Quick answer
Drop the PDF into the tool above with “Document properties and personal info” and “Comments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and annotations (PDF)” ticked, then download the clean copy. Adobe’s own route is a Sanitize document tool. Its help page for Acrobat Pro says to select All tools, then Redact a PDF, then Sanitize document in the left pane, and choose Remove all or Selectively remove.
If you make the PDF from Word, Microsoft’s page on saving to PDF says: “If you want to include document properties in the PDF, make sure Document properties is selected.” It does not say which fields that writes into the PDF, so check the file you export.
What a PDF carries, according to Adobe and the PDF Association
Adobe’s page on document properties and metadata in Acrobat lists basic information (title, author, subject, keywords) and custom properties as document properties. It describes metadata as a wider set of data: standard fields such as creation and modification dates, extended schemas such as Dublin Core and IPTC, and application-specific metadata. It also says: “Removing metadata might be necessary for sensitive documents before sharing.”
The PDF Association says PDF 2.0 “completes this shift for file-level metadata by (mostly) deprecating Document Information dictionaries in preference to the far more expressive XMP metadata stored in the Metadata entry of the Document Catalog.” So a PDF can hold both an older Document Information dictionary and an XMP block, and the same page notes that many viewers still fail to give access to a document’s XMP metadata. Doc Scrubber lists both in its report.
Adobe’s sanitize page says a PDF may hold hidden information, and that this “can include metadata, comments, hidden layers, and other sensitive content.” File-level fields are only part of the picture.
Clean the file with Doc Scrubber
- Above the drop zone, keep Document properties and personal info and Comments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and annotations (PDF) ticked. The options for Word tracked changes, author names, revision ids and photos in Office files do not apply to a PDF.
- Drop the PDF on the drop zone or use Choose files. It must be a .pdf that is not password-protected. Up to 5 files at a time are free.
- Read the “Found in your file” table. For a PDF it can list the Info fields (author, creator, producer, title, subject, keywords, dates, custom fields), the XMP block, comments and annotations, application private data, leftover objects from earlier saves and embedded attachments.
- Select Download clean copy. The copy has the Info fields, XMP block, private application data, file id and comments and annotations removed (links and form fields stay). The file is rewritten from what is still used, which drops leftover objects from earlier saves.
- Read the “Still in the clean copy” table, which is re-read from the new file. Then open the copy and look through it before you send it. Keep the original.
Nothing is uploaded: the page works in your browser, and you can confirm that in the Network tab.
What this does not remove
- Anything visible on the pages: names in the text, headers, footers, signature blocks, watermarks. Text inside images, such as a scanned page, and the images themselves stay as they are.
- Embedded files and attachments: the report lists them and the clean copy keeps them. If they should not go out, remove them in your PDF software.
- Digital signatures: the file is rewritten, so a signature stops validating. The report warns you first.
- Links and form fields: they stay, so check what is typed into any form field.
- Hidden layers: Adobe’s page names them as possible hidden content. Doc Scrubber’s PDF lists do not include them, so it neither reports nor removes them. Check in your PDF software.
- The file name, and copies you already sent or saved elsewhere.
Who should do this before sending
- Lawyers sending a draft or exhibit to the other side.
- Consultants and freelancers sending a proposal.
- RFP and procurement teams sending a response, and HR or recruiters sending documents.
- Journalists sharing a file with a source or a colleague.
If the PDF came from Word, clean the Word file too: see remove hidden data from a Word document and remove the author name from a Word document. If the PDF was exported from a deck or workbook, see removing personal information from PowerPoint and removing metadata from an Excel file. To see what any file carries first, read inspect a document for hidden data. This is general information, not legal advice.