How to Edit PDF Metadata: Change Title, Author & Keywords

Open the properties of any PDF on your computer and you might find some interesting (and embarrassing) things:

Title: "Microsoft Word - final_draft_v3_FINAL_REAL.docx"
Author: "John's Old Laptop"
Creator: "Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2019"
Keywords: (empty)

This metadata travels with your file everywhere. When you share it, when you upload it, when search engines index it. It is the digital equivalent of sending a letter with your home address accidentally written on the outside.

Our free Edit PDF Metadata tool lets you view and change the main metadata fields (title, author, subject, and keywords) online in a few clicks.

What Is PDF Metadata?

Every PDF file contains hidden properties that describe the document. These are not visible on the pages themselves, but they are embedded in the file structure and can be seen by:

File managers: Windows Explorer, macOS Finder, and other file browsers show metadata in the "Details" or "Properties" panel.
PDF readers: Adobe Reader, Preview, and other viewers display metadata under "Document Properties."
Search engines: Search engines can read PDF metadata and use it for indexing and ranking.
Document management systems: Enterprise systems like SharePoint use metadata for categorization and search.

The Standard Metadata Fields

Field	What It Does	Example
Title	The official name of the document	"Q4 2026 Financial Report"
Author	The person or organization who created it	"Acme Corporation"
Subject	A brief description of the document's topic	"Quarterly financial results and projections"
Keywords	Searchable terms associated with the document	"finance, quarterly, revenue, 2026"
Creator	The software that originally created the content	"Microsoft Word"
Producer	The software that converted it to PDF	"macOS Quartz PDFContext"

Why Edit Metadata?

1. Professionalism

A document titled "Untitled-1" or "scan_20260115_001" does not inspire confidence. Setting a proper title, author, and subject makes your files look professional in file managers and search results.

2. Organization

When you have hundreds of PDF files, proper metadata makes them searchable. Adding keywords like "contract," "2026," and "client-name" allows you to find specific files instantly using your operating system's search.

3. SEO

If you publish PDF Files on your website (reports, whitepapers, catalogs), search engines use the Title and Keywords metadata for indexing. A well-tagged PDF can rank in search results just like a web page.

4. Privacy

Sometimes you want to remove metadata like your real name from a document you are sharing anonymously. Changing the Author field to a company name protects your identity. To delete the author and every other property at once, use Remove PDF Metadata.

How to Edit Metadata

Upload: Go to the Edit PDF Metadata tool and upload your document.
View Current Metadata: The tool displays all existing metadata fields with their current values. You can see exactly what is embedded in the file.
Edit Fields: Change the Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords.
Save & Download: Click "Save Metadata" and download the updated PDF. The visible content is completely unchanged only the hidden properties are modified.

Pro Tips

Batch your keywords: Separate keywords with commas for better search indexing: "invoice, consulting, 2026, acme-corp"
Be descriptive with titles: "Consulting Agreement - Acme Corp - Jan 2026" is much more useful than "Document1"
Hide the software you used: Creator and Producer can't be edited here. If privacy is important, run Remove PDF Metadata to clear them along with the other properties.

Secure & Private

Your files are processed securely and permanently deleted from our servers within one hour. We never read, index, or share your documents or metadata.

Take control of your document properties. Edit your PDF metadata and present polished, professional files every time.