Scan a PDF for hidden data and privacy risks
Scan a PDF for hidden metadata — author name, creation software, edit dates — before you send it anywhere. Nothing here is visible on the page itself, but it travels with the file. The scan and the cleanup both run in your browser.
Privacy Risk Scanner
reads Info dict + XMP · rebuild strips it
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How to Privacy Risk Scanner
- Add your PDF. Drag the file onto the drop zone. It's scanned immediately.
- Review what's found. Every populated metadata field is listed plainly — title, author, creation software, dates.
- Strip it. Click to rebuild the file with all of that metadata removed.
- Download. Save the cleaned copy. The visible content is unchanged.
What hides in a PDF that isn't on the page
Every PDF carries an Info dictionary alongside its visible content: a Title, an Author, the software that created and last modified it, and creation and modification dates. Anyone can see these by checking the file's properties in a PDF reader — no special tools needed.
The Author field in particular is a common accidental leak. Documents created from a shared template, or exported by office software using an account's registered name, frequently carry a real employee or personal name in a file that was meant to look anonymous — a redacted report, a template shared externally, a form submitted anonymously that quietly names its actual author.
Many PDFs also carry a second, more detailed layer called XMP metadata, an XML-based format capable of storing far more than the basic Info dictionary — sometimes including editing history or software-specific details. This tool reports how many such entries exist, if any.
How stripping actually works
Removing metadata here isn't a matter of blanking out a few fields — it's a genuine rebuild. The page content is copied into a brand new PDF document that carries no metadata of its own, so nothing from the original Info dictionary or XMP data survives into the output. The visible pages are unchanged; everything traveling alongside them is gone.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does this check?
The PDF's Info dictionary (title, author, creation and modification software and dates, keywords) and, separately, whether XMP metadata is present. It doesn't scan the visible page content — that's what the page itself shows you.
Is my file uploaded to check this?
No. The scan and the cleanup both happen entirely in your browser.
Will stripping metadata change how my PDF looks?
No. Only the invisible metadata is removed — the visible pages, text and images are copied across exactly as they were.
The scan found nothing. Does that mean my PDF is safe to share?
It means this specific category — document metadata — is clean. It doesn't check for other things that can leak information, like tracking links or content visible in a low-opacity layer; treat it as one useful check, not a complete audit.
Why does my PDF have someone else's name in the Author field?
PDF software often fills this field automatically from the account or template that created the document, which can be a colleague, a previous version's author, or a shared organizational account rather than you personally. Stripping it removes whatever is there.
Can I remove just one field instead of everything?
Not currently — stripping removes the metadata entirely rather than editing individual fields. For most sharing situations, a completely clean file is the safer default anyway.