PDF title, author and keywords: set them properly before you publish

Open the properties of a typical PDF and you may well find a title such as “Microsoft Word - Document1”, an author who left the company two years ago, and no keywords at all. Nobody chose those values. The program that made the file filled them in, or left them blank. A few minutes setting them properly makes a file easier to find, more pleasant to open and more professional to send.

Who reads a PDF’s properties

More people than you might expect, and mostly without being asked to:

• Browsers and readers often show the title on the tab or window instead of the file name, if the file carries one.
• Screen readers typically announce the title when a document opens. A real title tells a blind user what they have opened. A file name such as scan_0042.pdf does not.
• Reference managers and document libraries read the title and author when you import a file, and fill in their own records from it.
• Desktop and enterprise search may index the title, subject and keywords alongside the text.
• The next person who opens File, Properties to find out who to ask about a document.

Writing a good title

Write the title as you would introduce the document to a stranger. “Annual report 2026” beats “final_v3_REVISED”. A good title is specific, short enough to read on a tab, and free of version numbers that will date it.

• Be specific. “Tenancy agreement, 14 Mill Lane” beats “Agreement”.
• Lead with what matters. Tabs truncate, so put the distinguishing words first.
• Skip the file extension and the program name. “Report.docx” and “Microsoft Word - Report” are noise.
• Use normal capitalisation and punctuation, including accents. Titles can hold accented and non-Latin writing, and our tool keeps it as you type it.

Whether a reader shows the title or the file name on its window is controlled by a setting inside each PDF, which this tool does not change. If a reader keeps showing the file name, that setting is the usual reason.

Author, subject and keywords

Author. Use the person or organisation responsible for the content. For a business document, the organisation is often the better choice, because it does not expose an individual’s name and does not go out of date when someone leaves. For a paper or a creative work, the author’s name is the point.

Subject. One line that says what the document is for: “Fee schedule for supplier agreements, 2026”. Many readers show it in the properties window and some library tools use it.

Keywords. A handful of words separated by commas, naming the topics a person might search for. Five to ten is plenty. Do not stuff them: they are a convenience for people and tools that read them, not a lever for search engines, which weigh the visible text and the pages linking to a file far more heavily.

Created with and produced by. These name software. Leave them unless a portal or a standard asks for a particular value.

Why a file can disagree with itself

A PDF can record its title and author twice: once in the document information that every PDF has, and once in an XMP packet, an extra block added by many office and design programs. Different readers look in different places, so a file can show one title in a browser tab and another in the properties window.

Our Edit properties tool updates both when the file has both, and leaves the rest of the XMP block untouched. A file that has no XMP packet does not get one. If you have ever fixed a title and found the old one still showing somewhere, this mismatch is the likely reason.

Custom properties for filing

Beyond the six standard properties, a PDF can carry your own labelled values. They are useful in an office where documents are filed by something other than their name: a CaseNumber, a Department, a Version, a ReviewedBy. Some readers list them in a custom tab, and scripts that process folders of PDFs can read them without opening the pages.

Names must be a single word with no spaces and none of the characters ( ) < > [ ] / % #, and cannot reuse one of the standard names. Use a dash or underscore to join words. The tool tells you which rule a name breaks.

Where it fits in your workflow

1. Finish the document. Edit, merge, number and compress first, because those steps can overwrite the properties.
2. Decide what the file should say about itself. If it carries old names and notes you do not want, strip them first with Remove metadata (and read what hidden data a PDF carries to know what that covers).
3. Set the properties you do want: a proper title, an author you are happy to share, a subject and keywords.
4. Sign or protect last. A digital signature breaks when a file is changed, and a password applied before you set properties would have to be given again. Our guide to emailing a confidential PDF safely covers the password side.

Stripping and setting are two halves of one habit. Remove what should not be there, then say clearly what should.

Checking the result

• Open the new file, not the original, and look at File, Properties.
• Check the title on the browser tab, if your browser shows titles.
• Look at the file name too. The tool adds “-properties” to it, so rename the file to something that suits its purpose.
• Remember the created and modified dates are shown but not changed by this tool.
• If the file was signed, keep the signed original. Changing properties writes a new copy, so any signature on it no longer validates.