Metadata is a PDF's identity card: the title, author, subject and keywords that search tools index, document systems display and email clients show instead of a filename. The Rixoffice PDF Editor exposes these in the properties editor, where thirty seconds of editing turns "merged_final_v2.pdf" into a document that identifies itself. It is the smallest tool in the editor and the one with the widest reach — metadata follows the file everywhere it goes.
Edit the properties
- Open the PDF and open the metadata and properties editor.
- Set the title — the document's real name, as you would introduce it.
- Set the author to the person or team that owns it.
- Add a subject line and keywords that match how someone would search for it.
- Ctrl+S writes the properties into the PDF's document info.
Every standard reader displays these values: hover a PDF in Explorer or Finder, open its properties, or drop it into a document management system, and it is the metadata that speaks.
The fields and what belongs in them
| Field | Belongs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Title | The document's real name | "Master Services Agreement — Acme Corp" |
| Author | Owner or originator | "Rixoffice Legal" |
| Subject | One line on what it is | "Contract for 2026 consulting services" |
| Keywords | Search terms someone would type | "contract, acme, consulting, 2026" |
Keywords earn their keep in archives: a set of invoices keyed with "invoice, 2026, Q3" reappears in every search that should find it. Resist the urge to stuff — three honest terms beat fifteen aspirational ones.
When to check metadata
The moments metadata goes stale:
- After a merge — the combined file often carries the first source's title, describing half the content.
- After extraction — the new file inherits the parent's identity and needs its own.
- After a template — documents built from a template carry the template's author and subject until you change them.
- Before sending externally — properties sometimes carry internal names or tool traces you did not mean to share.
The page operations guide flags this too, because restructuring and metadata are the two halves of finishing a reworked document: fix the pages, then fix the identity.
Metadata and the send checklist
Metadata slots into the pre-send pass:
- Content finished — text edits, annotations resolved, forms filled.
- Structure final — page operations done, numbering applied.
- Status marked — watermarks or stamps where needed.
- Properties checked — title, author, subject, keywords tell the truth.
- Protection applied if the content demands it.
Five checks, one minute, and the file is genuinely done rather than merely finished.
What to explore next
- Page operations — the restructuring that usually precedes a metadata pass.
- Header, footer and Bates numbering for page-level identity alongside document identity.
- Passwords and security as the final send-gate.