Editing a PDF's title, author and XMP metadata
Use Document properties (Ctrl+D) in PDF by Zaweba to edit title, author and keywords, list fonts, edit XMP and add custom properties to a PDF.
Every PDF carries a little information about itself: a title, an author, a subject, some keywords, and often much more besides. That information shows up in search results, in file browsers and in the title bar of PDF readers. PDF by Zaweba lets you see it and change it, and it gives you a clear view of the fonts the document uses too.
There are three places to look. Document properties, opened with Ctrl+D, covers the everyday details and fonts. File, then Additional metadata (XMP) covers the fuller descriptive record. File, then Custom properties lets you add your own.
Title, author, subject and keywords
In Document properties the title, author, subject and keywords are editable. It's worth filling them in properly before you publish or send a document. A PDF titled "Microsoft Word, Document3" or with a former colleague's name as author looks careless, and those details are exactly what people see when the file turns up in a search.
The title is the one to get right first. Many readers show it instead of the file name, and it matters for accessibility too, since a screen reader announces it.
Listing the fonts
List the fonts shows each font in the document, its kind, whether it is embedded or a subset, and where it is used. That's very handy when a document looks wrong on someone else's PC, or before sending a file to a printer.
A font that is embedded travels inside the PDF, so the document looks the same everywhere. A subset is an embedded font that carries only the letters the document uses, which keeps files small. A font that isn't embedded relies on the reader's PC having it, and if it doesn't, something else is substituted. Seeing where each font is used tells you which pages would be affected.
XMP metadata
XMP is a richer, standard way of describing a document, used widely in publishing and archiving. The Additional metadata (XMP) window edits common fields, lists every property the document carries, and imports and exports .xmp files.
Import and export are the time savers. If a set of documents should share the same copyright notice, contact details or description, fill them in once, export them as an .xmp file, and import that into each document. Listing every property is also a good way to find out what a document says about itself, which can be surprising in a file that has been through several programs.
Custom properties
Custom properties lets you add your own named values. Organisations use them for things like a reference number, a department, a review date or a project code. They stay with the file and give you a way to label documents that the standard fields don't cover.
When to clear it all instead
Sometimes the right amount of metadata is none. Before sharing a document outside your organisation, you may want to remove author names, internal paths and old details altogether. Protect, then Remove hidden information lists document details and XMP among the things a PDF carries, and removes them if you tick them, and Sanitise document clears everything at once. Document details is also a step that Actions can set, so a folder of files can get consistent details in one run.
A tidy habit
Before a document goes out, press Ctrl+D, check the title and author, glance at the fonts, and decide whether the rest should stay or go. It takes a minute in PDF by Zaweba and saves the slightly awkward moment when someone notices whose name is still on your file.
