Remove hidden info from PDFs
PDFs often carry more than you can see: your name, the software you used, dates, old versions, comments and attached files. See what’s hiding in yours and remove it before you share.
Why clean a PDF?
When you save a PDF, apps quietly add details like the author’s name from your computer account, the exact software and version, when it was made and changed, and sometimes earlier versions of the document or private editing data. Comments you thought you deleted can still be inside, and so can attached files. Cleaning removes them so you only share what’s on the page.
Good to know
- The visible pages are not changed. To black out text on the page itself you need a redaction tool.
- Cleaning changes the file, so a qb2pdf seal or Adobe digital signature on it will no longer be valid. Clean first, then sign.
- Password-protected PDFs can’t be cleaned. Remove the password first.