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Edit PDF metadata (2025): Info & XMP — safely

Learn how to view, edit, and remove PDF metadata (Info dictionary & XMP) without damaging files. Clean authorship, software traces, timestamps, and keywords. Verify with multiple tools and automate at scale.

ExifToolqpdfmutool2025
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Privacy Risk

Authors, software, dates

Leak potentialMedium–High

Lossless

Metadata-only

Content impactNone

Automation

CLI friendly

Batch readinessExcellent

PDF metadata: Info vs XMP

PDFs keep metadata in two places: the classic Info dictionary (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModDate) and embedded XMP (XML packet). Tools may update only one; keep them consistent.

Inspect metadata (GUI/CLI)

ExifTool

Deep view (Info + XMP)

exiftool -G -a -s "doc.pdf"

Shows both Info and XMP, grouped by origin.

Edit common fields (Title, Author, Keywords)

ExifTool (preferred)

Updates Info & XMP

# Set basic fields
exiftool -Title="Project Plan" -Author="ACME" -Subject="Q4" -Keywords="plan,Q4" doc.pdf

# Ensure XMP and Info match
exiftool -overwrite_original -Title= -Author= -Subject= -Keywords= -XMP:Title="Project Plan" -XMP:Author="ACME" -XMP:Subject="Q4" -XMP:Keywords="plan,Q4" doc.pdf
Use -overwrite_original only when confident; otherwise keep a backup.

pdftk (Info only)

Legacy tool

# Write Info via a metadata file (UTF-8)
printf "InfoKey: Title
InfoValue: Project Plan
" > meta.txt
pdftk doc.pdf update_info_utf8 meta.txt output out.pdf
Note
Does not touch XMP; sync separately if needed.

Remove metadata (XMP & Info)

# 1) Wipe everything with ExifTool (keeps PDF content)
exiftool -all= -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

# 2) Alternatively, clear specific fields only
exiftool -Title= -Author= -Subject= -Keywords= -Creator= -Producer= -CreateDate= -ModifyDate= "doc.pdf"

# 3) Verify with multiple tools
exiftool -G -a -s "doc.pdf"
mutool info "doc.pdf"
Sharing screenshots or images embedded into PDFs? Scrub their EXIF/GPS first with a privacy-first, browser-only cleaner — MetaRemover.com.

Keep Info and XMP in sync

# Copy XMP values into Info (and vice versa) explicitly
exiftool -Title<XMP:Title -Author<XMP:Author -Subject<XMP:Subject -Keywords<XMP:Keywords -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

# Or copy Info into XMP if you trust Info more
exiftool -XMP:Title<Title -XMP:Author<Author -XMP:Subject<Subject -XMP:Keywords<Keywords -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

Optimize & linearize (delivery)

qpdf

Linearize + sanitize

qpdf --linearize --object-streams=generate --stream-data=preserve clean.pdf clean_linear.pdf

Good for web delivery (fast first page).

Ghostscript

Rebuild (optional)

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.7 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=rebuilt.pdf clean.pdf
Caution
Rebuild pipelines may change content structure and tags; use only if necessary.

CI/Batch workflows (GitHub Actions)

name: sanitize-pdf
on:
  push:
    paths: ["docs/**/*.pdf"]
jobs:
  clean:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Wipe metadata
        run: |
          for f in docs/**/*.pdf; do
            exiftool -all= -overwrite_original "$f"
          done
      - name: Verify
        run: |
          for f in docs/**/*.pdf; do
            exiftool -G -a -s "$f" > "${f%.pdf}.meta.txt"
          done

Redaction vs metadata — quick privacy tip

Removing metadata does not remove sensitive text/images from pages. Proper redaction deletes page content, not just overlays. Validate by copying text, searching, and inspecting objects with mutool show.

If your PDFs include embedded images, scrub their EXIF/GPS first with a browser-only cleaner — MetaRemover.com.

FAQ

Ship clean PDFs — keep teams private

Edit or wipe PDF metadata safely. For embedded images, scrub EXIF/GPS first to avoid accidental leaks.

Remove Metadata Now → MetaRemover.com