account name and then carried forward through every save, which is why it so often outlives the person who set it.
More security & privacy — all free, no upload.
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