4 Answers2025-09-02 01:20:04
Oh, I love digging into little file mysteries — PDFs are no exception. If you just want to peek at metadata with PyPDF2, the modern, straightforward route is to use PdfReader and inspect the .metadata attribute. Here's the tiny script I usually toss into a REPL or a small utility file:
from PyPDF2 import PdfReader
reader = PdfReader('example.pdf')
if reader.is_encrypted:
try:
reader.decrypt('') # try empty password
except Exception:
raise RuntimeError('PDF is encrypted and requires a password')
meta = reader.metadata # returns a dictionary-like object
print(meta)
That .metadata often contains keys like '/Title', '/Author', '/Creator', '/Producer', '/CreationDate' and '/ModDate'. Sometimes it's None or sparse — many PDFs don't bother to set all fields. I also keep a tiny helper to normalize keys and parse the odd CreationDate format (it looks like "D:20201231235959Z00'00'") into a Python datetime when I need to display a friendlier timestamp. If you're on an older PyPDF2 version you'll see PdfFileReader and reader.getDocumentInfo() instead; the idea is the same.
If you want pretty output, convert meta to a plain dict and iterate key/value pairs, or write them to JSON after sanitizing dates. It’s a tiny ritual I enjoy before archivism or just poking through downloaded manuals.
4 Answers2025-09-02 15:38:00
Okay, here’s a friendly walkthrough that I actually use when poking around PDFs: open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat (Reader or Pro), then press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on a Mac) to pop up the Document Properties window. The Description tab is the quick view — Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords live there. If you want more, click the 'Additional Metadata' button in that window; that opens the XMP metadata viewer where you can see deeper fields like PDF producer, creation and modification timestamps, and any custom namespaces embedded by other apps.
If you have Acrobat Pro, I go further: Tools > Protect & Standardize > Remove Hidden Information (or search for 'Remove Hidden Information' in Tools). That previews hidden metadata, attached data, and comments that ordinary users might miss. For structural or compliance checks I open Tools > Print Production > Preflight to inspect PDF/A, PDF/X, font embedding, and more. Small tip: editing the basic fields is done right in Document Properties (change Title/Author/Keywords), but for full cleanup or forensic detail, Preflight and Remove Hidden Information are where I live — they surface the stuff regular viewers won't show.
4 Answers2025-09-02 19:02:44
If you've got a PDF open in Preview, the quickest way I use is Tools → Show Inspector (or press Command-I).
When the Inspector pops up you'll usually see an 'i' tab or a 'More Info' section where Preview displays metadata like Title, Author, Subject/Keywords (if the file has them), PDF producer/creator, PDF version, page size and sometimes creation/modification dates. If nothing shows up there, it often means the PDF simply doesn't have embedded metadata. Preview's metadata viewer is handy for a quick peek, but it's a viewer-first tool: editing fields is limited or inconsistent across macOS versions.
If you need to dig deeper or edit stuff, I switch to Finder's Get Info for basic tags, or use Terminal: mdls /path/to/file.pdf reveals Spotlight metadata, and 'exiftool' shows practically everything. For full edit control I go to a dedicated app like 'Adobe Acrobat' or a metadata editor. Preview's Inspector gets you most of what you need at a glance, though, and for quick checks it's my go-to.
4 Answers2025-09-02 00:44:29
Okay, let me walk you through this like I’m chatting over coffee — metadata in PDFs hides in more places than you’d think, and removing it cleanly takes a couple of different moves.
First, inspect. I usually run simple tools to see what’s actually inside: open the PDF’s Properties in a viewer (File > Properties), run pdfinfo (poppler) or exiftool to get a full readout (exiftool file.pdf), and also search the raw file for XML XMP packets (open in a text editor and look for ' Redact > Remove Hidden Information or Tools > Sanitize Document (that removes XMP, hidden layers, comments, metadata and more). As a safety habit I always create a copy, check again with exiftool/pdfinfo, and scan the new file for any leftover strings of sensitive text. And I avoid online uploaders for sensitive docs unless I’m sure they’re trustworthy.
4 Answers2025-09-02 16:25:35
I love poking around files, so here’s a friendly walk-through that doesn’t require installing anything new.
On Windows you can often get basic metadata without extra tools: right-click the PDF file in File Explorer, choose 'Properties' and open the 'Details' tab. You’ll see fields like Title, Author, and sometimes Creation and Modification dates. On macOS, select the file in Finder and hit 'Get Info' (or press ⌘I) for similar details. Both of these show filesystem-level and embedded metadata that many PDFs include.
