How to Remove Metadata from a PDF (Author, Title, GPS Data)
Strip hidden metadata from a PDF — author name, company, creation date, editing history, GPS data — before sharing. Free, private, browser-based.
Every PDF file carries hidden metadata: the author's name, their company, the software used to create it, creation and modification dates, and sometimes GPS coordinates from scanned photos. FixMyPDF's metadata remover strips all of this before you share, free, in your browser.
What Metadata Is Hidden in PDFs?
Standard PDF metadata includes: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator (software that made the original), Producer (PDF engine used), Creation Date, Modification Date. Extended metadata (XMP) can include GPS coordinates from scanned photos, document revision history, company name, and template information. All of this is readable by anyone who checks the document properties.
Why Remove Metadata Before Sharing?
Your name and company are embedded if you created the PDF in Word or Acrobat. A "confidential draft" marked in metadata could reveal internal classification. GPS data from a scanned photo could reveal the location where it was taken. Revision history might show earlier versions of content you later removed. Legal and HR teams routinely sanitise PDFs before external sharing.
How to Remove PDF Metadata
Go to fixmypdf.in/tools/metadata-remover. Upload your PDF. Click "Remove Metadata". The tool strips all standard and XMP metadata fields and downloads a clean PDF. Check the file properties after (File → Get Info on Mac, or Properties on Windows) to confirm metadata is gone.
Viewing Metadata Before Removing
Before removing, use our metadata viewer to see exactly what's stored in your PDF. You might find your personal name listed as Author, your IT department's server path in the Creator field, or your company's full name in the Producer field — all things you may not want to share.
Editing Instead of Removing
If you want to set specific metadata values rather than removing everything (e.g., set the Title and Author to appropriate values for a public document), use our metadata editor instead. You can set each field to whatever value is appropriate for the shared version.
GPS Data in Scanned PDFs
When you scan documents using a phone camera and the resulting images are embedded in the PDF, the EXIF data from those photos (including GPS coordinates) can be embedded in the PDF. Our metadata remover strips this GPS data — important for any PDF that contains photographed images if you don't want to reveal where the photo was taken.
Complete Sanitisation Before Sharing
For a fully sanitised document before public sharing or legal filing: (1) redact sensitive visible content, (2) remove metadata with this tool, (3) flatten to remove hidden annotation data. Three steps, all free, all in-browser.
Try Metadata Remover Now — Free
Browser-based, private, and instant. No account or software required.
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