PDF Metadata Viewer

What is View Metadata?

View Metadata extracts and displays the complete metadata dictionary from a PDF document, including title, author, subject, keywords, creation date, modification date, and producer. The tool uses pdf-lib to read the document information dictionary.

The output is a JSON file containing all metadata fields found in the PDF. Fields that are not set in the document are reported as null. The metadata provides a complete profile of the document's authorship and history.

This is a read-only inspection tool — it does not modify any metadata. For editing metadata values, use the Metadata Editor tool instead.

The metadata dictionary, also called the Document Information Dictionary, stores key-value pairs in the PDF trailer. Standard fields include Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator (the application that created the source document), Producer (the application that generated the PDF), CreationDate, and ModDate. Custom fields may also be present depending on the PDF producer.

How to Use View Metadata

1. Drop a PDF onto the upload zone, or click to browse and select it.
2. Click View Metadata. The tool reads the PDF's document information dictionary.
3. A download button appears with metadata.json containing all metadata fields.

Why Use View Metadata?

Legal teams verifying document authenticity need to check creation dates, author information, and modification history. Metadata provides a chain of custody for document provenance.

Publishers managing document libraries use metadata to verify title, author, and keyword fields are correctly set for search indexing and catalog management.

Security teams reviewing documents from external sources check metadata for hidden information — author names, organization details, or software identifiers that may reveal information about the document's origin.

Forensic document analysts use metadata to establish document provenance - when it was created, what software was used, and whether it has been modified. Metadata timestamps and software identifiers provide clues about the document history.

Privacy & Security

Your files never leave your browser. Every step — reading the PDF metadata dictionary and generating the JSON output — happens on your own device using pdf-lib. Nothing is uploaded to Racira's servers, no copies are stored in the cloud, and no file data is transmitted at any point.

Frequently Asked Questions

What metadata fields are extracted?

Title, author, subject, keywords, creator (application that created the PDF), producer (application that produced it), creation date, modification date, and any custom metadata entries in the document information dictionary.

Can metadata be faked or misleading?

Yes. PDF metadata is user-editable and can be modified by any PDF editor. Creation dates, author names, and other fields should not be relied upon as proof of authenticity without additional verification. For authenticated timestamps, use the Timestamp PDF tool.

Does it extract XMP metadata?

The tool extracts the standard document information dictionary. XMP metadata (stored in a separate metadata stream) may not be fully captured by this tool. For comprehensive XMP extraction, a specialized XMP parser would be needed.

What date format is used?

PDF metadata dates follow the D:YYYYMMDDHHmmSS format (for example D:20240115143000 for January 15, 2024 at 2:30 PM). Timezone offsets may be appended. The tool preserves the original format in the JSON output.