How to change the title and author of a PDF

Press Ctrl+D to open Document properties in PDF by Zaweba, type the new title and author, and save the file. The same window lets you edit the subject and keywords. It takes under a minute and fixes one of the most common small embarrassments in a shared PDF.

That embarrassment is a document whose properties still say something left over from when it was made: a title like "Draft 3 FINAL" or "Untitled", or an author who is a former colleague or a template's original owner. Many readers show the title in the window bar or in search results, so it's seen more often than you'd think.

Why the properties matter

The title is what a search engine may show for a PDF on a website, and what file managers and PDF readers often display. The author tells readers who the document is from. Subject and keywords help with searching through a large collection of files, on your own PC or an organisation's system.

Accessibility also cares about the title. A screen reader announces it when the file opens, and the accessibility check in Tools > Accessibility looks for one.

Editing the properties

Open the PDF. Press Ctrl+D for Document properties. Replace the title with something a reader would recognise, such as "Annual report 2026". Set the author to the person or organisation the document is from. Add a subject line and a few keywords if they'll help people find it.

Save the file. Until you save, the change is only in the open document.

Going further with XMP and custom properties

PDFs carry a second, fuller set of information called XMP metadata. File > Additional metadata (XMP) edits its common fields, lists every property in the file, and can import and export .xmp files. Exporting from one document and importing into another is a quick way to give a set of related files the same details.

File > Custom properties lets you add fields of your own, such as a project code, a client reference or a review date. They're useful in an office where documents need tracking beyond a title and author.

Titles that help readers

Write titles for people. "Price list, spring 2026" helps a reader; "pl_v4_final_JM" doesn't.

Check before you publish. A PDF going on a website or out to customers is worth a quick Ctrl+D look first. It's easy to forget that the author field still names whoever first made the template.

Think about what you are giving away. Properties and metadata can include names and details you didn't mean to share. For a thorough clean before sending, Tools > Actions has steps to remove hidden information and to set document details, and these can be run on many files at once, which is handy when a whole folder needs the same author.

Set the title for accessibility too. If you are making the document accessible, the accessibility tools have their own place to set the title, and once it's set the window shows the title rather than the file name.

Related checks

While Document properties is open, List the fonts shows every font in the file, whether each is embedded or a subset, and where it is used. That's worth a glance before sending anything to print.

Editing a PDF's properties is a small job, and in PDF by Zaweba it's done offline on your own PC in a single window, with nothing uploaded anywhere.