How to Remove Metadata From a PDF (Author, Producer, XMP)
Open a PDF's "Document Properties" panel and you'll usually find more than you expected: an Author name that's really your full legal name from your OS account, the exact software and version that made the file, and a Producer string naming your employer's print server. None of it is visible on the page itself — it rides along in the file's metadata.
What's actually stored in a PDF's metadata
- Info dictionary fields — Author, Title, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, and the creation/modification timestamps.
- XMP metadata — a separate, more detailed XML block that often duplicates the Info dictionary and can carry additional software, workflow, or even GPS data if the PDF was generated from a photo or scan.
- Embedded fonts and object history — less sensitive, but they can also hint at what software and template produced the document.
Word processors, scanners, and "export to PDF" tools fill these fields in automatically, usually without asking. A contract exported from your work laptop can quietly name your employer; a PDF built from a scanned form can carry the scanner's serial number.
Why this matters more than it seems
The Author and Producer fields have outed anonymous documents before — leaked reports, whistleblower filings, and "anonymous" complaint letters have all been traced back through metadata that nobody thought to check. Even when the stakes are lower, there's rarely a reason to hand a stranger your name, your company, and your software stack in a field they'll never look at unless something goes wrong.
What scrub can do today
scrub reads a PDF on your device — nothing is uploaded — and shows you exactly what's in the Info dictionary and XMP block: author, producer, creator, timestamps, and anything else attached. Right now, PDF handling in scrub is scan-only: it will tell you plainly what metadata (and any hidden text or embedded content) a PDF contains, but it does not yet strip it for you the way it does for images and plain text. We'd rather say that clearly than pretend otherwise.
In the meantime, once you know what's in the file, most PDF tools (or your PDF editor's "Document Properties" screen) let you clear the Author, Producer, Title and Subject fields by hand. Removing XMP metadata usually needs a dedicated tool, since it's a separate embedded block rather than a simple form field.
The short version
PDFs carry an Author and Producer field — plus a fuller XMP block — that most people never check. scrub shows you what's there before you send the file, for free and without an upload. Get scrub free and check your next PDF before it goes out.