Can I edit metadata for a scanned or image-based PDF?

Yes — metadata editing works on the document wrapper, not the content. Whether your PDF contains text or images, the metadata is stored separately and can be edited independently. You can add author and title information to a scanned document just as easily as to a digitally created one.

Will editing metadata change the file hash or break digital signatures?

Yes — any modification to the PDF file, including metadata edits, changes the file's checksum and will invalidate existing digital signatures. If you have a signed PDF, editing the metadata will cause the signature to fail verification. The standard workflow is to set metadata before signing, or to accept that the signature will be invalidated after metadata edits. For legal documents where signature validity is critical, make metadata changes before the signing process.

What's the difference between editing metadata and removing metadata?

edit-metadata lets you replace specific fields with new values — you want the author to be Jane instead of John, so you change just that field. remove-metadata deletes all metadata fields entirely, leaving them blank. Use edit-metadata when you want to correct information; use remove-metadata when you want to anonymize the file completely and remove all identifying document properties.

Does changing the Title metadata affect the filename when I download?

No — the filename is a separate operating system property. The Title metadata is embedded inside the PDF and is what shows up in the PDF viewer's title bar or document properties panel. When you download the file, it keeps the filename you see in your browser, but if someone opens the PDF, they'll see the new Title in the document properties. If you need the filename to match the title, you'll need to rename the file in your file explorer after downloading.

Can I see the current metadata before I edit it?

Yes — you can ask FlowPDF to 'show me the metadata' or 'what's the current title and author?' before making changes. This helps you know exactly what you're editing and avoid overwriting information you need to keep. The metadata is displayed in the workspace preview before you confirm any edits.

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Edit PDF Metadata Online — Change Title, Author, Subject, Free

Metadata is the invisible label on your PDF — the document title that appears in the browser tab, the author name that shows in file properties, and the subject that helps categorize the file in your document management system. It's surprisingly easy to end up with wrong metadata: a Word document with the wrong author name gets converted to PDF and carries that error forward, a file downloaded from a client has their internal title that you need to replace with your own, or you just want to standardize the naming convention across a batch of files. FlowPDF lets you edit the Title, Author, and Subject fields of your PDF without touching the page content. This is the clean, correct way to fix document properties — not by renaming the file on your desktop (which doesn't change the internal metadata), but by actually updating the embedded properties that every PDF viewer reads. Your updated metadata travels with the file, so recipients always see the correct author, title, and subject.

Upload, then tell us what to change

or drag & drop your PDF here

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How it works

1
Upload your PDF.
2
Tell FlowPDF the new metadata values — for example, 'set title to Q3 2026 Report, author to Jane Smith, subject to Financial Review.'
3
FlowPDF updates the document properties.
4
Download the PDF — the metadata is updated, and the page content is unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

FlowPDF supports editing the core document metadata fields: Title (the document name shown in title bars and search results), Author (the creator or owner of the document), Subject (a brief description for categorization), and Keywords (for search indexing). These are the standard fields that most PDF viewers display in the document properties panel. For advanced fields or custom properties, you'd need specialized metadata editing software.