Sanitize PDF
See what a PDF carries besides its pages — then take out what you choose.
Sanitize PDF reports what a PDF is carrying besides its pages — metadata fields with values, annotations and comments by type, embedded file attachments, JavaScript and open actions, form fields with values, and text still hidden under a cover — then removes only the classes you tick and re-reads the saved file to check each one is gone. Sanitising is not redaction: nothing on the visible page changes, and hidden text is flagged with a link to Redact PDF rather than removed here.
Sanitize PDF shows what a PDF is carrying besides its pages — free, in your browser, with no account. The document is processed on your device and is not uploaded. Nothing is removed until you tick a class and press the button.
How to use Sanitize PDF — steps & common uses
What people use Sanitize PDF for
People about to send a PDF to somebody outside their organisation, who want to see what is in it first — and take out what does not need to travel.
- Check a PDF before emailing it outside the company
- Strip author and software names from a document you are publishing
- Find and remove a file somebody embedded inside a PDF
- Take JavaScript and open actions out of a PDF you were sent
- See whether a 'redacted' file still has text under the boxes
How to use Sanitize PDF
- Drop the PDF in; it is read on your device and reported in six classes.
- Read the findings: metadata fields with values, annotations and comments by type, embedded file attachments with their names and sizes, JavaScript and open actions, form fields carrying values, and text hidden under a cover.
- Tick what to strip. Metadata, scripts and attachments are ticked for you; comments and form values are not, because deleting them usually deletes somebody's work.
- Download the result and read the check made on the saved file, class by class.
Good to know: Sanitising is not redaction: visible page content is never changed, and hidden text is flagged rather than removed.
Questions about Sanitize PDF 6
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. UnboundPDF processes PDFs locally in the browser — documents are not uploaded to a server. We have no backend that receives, stores, or scans your files.
Is sanitising the same as redacting?
No, and the difference matters. Sanitising removes things the file carries alongside the page — metadata, comments, attachments, scripts, form values. Redaction removes text from the page itself. This tool never changes visible page content, so a name printed on page 3 is still printed on page 3 afterwards. Use Redact PDF for that.
What happens to hidden text?
It is reported and left alone. The detection is the same engine that powers Redaction Verifier: text still extractable under a filled box, text drawn invisibly, and text in a layer the document hides. Removing it would be redaction, so the finding links to Redact PDF instead of offering a checkbox that would quietly do the wrong thing.
How do I know the things I ticked are really gone?
The saved output is re-loaded and scanned again, independently of the code that made the edit, and — for metadata, attachments and form values — the raw output bytes are also searched for the literal values that were removed, in both the encodings a PDF string can use. A class is reported as checked only when both agree; when either still finds something, the result says so and names it.
Does it say my file is clean?
No. It says which classes were checked and are no longer present in the output. Those are the six classes named above; a PDF can carry other things, and no result here is a statement that a document is safe to publish.
Will removing metadata break the document?
No. The document information dictionary and the XMP packet describe the file; no reader needs them to show the pages. Removing annotations or clearing form values does change what a reader sees, which is why neither is ticked by default.
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How your files are handled
The work runs on your own device, inside the browser tab — so there is no server to send your document to.
- Nothing is uploaded. We have no backend that receives or stores documents, so we cannot see your files during processing or after.
- Your device does the work. Large documents are handled in stages, pages are rendered as you reach them, and each job is checked against your device before it starts — so a long run takes longer on a phone than on a laptop, nothing is queued behind other people's jobs, and you can stop a run at any point without touching your original file.
- No account and no watermark. The output is a clean file you can use anywhere, with no sign-up and no hourly cap.
More security tools
Other free PDF utilities that work the same way — in your browser, no sign-up.