Remove hidden data from a PDF

Remove hidden data from a PDF

A PDF carries far more than its pages: who wrote it, on what software, at what time, plus any scripts, attached files, comments and form values. Choose what to strip and the visible content comes through untouched.

Runs in your browserNothing is uploadedNo account, no watermark

This removes the data around the pages, not anything printed on them. The visible content is untouched and the text stays selectable. To remove something from the page itself, use redaction.

How to remove hidden data from a pdf

  1. 1

    Drop in the PDF

    The document's structure is inspected on your device.

  2. 2

    Choose what to remove

    Document properties and the XMP packet, embedded JavaScript and automatic actions, file attachments, annotations and comments, interactive form fields, or hyperlinks.

  3. 3

    Sanitise

    The chosen structures are deleted and the file rewritten with unreferenced objects dropped.

  4. 4

    Download

    Same pages, same text, none of the baggage.

Metadata is stored twice

PDFs keep document properties in an information dictionary and, usually, a second copy in an XMP packet — an XML blob that many tools forget about. Clearing the fields in a reader often leaves the XMP intact, complete with the original author and every editing timestamp. Both are removed here.

What is actually in there

Typically the author's name and their computer's user account, the software and version that produced the file, creation and modification timestamps, and for an edited document, a revision history. For files produced by an office suite, sometimes the original file path on someone's disk.

Sanitising is not redacting

This removes the data around the pages, not anything printed on them. A name visible in the text stays visible. If the point is to remove something from the page itself, redact it.

Questions

No, unless you remove annotations or flatten the form — both of which are visible by design. Text, images and layout are untouched, and the text stays selectable.

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