How to remove metadata from a PDF on a Mac
By Himanshu Ranjan · Updated 8 November 2026
To remove metadata from a PDF on a Mac, select it and run Sign & Lock › Remove metadata in FileDial, which removes title, author, dates and app names. To change the details instead, use Sign & Lock › Edit title, author, subject, keywords… Both run locally and save a copy.
What PDF metadata is
Metadata is data about a file rather than its content. A PDF carries a title, author, subject, keywords, creation and modification dates, and the name of the program that made it. Many also hold richer XMP metadata, a standard for embedding descriptive information in files.
These fields are filled in automatically. Export a document from Word and your name from the Word profile can be written into the author field; scan with an app and the app name appears. Nothing here is hidden maliciously, but it can reveal who wrote something, when, and with what.
Remove it with FileDial
Sign & Lock › Remove metadata removes the title, author, dates and app names, per its description. It saves a new copy beside the original.
- Select the PDF, or several, in Finder.
- Hold the right Option key to open the dial and choose the Sign & Lock category.
- Release on Sign & Lock › Remove metadata.
- Open the copy and check the file's properties to confirm the fields are empty.
- Send the copy and keep the original.
Edit instead of removing
Sometimes you want correct metadata, not none. A title that reads Untitled or a stale author name looks sloppy, and a good title helps search and accessibility. Sign & Lock › Edit title, author, subject, keywords… saves a new copy with the details you enter; fields you leave empty keep what is already there.
That last behavior has a consequence: to clear a single field you cannot just leave it blank in the edit tool. Use Remove metadata for a clean slate, then edit to add back only what you want.
- Clean slate: Remove metadata.
- Fix or set details: Edit title, author, subject, keywords…
- Strip scripts, attachments and comments too: Sanitize for sending…
What removing metadata does not cover
It does not touch the visible content. A name in the footer, a comment in the margin, or a tracked change burned into the page stays. Hidden extras such as attachments, scripts or old revisions are a separate matter; Sign & Lock › Sanitize for sending… removes scripts, actions, attachments, comments and metadata, and gives you a fresh file with no old revisions.
Images inside the PDF may carry their own metadata, such as camera details and location in Exif data. If photos are embedded, extract them and strip them separately, or flatten the whole page to a picture with Convert › Rasterize PDF…, which makes every page a picture with no selectable text, links or form fields.
A worked example: sending a PDF to a client
You exported a proposal as a PDF and want to send it. Run Sign & Lock › Inspect PDF first; it writes a short .txt report you can read to see what the file carries. Then run Sign & Lock › Remove metadata, and if the proposal began as someone else's template, edit the title with Sign & Lock › Edit title, author, subject, keywords… so the file reads Proposal for the client instead of the template name.
Run Inspect PDF on the final copy to confirm the fields are as you want. Then attach it. The whole routine takes about a minute, and the habit matters more than the tool: whoever opens your file can see what is written in its properties, whether or not you remembered to look.
Before a PDF goes to a stranger, a client or a public site, run a short routine. Run Sign & Lock › Inspect PDF, which writes a short .txt report, to see what is inside. Remove metadata or sanitize as needed. Open the result and look at the properties again. For a file that holds any sensitive text, check redactions with Sign & Lock › Check redactions instead of trusting what looks black on screen.
Dates and what they tell people
The creation and modification dates in a PDF can say when you started writing, how long you worked on it, and whether it was changed after a deadline. For a job application or a tender, an unexpected date can raise questions that have nothing to do with the work. Removing the dates is reasonable when they say nothing useful, though it is not a way to misrepresent when a document was made.
If a record of dates matters, such as for legal evidence, do the opposite: keep the original untouched and work on copies. FileDial always writes copies, and its checksum tools, such as Batch › Checksums (SHA-256), write a text file of checksums you can keep as proof the original did not change.
Honest alternatives on a Mac
Preview shows document properties through Tools › Show Inspector, but we cannot point to documented steps there for clearing every field, so we will not claim it. Some apps that created the PDF let you clear the author in their export settings. For a bulk or repeatable job, a dedicated tool is quicker.
Uploading a file to strip its metadata shows the file to the very service you are trying to hide it from. Running locally keeps the original off the network. FileDial works with Wi-Fi off and every result has Undo.
Questions
What metadata does a PDF contain?
Typically a title, author, subject, keywords, creation and modification dates and the name of the creating application, and often XMP metadata as well. Photos inside it can have their own Exif data. None of this is visible on the page, but file properties reveal it.
Does removing metadata make a PDF anonymous?
No. It removes the properties fields, but names in the page text, comments, attachments and image data are separate. For a fuller clean-up use Sign & Lock › Sanitize for sending…, then review the pages themselves, since visible content is unaffected by any of these tools.
Can I change the author of a PDF instead of removing it?
Yes. Sign & Lock › Edit title, author, subject, keywords… writes a copy with new details, and empty fields keep their existing values. To clear a field completely, run Remove metadata first, then enter only the details you want to keep.