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I would like to share a PDF file on a forum anonymously. When I right click on file and go to 'Details' tab, it shows my computer name and owner name. How do I remove (hide) this information?

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Apr 25 '11 at 22:04

4 Answers

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Those details exist for files other than PDFs. The Owner and Computer details you wish to remove are used for permissioning and only exist on your local computer. When you share that file elsewhere, the details will not be in the file.

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@Gareth: There may still be the Author field filled into the metadata of the PDF file itself, which may leak the same info @Prostak is trying to keep private. – Kurt Pfeifle Aug 8 '11 at 20:03
@Prostak: you should also check the Document Properties... menu item which is is available from right-clicking into any of he PDF's pages when opened in Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Pro... – Kurt Pfeifle Aug 8 '11 at 20:04
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Sometimes, Adobe PDFs are strange in that none of your "properties" tab based advice worked, as least as far as removing names from a Comment box. They seem to do incremental or one-place only author name removals. If you like to comment in documents, then make the first comment, so that the comment box will pop-up. Then, remove the author's or login name and select "Make Current Properties Default" so that the remaining comment boxes also don't show the author's names.

Unfortunately, you'll need to follow the other advice on this page to remove the overall author's name, like going to Property tabs.

Very annoying.

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up vote 1 down vote

I'm going to assume you're using Windows. If you right click and choose "properties" on the .pdf, then choose the "details" tab there is an option to "Remove Properties and Personal Information". You can choose what to remove, either some or all of the properties. enter image description here

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I wasn't able to remove 'Owner' and 'Computer' information when I followed your steps. – Prostak Apr 25 '11 at 23:03
@Prostak, see Gareth's answer above. – tombull89 Apr 26 '11 at 7:24
up vote 0 down vote

A freeware program called BeCyPDFMetaEdit.exe allows you to edit metadata in PDF files. http://www.becyhome.de/becypdfmetaedit/description_eng.htm

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