Apple - Remove author metadata from PDF annotations in preview?

I have the exact same problem. While you should anonymize yourself in the prefs, I don't fully trust that method, so:

  1. Make a copy of the annotated PDF file
  2. Drag and drop to open in a text editor like TextWrangler, or hex editor like HexEdit (Don't worry about any binary-looking weird characters)
  3. Search for your name and replace with the exact same number of Xs or I usually throw in a space among the Xs so it looks like a different name.
  4. Save the file in place
  5. Open in Preview and mouse over the annotations to see the anonymized version

In Preview, go to preferences

In the PDF tab

Select show or Not show the name in the Annotations !

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MetaClean is a powerful tool to view, remove and edit metadata of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Visio), OpenOffice (word processors, spreadsheets and presentations) and PDF (versions 1.0 and higher) documents.

http://adarsus.com/en/metaclean.html

Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS X Platforms

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