Remove the Author From a PDF

Before a PDF goes to a client, a court or a job application, the properties often still name the person, the template and the office computer that produced it. This page finds those entries and takes them out.

The tool runs in your browser (JavaScript required). Nothing is uploaded.

Where the author name hides in a PDF

The obvious place is the Author property, which most readers show under document properties. The same name is usually repeated in the XMP packet, and a PDF exported from a word processor often keeps the original document's author there long after the text was rewritten.

  • Author and "Created with" in the document properties
  • The producer: the library or printer driver that wrote the file
  • dc:creator and similar fields in the XMP packet
  • Names attached to comments and to signature fields, which are listed separately
  • Names written into the visible text, found by the detectors like any other personal information

What you get back

A new PDF without those entries, written from scratch so that earlier saves inside the file cannot be used to read them again. Comments that carry an author name are listed on their own, because deleting a comment changes the document and that should be your decision, not ours.

Questions

Will the recipient still see who made the file?

Not from the properties or the XMP packet we removed. If a name is printed in the document itself or attached to a comment, it is shown as a separate item for you to decide on.

Does a signed PDF stay valid after the author is removed?

No. Any new copy — even one that only changes properties — breaks the signature. We detect signatures and ask you to confirm before making a copy.

Can I replace the author instead of deleting it?

For text found in the document you can choose a placeholder such as [PERSON_1]. Document properties are removed rather than rewritten.

Does this work on a PDF exported from Word or Pages?

Yes. Those exports are the common case: the properties are copied from the source document, and they are removed here the same way.