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Change PDF Title, Author and Hidden Properties

View and change a PDF's title, author, subject and keywords, or strip them out.

Change PDF Title, Author and Hidden Properties

View and change a PDF's title, author, subject and keywords, or strip them out.

Why use PDFWix to edit PDFs

• Better search snippets: A real Title helps a public PDF rank and read properly in Google results and browser tabs.
• Privacy clean-up: Remove the author name, user account and originating software before sending a file outside your company.
• Pages are never re-rendered: Text stays selectable and searchable, fonts stay embedded, forms keep working.
• Confidential by design: Contracts and medical records are rewritten inside your browser, never uploaded.

Common uses for editing PDFs

• Giving a public PDF a proper title so Google shows a clean search result
• Removing a former employee's or previous client's name from a reused template
• Fixing a browser tab that shows a file path instead of a document name
• Adding keywords so a document is findable in an intranet or DMS
• Stripping application details from files before publishing them

How to View and Edit PDF Document Properties

1. Add your PDF — Drop the file in. Its current title, author, subject, keywords, creator and producer appear straight away.
2. Edit the fields — Type the new title, author, subject and comma-separated keywords. Leave a field empty to clear it.
3. Or clear everything — Switch on Remove every detail to wipe all six fields and reset the creation date.
4. Save — Click Save details. The new PDF downloads with identical pages and updated properties.

Tips for editing PDF properties

• Write the title like a headline — Use the document's real name, not a file name — this is what browsers and Google display.
• Keywords are comma-separated — Five to ten specific terms work better than a long list of near-duplicates.
• Metadata is not redaction — Clearing properties does not remove anything printed on the page — use [Redact PDF](/redact-pdf) for that.
• Check the result — Reopen the file here, or view its text with [PDF to Text & Markdown](/pdf-to-text), to confirm the change.

Ways to change PDF document properties

Comparing metadata editing options.

Related tools

• Compress PDF
• Flatten PDF
• Redact PDF
• Merge PDF

Quick answer

To edit PDF metadata free: open PDFWix Edit PDF Metadata and add your PDF — its current title, author, subject and keywords load automatically. Type the new values and click Save details, or switch on Remove every detail to clear them all. The pages are not changed.

How PDFWix Edit PDF Metadata works

PDFWix Edit PDF Metadata reads and rewrites the PDF's document information dictionary and XMP title fields using pdf-lib — the Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator and Producer entries, plus the creation and modification dates. Page content, fonts, images, bookmarks and form fields are left byte-for-byte untouched because the pages themselves are never re-rendered. The whole operation runs inside the browser tab, so confidential documents are never uploaded.

What PDF metadata is, and why it matters

Every PDF carries a small set of labels about itself. Title is used by browsers for the tab name and by Google for search snippets when a PDF ranks. Author and Creator usually record the person and the program that made the file. Producer names the software that wrote the PDF, Subject is a one-line description, and Keywords feed desktop search, intranets and document management systems. None of this is visible on the page, which is exactly why it gets overlooked. That makes metadata both an SEO opportunity and a privacy risk. A clear, keyword-appropriate Title gives a public PDF a far better chance in search results than "Microsoft Word - final draft 3.docx". Equally, sending a client a proposal that still names an internal template, a former employer or a colleague's user account is an easy mistake to avoid. If the visible page content also needs cleaning, Redact PDF blacks out text on the page and Flatten PDF locks filled form answers so they cannot be changed.

At a glance

Fields you can edit: 6 plus dates · Page content changed: None · Processing: 100% in your browser

The bottom line

Cleaning a document before you send it? Pair this with Flatten PDF to lock form answers, Redact PDF to black out visible text, and Compress PDF to shrink the final file.

Frequently asked questions

How do I edit PDF metadata for free?

Open PDFWix Edit PDF Metadata, add the PDF, change the title, author, subject or keywords and click Save details. It runs in your browser and costs nothing.

How do I change the title that shows in the browser tab?

The tab usually shows the PDF's Title property. Set it here and save, and the tab name follows.

Can I remove all metadata from a PDF?

Yes. Switch on Remove every detail and the title, author, subject, keywords, creator and producer are all cleared.

Does editing metadata change my pages?

No. Only the document properties are rewritten. Text, images, fonts, bookmarks and form fields stay exactly as they were.

Does this remove hidden text or comments from the page?

No. For content printed on the page use Redact PDF, and for form answers use Flatten PDF.

Is my PDF uploaded to a server?

No. The file is opened and rewritten inside this browser tab.

Preparing a document to send out? Flatten PDF locks the answers in a filled form, Redact PDF hides sensitive text and Compress PDF makes it email-friendly.