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PDF Metadata Editor (2025): edit, sync, clean

A universal guide to editing PDF metadata: GUI apps, CLI tools, and code. Set Title/Author/Keywords, keep Info and XMP in sync, and remove the unnecessary without risking content.

ExifToolqpdfmutool2025
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Privacy Risk

Authors, software, dates

Leak potentialMedium–High

Lossless

Metadata-only

Content impactNone

Automation

CLI friendly

Batch readinessExcellent

Info vs XMP

PDF stores metadata in the Info dictionary (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModDate) and in XMP (an XML packet). Keep them synchronized for correct results.

Editors: GUI / CLI / Code

Acrobat / macOS Preview / Okular

Quick manual edits

They change basic fields; XMP isn’t always synchronized — verify with CLI.

Edit common fields

# Basic edit and save
exiftool -Title="Spec" -Author="Team" -Subject="Release" -Keywords="spec,release" -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

Remove metadata safely

# Full wipe (content untouched)
exiftool -all= -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

# Selective: clear only these
exiftool -Title= -Author= -Subject= -Keywords= -Creator= -Producer= -CreateDate= -ModifyDate= "doc.pdf"
If the PDF embeds images, clean their EXIF/GPS first with MetaRemover.com.

Sync Info ↔ XMP

# Copy XMP -> Info
exiftool -Title<XMP:Title -Author<XMP:Author -Subject<XMP:Subject -Keywords<XMP:Keywords -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

# Copy Info -> XMP
exiftool -XMP:Title<Title -XMP:Author<Author -XMP:Subject<Subject -XMP:Keywords<Keywords -overwrite_original "doc.pdf"

Optimize & linearize

qpdf

Fast web view

qpdf --linearize --object-streams=generate --stream-data=preserve in.pdf out_linear.pdf

Ghostscript

Optional

gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.7 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sOutputFile=rebuilt.pdf in.pdf
Heads up
Rebuilding can change structure — re-verify metadata.

CI/Batch automation

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

Removing metadata does not remove sensitive text/images from pages. True redaction deletes page objects. Verify by searching/copying text and inspecting objects (mutool show).

FAQ

Ship clean PDFs — keep teams private

Edit and clean PDF metadata safely. For embedded images, scrub EXIF/GPS first.

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