How to Print to PDF anonymously??

Question

Level 2

225 points

How to Print to PDF anonymously??

From nearly any OSX application, one can Print/Save as PDF and create a .pdf file. However, the PDF file contains hidden information (Windows users would call it Properties) that contains metadata describing the document. Included in the metadata is the "Author" of the PDF file. The Author string is the account owner's name.

There are times when one might want to create a PDF file and distribute it without revealing one's full name. Does anyone know how to prevent Print PDF from embedding your name in the PDF file? All I can think of is to create another user account with a dummy name and perform the Print/PDF from there. That is pretty awkward.

PowerBook G4 1670 MHz, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Jul 16, 2007 4:13 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 17, 2007 11:19 AM in response to D.R.C.

There's an easy way to do this - instead of Save as PDF, select Compress PDF from further down the list. The author information is stripped from the resulting file.

I tested this using Tools > Get Info within Preview, and also by transferring the file to a Windows PC and viewing the Properties, and by viewing the document properties from within Acrobat (full enterprise version, not the reader). All three methods for viewing the file metadata showed my name when using Save as PDF, but not when using Compress PDF.

Hope this helps...

Reply