If you want more embedded info, open the PDF in Firefox (its built-in viewer is great for this). Click the small 'i' icon or look for 'Document Properties' in the viewer toolbar; it exposes XMP/metadata like Producer, Creator, and custom fields. Alternatively, you can upload to Google Drive and open the details pane — it shows upload/owner info and sometimes core metadata. Quick heads-up: I don’t like uploading personal docs to third-party sites, so for sensitive PDFs I stick to local methods like Finder/File Explorer or opening the file in a plain text editor and searching for '/Title' or '
' blocks to read raw metadata. If you see XML tags, that’s the XMP packet and it’s human-readable, which I find oddly satisfying.4 Answers2025-09-02 00:27:28
Hey, if you like poking around files the same way I do when I'm binge-reading liner notes, Linux makes PDF metadata super accessible from the command line.
For a quick peek I usually start with pdfinfo (part of poppler-utils). It gives a neat summary: Title, Author, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModDate, Pages, PDF version, page size, and more. Example: pdfinfo 'mydoc.pdf'. If you want to filter it down: pdfinfo 'mydoc.pdf' | grep -Ei '^(Title|Author|Producer|CreationDate|Pages)'.
If you want everything — the XMP, custom metadata and more — I love exiftool (package name libimage-exiftool-perl on Debian/Ubuntu). exiftool -a -u -g1 'mydoc.pdf' dumps lots of readable tags organized by group. For raw XMP in case you want to copy-paste XML, strings 'mydoc.pdf' | sed -n '//,/<\/x:xmpmeta>/p' can pull out the chunk (works for many PDFs but not guaranteed for all).
Other useful tools: pdftk 'mydoc.pdf' dump_data prints InfoKey/InfoValue pairs and is handy for scripts, and mutool (from mupdf) or qpdf can inspect internals or check encryption. If a file is password-protected you can often pass the password (pdfinfo has -upw/-opw). I often combine these in small scripts to audit batches of PDFs — it’s oddly satisfying. Play around and you’ll find the combo that fits your workflow best.
4 Answers2025-09-02 12:04:14
Oh hey, this one pops up a lot when people hand me a PDF in Drive and expect me to see the author info right in the browser. In Google Drive’s built-in preview you can get basic file data: open the PDF, then click the little 'i' (info) icon in the top-right to open the details pane. That shows owner, location, file size, created/modified dates and recent activity. It’s super handy for quick checks.
If you need embedded PDF properties like Title, Author, Subject, Producer or the PDF version, Drive’s preview won’t show those. My go-to move is to download the PDF and open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader (File → Properties) or another full PDF reader; that displays the XMP/metadata fields. For command-line folks I’ll use 'pdfinfo myfile.pdf' or 'exiftool myfile.pdf' — both give a thorough dump of embedded metadata. If you prefer not to download, you can connect a metadata-aware app via Drive’s 'Open with' → 'Connect more apps' or use a reputable online metadata viewer, but be careful with sensitive files when uploading to third-party sites. That’s the practical tradeoff I usually explain to friends, depending on how private the document is.
4 Answers2025-09-02 21:10:50
Oh, this one makes me nerdy-happy — I check PDF metadata all the time when I’m cleaning documents before sending them out.
If you’re still in Word, the easiest place to start is File → Info. You’ll see basic properties like Author and Title there; click Properties → Advanced Properties to edit Summary, Statistics, and any Custom fields. When you Save As PDF, click Options in the Save dialog and make sure document properties are preserved or removed depending on your goal. After the PDF exists, open it in a PDF reader — in 'Adobe Acrobat Reader' go to File → Properties (or press Ctrl+D) to view Description (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords), Custom metadata, and the PDF producer and creation/modification times.
If you want forensic-level detail, use tools like exiftool (exiftool myfile.pdf) or Poppler’s pdfinfo (pdfinfo myfile.pdf) on the command line; they dump XMP and embedded metadata. Also double-check Windows File Explorer (right-click → Properties → Details) or macOS Finder (Get Info) for quick looks. If privacy is the issue, run Word’s Document Inspector (File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document) before exporting or use Acrobat’s Remove Hidden Information / Sanitize features. Personally, I run exiftool as a final check because it reveals everything including odd custom properties that Word sometimes tucks away.