Why check a PDF before you send it
A PDF often carries a trail about its own history: the author's name, the company that licensed the software, when it was created and last edited, the machine tool that produced it and a list of revisions. Incremental saves can even keep earlier versions of text you thought you had deleted. Journalists, lawyers, HR teams and ordinary renters have all disclosed more than intended by sending a file without checking.
The Document Privacy Inspector is a read-only tool that shows exactly what a PDF reveals. It lists the standard information fields, XMP metadata and edit history, detects embedded JavaScript, attachments, links and form fields, and counts the revisions stored in the file. Everything is parsed in your browser, nothing is modified and nothing is uploaded, so you can safely inspect confidential files.
How to use Document Privacy Inspector in 3 steps
- Drop your PDF onto the upload area. Parsing starts immediately in your browser.
- Read the report: document info, dates, XMP history, revision count, scripts, attachments and links.
- If something should not be shared, clean the file with the Sanitizer or Redactor tools and inspect it again.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as hidden metadata?
Author, creator and producer software, creation and modification dates, keywords, XMP edit history, annotations and comments' authors, embedded files and incremental-save revisions. Anything that describes who made the file and how, rather than what is on the page.
What are revisions and why do they matter?
When a PDF is saved incrementally the editor appends changes instead of rewriting the file, so older versions of objects can remain. The inspector counts these save points and, where possible, shows the metadata of each. Run the Sanitizer or the Redactor to write a clean single-revision file.
Does the inspector change my file?
No. It is strictly read-only. Your PDF is read into memory, analysed, and discarded when you close the tab.