Last updated on January 9th, 2024
What is metadata? What does metadata contain?
You probably create some files, such as photos (.JPG files), video (.MP4 files), Microsoft Word and Excel documents (.DOC and .XLS files), Adobe Acrobat PDF documents (.PDF files), and so on.
When you create a file, an invisible package of data is attached to it. This data is called metadata. Metadata can contain a lot of information, such as:
- author of the file,
- date and time of file creation,
- name and version of the software with which the file was created,
- model of the device with which the photo was taken or the video was recorded (if it is a photo or video),
- previous versions of the file, if any,
- even the geographic coordinates where the photo was taken or the video was shot.
Why remove file metadata?
When you upload a file to the Internet, you upload it along with its metadata. When you email someone files, you send their metadata along with the files. As said above, metadata can contain a lot of information about you, so if you want to send the files anonymously, you must delete their metadata.
How to delete metadata from JPG file (Windows OS)?
- Right-click the icon of the file whose data you want to delete, and then click Properties.
- Click the “Details” tab from the panel. Now you can see the metadata of the file.
- Click the “Remove Properties and Personal Information” link at the bottom of the panel.
- From the new panel, hit the button “Remove the following properties from this file”.
- Click the “Select All” button and then hit the OK button.
You can similarly delete metadata from an .MP4 video file.
You can also use one of the online tools to delete metadata from JPG file, for example https://www.verexif.com
How to delete metadata from a PDF file?
To delete metadata from a PDF file, you must have Adobe Acrobat Pro version installed on your computer. You can download it from here: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/acrobat-pro.html, but note that this product is not free.
- Open Acrobat Pro as an administrator (right-click on the Acrobat Pro icon and select “Run as administrator”).
- Open in Acrobat Pro the file whose data you want to delete (click from the top menu on File -> Open and select the file).
- After opening the file click on File -> Properties -> Additional Metadata.
- You can now view the file metadata, edit or delete it. Don’t forget to save the file at the end.
If this seems complicated or you don’t have Acrobat Pro installed, then you can use one of the online tools to remove PDF metadata, for example https://www.pdfyeah.com/remove-pdf-metadata/
How do I delete metadata from Word and Excel files (Windows OS)?
To delete metadata from Microsoft Word versions 2010 and later:
- Click on File menu tab -> Info -> Check for issues -> Inspect Document.
- Select “Document Properties and Personal Information”, click the “Inspect” button, and then click “Remove All”. Save the document.
To delete metadata from Microsoft Word 2007:
- Click on the Office button at the top left -> Prepare -> Inspect Document.
- Select “Document Properties and Personal Information”, click the “Inspect” button, and then click “Remove All”. Save the document.
You can similarly remove metadata from Microsoft Excel.
You can also remove metadata from a Word file using some online tool, for example: https://www.pdfcandle.com/word_metadata_remove.aspx or https://products.groupdocs.app/metadata/remove-from-docx