How to Edit PDF Metadata — Free Tools for Title, Author & Tags

PDF metadata is the hidden information embedded in every PDF file — the title, author, subject, keywords, creation date, modification date, and more. Most people never think about it, but metadata matters for search engine optimization, document management, and privacy. This guide shows you how to view and edit PDF metadata using entirely free tools.

What Is PDF Metadata?

PDF metadata is stored in the Document Information Dictionary and optionally in an XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) stream. The standard fields include:

Title: The document title (shown in browser tabs and search results)
Author: Who created the document
Subject: A brief description or topic
Keywords: Search terms associated with the document
Creator: The application that created the original document (e.g., Microsoft Word)
Producer: The application that created the PDF (e.g., Adobe Acrobat)
Creation Date: When the document was first created
Modification Date: When it was last modified

Why Edit PDF Metadata?

There are several practical reasons to edit metadata:

SEO and discoverability: PDF title metadata appears in Google search results. A descriptive, keyword-rich title can improve click-through rates
Document organization: Proper metadata makes files easier to find and sort in document management systems
Privacy: Your PDFs may contain metadata you do not want to share — your name, computer name, email address, or editing history
Professionalism: Consistent, accurate metadata on client-facing documents looks polished
Compliance: Some industries require specific metadata fields for document tracking and auditing

Free Online PDF Metadata Editors

The fastest way to edit metadata is with online tools — no software installation needed.

PDF24 Tools

PDF24 offers a free online PDF metadata editor that lets you view and modify all standard metadata fields. Upload your PDF, edit the title, author, subject, and keywords, then download the updated file. PDF24 processes files on their servers and deletes them after processing. There are no file size limits or daily restrictions.

ILovePDF Metadata Editor

ILovePDF provides a simple metadata editing interface. Upload your PDF, see the current metadata, change what you need, and download. The free tier handles files up to 15 MB. It covers the core fields: title, author, subject, and keywords.

Sejda PDF Editor

Sejda includes metadata editing as part of its free PDF toolkit. It shows all existing metadata fields and lets you modify them. The free tier processes documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB. Sejda also supports adding custom metadata fields beyond the standard ones.

Desktop Methods for Editing Metadata

Desktop tools offer more control, especially for batch processing and advanced metadata manipulation.

ExifTool (Free, Command-Line)

ExifTool is the most powerful free metadata tool available. It reads and writes metadata for hundreds of file formats, including PDF. While it is a command-line tool, it is straightforward to use:

View metadata: exiftool document.pdf

Edit title: exiftool -Title="My Document" document.pdf

Edit author: exiftool -Author="John Smith" document.pdf

Edit keywords: exiftool -Keywords="finance, report, Q4" document.pdf

Remove all metadata: exiftool -all= document.pdf

ExifTool creates a backup of the original file automatically (with a _original extension), which is a nice safety feature.

LibreOffice (Free Desktop)

LibreOffice lets you edit PDF metadata through its document properties dialog. Open the PDF in LibreOffice (Writer or Draw depending on the content), go to File > Properties > Description tab, and edit the title, subject, and keywords. On the Custom Properties tab, you can add additional metadata fields. Save the file to preserve the changes.

PDF-XChange Editor (Free Version)

The free version of PDF-XChange Editor includes metadata viewing and editing. Open your PDF, go to File > Document Properties, and edit the Description tab. It shows both standard metadata and XMP metadata. The free version handles basic metadata editing well.

Batch Metadata Editing

If you need to update metadata for many PDFs at once, manual editing is impractical. These methods handle batch operations:

ExifTool Batch Processing

ExifTool processes multiple files in a single command:

exiftool -Author="Company Name" *.pdf

This sets the author field for all PDFs in the current directory. You can combine multiple metadata changes in one command:

exiftool -Author="Name" -Keywords="tag1,tag2" *.pdf

Python with PyMuPDF

For programmatic batch processing, the PyMuPDF library lets you set metadata on PDFs using Python:

Install: pip install pymupdf
Set metadata using the set_metadata() method on a document object
Loop through directories to process many files

Removing Metadata for Privacy

Before sharing PDFs externally, consider what metadata they contain. Document authors, edit timestamps, software versions, and file paths can all leak information you might not want to share.

To strip metadata completely:

ExifTool: exiftool -all= document.pdf removes all metadata fields
Adobe Acrobat: Use the Redact tool with "Remove Hidden Information" enabled
Online tools: Some metadata editors include a "clear all" option
Print to PDF: Opening a PDF and printing it to a new PDF often strips metadata, though this may reduce quality

Metadata and SEO

If you host PDFs on a website (whitepapers, guides, reports), metadata directly impacts how Google indexes and displays them:

Title metadata appears as the clickable headline in search results. Make it descriptive and include your target keyword
Description/Subject can appear as the snippet below the title. Write it like a meta description — compelling and concise
Keywords help some search systems categorize the document, though modern search engines rely less on this field
Consistent author metadata builds entity recognition over time

Related Guides

Want to go deeper on PDF metadata? See our guide on the best online PDF metadata editors and learn how to clean PDF metadata completely.