[Macworld.com]

Did you know that you potentially share your name (and some other data) every time you send someone a PDF you created with Print to PDF? Learn how to keep that info off your PDFs. [more]

[macwilf]

Not only do they become larger, but if my memory doesn't fail me now, one person I sent compressed PDFs to (before I found out that they became smaller as "normal" PDFs), couldn't open them on his Windows-PC.
To me, it seems that it happens often with different standard formats, like tiffs - people on a Windows-PC can't open them, but in the case of PDF, it is weird. But then again, maybe it was caused by something else...

[flyinmac]

I actually discovered this issue a while back when doing some work on my home computer for my employer that would later be published publicly on a government website.
Naturally, I didn't think it would be appropriate to have my name tied to the creation of a document for the government entity. Especially since my employer is providing the service as a contractor.
So, rather than have my personal name appear on the document, I wanted to have my employer appear to be the creator of the document.
So, I went into the "Accounts" tab in my system preferences. I located my name, and changed it to the name of my employer.
So, now every document I created had my employer's name instead of my own. It presents a more professional appearance.
Granted, it would ultimately be preferred to not have any name on it. But, it was a reasonable compromise. File size also needed to be minimal, so that was a concern.
The name change on my account didn't affect anything else. I saw my employer's name when the admin password box came up when installing updates. But, that's no big deal. Everything else works like normal.

[jpmm]

I have been using the PDFWriter (Adobe Acrobat 4.0 version -- not the Reader) on my PC to create PDFs. I currently use a program called PDF Info, which is Freeware, by bureausoft.com that allows me to edit ALL the info: PDF Version, Author, Title, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer. I like to set the Author, Title, Subject and Keyword for PDF files - but as far as I know, without Adobe Acrobat, the Mac PDF "Writer" doesn't allow me to change those...
Is there anything like that for the Mac to edit the PDF attributes?

[kwill]

Incompatible PDFs likely has something to do with how/if fonts are embedded. However, this does not rule out embedded platform-specific PostScript file instructions.
I find PDFs generated from Adobe Acrobat/Distiller function far better and can be smaller than those created with the OS X print dialog. In fact, to save space and make certain the resulting PDF is readable on my PDA, I must open Apple's PDFs in Acrobat Professional and select: Advanced > PDF Optimizer to assure compatibility and minimum file size. Interestingly, thereafter changing the creator to Preview ("open using" option in Finder Get Info) increases the file size -- but not as much as prior to the Acrobat optimization. One would think the larger file size is a result of including more data for multi-platform compatibility.

[rmc]

Can't you just open the pdf with Combine PDFs (http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/Freeware/index.shtml), delete the author's name, and save it?

[scotty321]

BTW: Creating PDF's out of FileMaker Pro using FileMaker's built-in "Save As PDF..." functionality does NOT embed your name in the resulting PDF. So this is a great thing to know if you're using FileMaker Pro to create PDF documents.

[Netizen_Kane]

Thanks for the heads-up. I've made my own workaround for this. I just created a new user account on my computer with a nonsensical name and will only create PDFs from there. They can have the author ID on that all they want. And I'll replace that account every month or so.

[mattbeals]

There are a number of different ways. One way to make a ultra small PDF is to use Apago's PDF Shrink. It can really do a number on a PDF when it comes to "shrinking" them. It does a much better job than anything else (except for PDF Enhancer which is its big brother).
Matt Beals
Consultant
Enfocus Certified Trainer
Apago, Callas, Gradual & Markzware Recognized Trainer
(206) 201-2320 - main
(720) 367-6869 - fax
Friends don't let friends write HTML email
come visit me at:
http://www.mattbeals.com
http://www.actionlistexchange.net
http://www.mattbeals.com/blog/

[Prof]

Since the PDF information is not encoded but written in plain ascii in the pdf file. You can easily remove it by editing the file using any text editor (such as vi, for exampe). This is certainly easier than having to log in as a different user every time you want to save a PDF.
It would also be possible to write a script that removes this information from your PDF.
Normand

[consumer_x]

Quote:

---

easily remove it by editing the file using any text editor

---

Wow; so simple. Best answer yet! Thanks for that info.

[silentway]

This should be considered a security flaw, since this exposes and potentially publicizes a user's login name. Apple should address this immediately.

[warlock7]

Quote:

---

This should be considered a security flaw, since this exposes and potentially publicizes a user's login name. Apple should address this immediately.

---

The author object member is a standard PDF field. It's embedded by most software which generates PDFs, not just OSX. It's not a security flaw, it's a feature of the PDF standard.

[warlock7]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

easily remove it by editing the file using any text editor

---

Wow; so simple. Best answer yet! Thanks for that info.

---

Yes, the author object member is one section that does not get encrypted.