How to view PDF properties

How to view PDF properties, step by step

Viewing the properties of a PDF is the quickest job in this list, and it never touches the document:

1. Open the PDF properties tool.
2. Drag the file into the window, or click to pick it. The tool accepts one PDF at a time.
3. Wait for the analysis, it runs on your computer, not on a server, and nothing is sent anywhere.
4. Read the plain text report you get: a .txt file with everything it could work out about the document. Keep it or discard it, the original PDF is untouched.

Nothing to install, no account and no upload wait. The result is not a transformed PDF, it is a report: this tool only reads.

Tips for getting the most out of the report

• Check that the file is not encrypted. For a password-protected PDF the report comes back nearly empty on purpose: the content and the metadata are locked behind the password, and the tool can only say that the file is encrypted, how many pages it has and how much space it takes. If the file is yours, remove the protection before analysing it.
• The report warns you when it cannot read everything. Some PDFs store content compressed in ways the tool does not decompress; rather than guessing, the report counts how many streams were left unread and says the answer about text may be incomplete.
• A font that is not embedded explains PDFs that change appearance. If the file does not carry the font inside, the reader of whoever opens it substitutes another one and the document changes look, sometimes with text moving around. It is the most common reason a PDF looks different on another computer.
• A scan has no text. If the report says the PDF is a scan, the text you see is a picture: no searching, no copying, and no useful conversion to Word. OCR, which turns scans into text, is part of Premium.
• The report shows what you can do next. If the title or the author are not as you want, change them with the Edit metadata tool. If the sheet sizes reveal large white margins, the Crop margins tool trims them without deleting content. And if the file is heavy for what it is, follow up with Compress PDF.
• Huge files have a ceiling. The tool refuses above 5000 pages. Below that, the practical limit is your browser's memory, because the file is read on your computer.
• It works offline. Once the page has loaded once, you can analyse PDFs with the network off, the work is all done by your processor.

What each field of the report means

The report is a text file with the data the tool could work out. Field by field:

• Pages and sheet sizes. How many pages the document has and what sheet formats it uses. Identical formats are grouped, with a name when recognised (A4, Letter, Legal). A portrait sheet and the same sheet in landscape appear as separate groups: orientation is part of what you want to know about a document.
• Version and size. The format version the file declares in its header, and the size of the file in bytes.
• Encryption. Whether the file is password-protected. In that case the content and metadata fields stay empty, and the report says why.
• Forms. Whether the PDF has form fields, boxes to fill in, options to tick, and how many.
• Text or scan. Whether the file has a real text layer or is a scanned image. This answer decides what you can do next: search, copy, convert, or run OCR first.
• Fonts. Which fonts the document uses and which are embedded in the file.
• Metadata. Title, author and other information the document declares about itself.

A word of caution: the report reads what the file declares, and a file can declare wrong things. Treat it as a first look; for legal or archival questions that depend on formal rigour, a dedicated analysis is needed.

Is viewing PDF properties free? What are the limits?

No. This tool is part of the Premium subscription, EUR 1.99 a month, which removes the limits on every tool and adds OCR. Sign PDF opens on the free plan, with one signature a day.

Sources

• BestPDFInTheWorld, Propriedades do PDF
• pdf-lib
• MDN, File API