docleaner (Automated removal of metadata from documents)

By default, PDF documents store a whole range of information, called metadata, which is not initially visible when looking at the document. Metadata may allow conclusions to be drawn concerning internal, confidential information from TU Dresden or the authors themselves. Such information may include employee names, user names (ZIH logins), email addresses, the software used and its version numbers, or when the document was last edited.

Before publishing or sharing documents, it is advisable to check for and, if necessary, remove such unwanted metadata. The docleaner web service can be used to automatically clean documents of potentially confidential metadata. The service can be used directly via the browser and from the TU Dresden campus network without prior registration.