To check a PDF’s metadata, open its document properties. In Chrome or Firefox, open the PDF and choose Document properties from the viewer’s menu. In Adobe Acrobat Reader, press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on a Mac). You’ll see the title, author, the software that made it, and when it was created and last changed. For the hidden details those panels skip, use a full checker such as Verify Metadata.
What PDF metadata tells you
Metadata is the information stored inside a PDF about the file itself, rather than the words and pictures on its pages. Most PDFs carry a handful of standard fields, written automatically by the software that made them.
| Field | What it usually holds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Title | A title set by the author, or the original file name | Quarterly report |
| Author | The name of the account that made the file | J. Smith |
| Subject and Keywords | Optional descriptions, often empty | Finance, Q3 |
| Creator | The program the document was written in | Microsoft Word |
| Producer | The program that turned it into a PDF | macOS Quartz PDFContext |
| Created | When the PDF was first made | 3 Nov 2026, 09:14 |
| Modified | When the PDF was last saved | 4 Nov 2026, 16:02 |
Many PDFs also keep a second copy of these details in a format called XMP, and some hold more: comments, attachments, earlier saved versions, and data inside photos. The quick checks below show the standard fields. The full checker at the end shows the rest.
Five ways to check a PDF’s metadata
1. In Chrome or Firefox
Open the PDF in the browser. In Chrome, click the three-dot menu at the top right of the viewer and choose Document properties. In Firefox, open the viewer’s menu (the » button) and choose Document Properties. You’ll see the title, author, subject, keywords, created and modified dates, the application and PDF producer, the PDF version and the page count.
2. In Adobe Acrobat Reader
Open the PDF and choose File > Document Properties, or press Ctrl+D on Windows or Cmd+D on a Mac. The Description tab lists the same fields, under the names Application (the Creator) and PDF Producer.
3. In Preview on a Mac
Open the PDF in Preview and choose Tools > Show Inspector, or press Cmd+I. The first tab shows the title, author, creator, producer, dates, PDF version and page count.
4. On the command line
If you have Poppler installed, pdfinfo file.pdf prints the standard fields, and pdfinfo -meta file.pdf prints the XMP data too. With ExifTool, exiftool -a -G1 file.pdf lists every field it finds, grouped by where it was stored, so you can see when the two copies disagree.
5. With a full checker in your browser
The built-in panels show only the standard fields. Verify Metadata reads the whole file in your browser, without uploading it. Alongside the fields above, it shows how many times the file was saved, whether it holds signature data, and whether its XMP copy matches the main details. It highlights anything worth a second look, and can give you a clean copy.
How to read the dates
PDF dates are stored in a compact form, such as D:20261104160200+00'00': the year, month, day, hour, minute and second, then the time zone. Viewers convert this into a normal date, usually in your own time zone, so the time you see may differ from the time stored by a few hours.
- Created is set once, when the PDF is first made.
- Modified changes each time a program saves the file again.
A modified date later than the created date is normal. Adding a comment, filling in a form or simply saving again will all move it on. Some programs also leave the dates out, or set both to the same moment.
Creator and Producer: two different programs
These two fields are easy to mix up, and together they say a lot about how a file was made.
- Creator (shown as Application in Acrobat) is the program the content was written in, such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs or a design app.
- Producer is the program that wrote the PDF itself. When you export from Word, the Producer is often Word too. When you print to PDF on a Mac, it is usually macOS Quartz PDFContext.
If the Producer is a PDF editor or an online converter rather than the program in the Creator field, the file has probably been opened and re-saved by a second program at some point. That is common and usually innocent, but it is worth knowing.
What metadata can’t tell you
Metadata is useful, but it is not proof of anything on its own. Every field can be changed with free software, and many programs fill them in carelessly. Treat what you find as a clue, not a verdict.
- An empty Author field doesn’t mean the file is anonymous: names can sit in the XMP copy, in comments, or inside embedded images.
- A name in the Author field isn’t necessarily the person who wrote it. It is usually the name on the computer account that made the file.
- Dates follow the clock of the computer that saved the file. If that clock was wrong, the dates are wrong too.
If you need to know whether a document was changed after it was made, read Can you tell if a PDF has been edited?
Frequently asked questions
Can I see who created a PDF?
Often, yes. Open the document properties and look at the Author field. It usually holds the name on the computer account that made the file, not necessarily the person who wrote the content, and it can be empty or changed.
Can I check PDF metadata without installing anything?
Yes. Chrome and Firefox both show a PDF’s document properties from their built-in viewers. For a fuller check, Verify Metadata runs in the browser too, and reads the file without uploading it.
Why does a PDF show a different time from when I made it?
PDF dates include a time zone, and viewers show them in your local time. A file made abroad, or on a computer set to a different time zone, will show a shifted time. A computer with the wrong clock will store the wrong date.
Does checking metadata change the file?
No. Opening the document properties in a viewer only reads the file. Saving the file afterwards, in a program that writes to it, can update the modified date.
