Before You Submit or Publish a PDF: A Properties Checklist
Key points
- Check the properties
- Remove unneeded information
- Tidy them together with the file name
When you submit a PDF, publish it online or hand it to many people, it is reassuring to check the information stored inside as well as the page content.
Checklist
- Author: Is your real name, or a school or company name, there?
- Title: Is it a clear title that matches the content? Is an old title from the source material left in?
- Subject and keywords: Are there unrelated words or notes?
- Software and converter: These rarely hold anything troublesome, but you can remove them if they bother you.
- Created and modified dates: Is it fine for the recipient to see when it was made?
- Annotations: Do comments or markup hold personal notes?
Steps
- Choose the PDF in View and Remove PDF Properties.
- Review what is shown against the checklist above.
- Choose "Remove everything" to clear it, or "Replace" to set only a title.
- To remove comments, choose "Remove (keep links)".
Finally
- Also check whether the text or images on the pages contain information you do not want shown. If needed, use Black Out (Redact) Parts of a PDF.
- Keep the original PDF for yourself.
Tools that go well with this
- Black Out (Redact) Parts of a PDF: Drag over the parts of a PDF you want to hide and black them out. Redacted pages become images, so the text underneath is gone.
- Compress PDF: Shrink a PDF to fit under a size you choose, for upload limits.
- Extract or Delete PDF Pages: Keep only the pages you need, or remove the pages you don't.
More guides for this tool
- How to Check and Remove the Author and Title in a PDF (Free, Works on a Phone)
- Why Your Name Ends Up in a PDF Made from Word or PowerPoint
- Names Left in PDF Comments and Markup: How to Remove Them and What to Watch For
- Setting a PDF Title Helps: How It Appears in the Browser and When Saving
- What Information Does a PDF Store? A List of Property Fields
- How to Name a PDF File: Tips for Submitting and Sharing