Document Metadata Stripper
Strip author name, company, edit history, and track-changes metadata from a Word document or PDF before sharing it — the hidden information sitting behind the visible content that most people never think to check before sending a file outside their organization.
What’s actually hidden inside a document you’re about to share
Word documents and PDFs carry more than what’s visible on the page. Word files can retain author names, the company account they were created under, editing timestamps, and — if track changes was ever used and not fully accepted or the history cleared — a full record of prior edits and deleted content that a recipient can potentially recover, even if it’s not visible in the current view. PDFs carry their own metadata fields: author, creation software, sometimes the original file path on the creator’s computer. None of this is usually a problem internally, but sharing a document externally — with a client, in a public template, as part of a legal or business filing — can expose more than intended if that metadata isn’t cleared first.
How to use it
- Upload the Word document or PDF you’re about to share.
- The tool scans for embedded metadata — author, company, edit history, track-changes data, and other hidden fields.
- Review what’s found, and strip it from the file.
- Download the cleaned version, ready to share without the metadata that was riding along with it.
Common situations this solves
- Removing author and company metadata before sharing an internal template externally
- Clearing leftover track-changes history from a document that went through multiple rounds of edits
- Sanitizing a PDF’s metadata fields before it’s used in a public-facing or legal context
- General good practice before sending any document outside your organization, especially one that’s been edited by multiple people over time
FAQ
Does this change the visible content of my document, or only the hidden metadata?
Only the hidden metadata is removed — the visible content, formatting, and layout of your document stay exactly as they are. This is a metadata-cleaning step, not a content-editing one.
What kind of metadata specifically gets removed?
Common fields include author name, company or organization name, creation and modification timestamps, editing application details, and — for Word documents specifically — any lingering track-changes or revision history data that wasn’t fully cleared through the normal accept/reject process.
Can old track-changes edits really be recovered from a document even after I’ve accepted all the changes?
It depends on how the document was edited — in some cases, residual revision data can persist in the file even after changes appear accepted in the visible document, which is exactly the kind of hidden risk this tool is meant to catch before a file goes out.
Does my document get uploaded to a server to check and strip metadata?
No — the scan and removal happen entirely in your browser, so a document you’re specifically trying to protect from unwanted exposure isn’t itself uploaded somewhere as part of cleaning it.