PDF Tags
The tags listed in the PDF tables below are those which are used by ExifTool
to extract meta information, but they are only a small fraction of the total
number of available PDF tags. See
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html for the official PDF
specification.
ExifTool supports reading and writing PDF documents up to version 1.7
extension level 3, including support for RC4, AES-128 and AES-256
encryption. A Password option is provided to allow processing of
password-protected PDF files.
ExifTool may be used to write native PDF and XMP metadata to PDF files. It
uses an incremental update technique that has the advantages of being both
fast and reversible. If ExifTool was used to modify a PDF file, the
original may be recovered by deleting the PDF-update pseudo-group (with
-PDF-update:all= on the command line). However, there are two main
disadvantages to this technique:
1) A linearized PDF file is no longer linearized after the update, so it
must be subsequently re-linearized if this is required.
2) All metadata edits are reversible. While this would normally be
considered an advantage, it is a potential security problem because old
information is never actually deleted from the file. (However, after
running ExifTool the old information may be removed permanently using the
"qpdf" utility with this command: "qpdf --linearize in.pdf out.pdf".)
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Encrypt' |
Encrypt |
- |
--> PDF Encrypt Tags |
| 'Info' |
Info |
- |
--> PDF Info Tags |
| 'Root' |
Root |
- |
--> PDF Root Tags |
| '_linearized' |
Linearized |
no |
(flag set if document is linearized for fast web display; not a real Tag ID)
'false' = No
'true' = Yes |
|
Tags extracted from the document Encrypt dictionary.
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Filter' |
Encryption |
no |
(extracted value is actually a combination of the Filter, SubFilter, V, R and
Length information from the Encrypt dictionary) |
| 'P' |
UserAccess |
no |
Bit 2 = Print
Bit 3 = Modify
Bit 4 = Copy
Bit 5 = Annotate | |
Bit 8 = Fill forms
Bit 9 = Extract
Bit 10 = Assemble
Bit 11 = Print high-res |
|
|
As well as the tags listed below, the PDF specification allows for
user-defined tags to exist in the Info dictionary. These tags, which should
have corresponding XMP-pdfx entries in the XMP of the PDF XML Metadata
object, are also extracted by ExifTool.
Writable specifies the value format, and may be string, date,
integer, real, boolean or name for PDF tags.
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'AAPL:Keywords' |
AppleKeywords |
string+ |
(keywords written by Apple utilities, although they seem to use PDF:Keywords
when reading) |
| 'Author' |
Author |
string |
|
| 'CreationDate' |
CreateDate |
date |
|
| 'Creator' |
Creator |
string |
|
| 'Keywords' |
Keywords |
string+ |
|
| 'ModDate' |
ModifyDate |
date |
|
| 'Producer' |
Producer |
string |
|
| 'Subject' |
Subject |
string |
|
| 'Title' |
Title |
string |
|
| 'Trapped' |
Trapped |
string! |
|
|
This is the PDF document catalog.
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| '_has_xfa' |
HasXFA |
no |
(this tag is defined if a document contains form fields, and is true if it
uses XML Forms Architecture; not a real Tag ID)
'false' = No
'true' = Yes |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Marked' |
TaggedPDF |
no |
(not a Tagged PDF if this tag is missing)
'false' = No
'true' = Yes |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'XML_stream' |
XMP |
- |
--> XMP Tags |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Count' |
PageCount |
no |
|
| 'Kids' |
Kids |
- |
--> PDF Kids Tags |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| '_stream' |
_stream |
- |
--> Photoshop Tags |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'AIMetaData' |
AIMetaData |
- |
--> PDF AIMetaData Tags |
| 'AIPDFPrivateData' |
AIPDFPrivateData |
- |
--> PostScript Tags |
| 'AIPrivateData' |
AIPrivateData |
- |
--> PostScript Tags
(the ExtractEmbedded option enables information to be extracted from embedded
PostScript documents in the AIPrivateData# and AIPDFPrivateData# streams) |
| 'ContainerVersion' |
ContainerVersion |
no |
|
| 'CreatorVersion' |
CreatorVersion |
no |
|
| 'RoundTripVersion' |
RoundTripVersion |
no |
|
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| '_stream' |
_stream |
- |
--> PostScript Tags |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'MC' |
MC |
- |
--> PDF MC Tags
(the ExtractEmbedded option enables information to be extracted from these
embedded metadata dictionaries) |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Im' |
Im |
- |
--> PDF Im Tags
(the ExtractEmbedded option enables information to be extracted from these
embedded images) |
|
Information extracted from embedded images with the ExtractEmbedded option.
The EmbeddedImage and its metadata are extracted only for JPEG and Jpeg2000
image formats.
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'ColorSpace' |
EmbeddedImageColorSpace |
no+ |
|
| 'Filter' |
EmbeddedImageFilter |
no+ |
|
| 'Height' |
EmbeddedImageHeight |
no |
|
| 'Image_stream' |
EmbeddedImage |
no |
|
| 'Width' |
EmbeddedImageWidth |
no |
|
|
Additional document permissions imposed by digital signatures.
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'ContactInfo' |
SignerContactInfo |
no |
|
| 'Location' |
SigningLocation |
no |
|
| 'M' |
SigningDate |
no |
|
| 'Name' |
SigningAuthority |
no |
|
| 'Prop_AuthTime' |
AuthenticationTime |
no |
|
| 'Prop_AuthType' |
AuthenticationType |
no |
|
| 'Reason' |
SigningReason |
no |
|
| 'Reference' |
Reference |
- |
--> PDF Reference Tags |
|
| Tag ID | Tag Name |
Writable | Values / Notes |
|---|
| 'Action' |
FieldPermissions |
no |
(FieldMDP signatures only)
'All' = Disallow changes to all form fields
'Exclude' = Allow changes to specified form fields
'Include' = Disallow changes to specified form fields |
| 'Annots' |
AnnotationUsageRights |
no+ |
(possible values are Create, Delete, Modify, Copy, Import and Export;
additional values for UR3 signatures are Online and SummaryView) |
| 'Document' |
DocumentUsageRights |
no+ |
(only possible value is FullSave) |
| 'EF' |
EmbeddedFileUsageRights |
no+ |
(possible values are Create, Delete, Modify and Import) |
| 'Fields' |
FormFields |
no+ |
(FieldMDP signatures only) |
| 'Form' |
FormUsageRights |
no+ |
(possible values are FillIn, Import, Export, SubmitStandalone and
SpawnTemplate; additional values for UR3 signatures are BarcodePlaintext and
Online) |
| 'FormEX' |
FormExtraUsageRights |
no+ |
(UR signatures only; only possible value is BarcodePlaintext) |
| 'Msg' |
UsageRightsMessage |
no |
|
| 'P' |
ModificationPermissions |
no |
(1-3 for DocMDP signatures, default 2; true/false for UR3 signatures, default
false)
1 = No changes permitted
2 = Fill forms, Create page templates, Sign
3 = Fill forms, Create page templates, Sign, Create/Delete/Edit annotations
'false' = Do not restrict applications to reader permissions
'true' = Restrict all applications to reader permissions |
| 'Signature' |
SignatureUsageRights |
no+ |
(only possible value is Modify) |
|
(This document generated automatically by Image::ExifTool::BuildTagLookup)
Last revised Oct 27, 2021
<-- ExifTool Tag Names