Open fwip’s metadata remover, drop your PDF in, and download a clean copy. It strips author name, creation software, edit history, GPS data, timestamps, and hidden annotations. Takes two seconds. Your file never leaves your device.
How to do it
- Open fwip’s Remove PDF Metadata tool.
- Drop your PDF in.
- Hit Remove Metadata.
- Download the clean file.
The output PDF looks identical. The hidden data is gone.
Why this matters
Every PDF carries metadata you probably didn’t know was there. Open any PDF’s properties and you’ll likely see the author’s full name, the software used to create it, the exact date and time it was created and last modified, and sometimes GPS coordinates from the device that created it.
For lawyers, this is a discovery risk. For journalists, it’s a source protection issue. For anyone sending a document externally, it’s information you probably didn’t mean to share.
Stripping metadata before sending is standard practice in legal and corporate environments. Most people just don’t know it needs to be done.
Frequently asked questions
What metadata is hidden in a PDF? Author name, creation date, modification date, software used, custom properties, comments, annotations, and in some cases GPS coordinates from mobile devices.
Why should I remove PDF metadata? Privacy. Metadata can reveal who created the document, when, where, and with what software. In legal contexts, metadata has been used in discovery to establish document timelines.
Can someone see my name in a PDF I send? Yes. Right-click any PDF, view properties, and you’ll often see the author’s full name. Most PDF creation tools embed this automatically from your OS user profile.
Does fwip remove all hidden data? Yes — author, title, subject, keywords, creator, producer, creation date, modification date, and custom metadata fields. Visual content is untouched.
Is there metadata in other file types too? Yes. Images carry EXIF data (camera model, GPS, timestamp). Word documents carry author and revision history. Use fwip’s Remove EXIF Data tool for images.