Read and edit metadata with GroupDocs.Metadata Leave feedback
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GroupDocs.Metadata reads and edits the metadata inside a document — authors, timestamps, EXIF and XMP tags, ID3 audio tags — without touching its visible content. Stripping metadata before a document leaves your organisation is the most common reason to reach for it.
Each example below is ready to copy into a project once you have installed the package.
getDocumentInfo gives you the basics without loading the whole metadata tree.
import com.groupdocs.metadata.Metadata;
import com.groupdocs.metadata.core.IDocumentInfo;
try (Metadata metadata = new Metadata("contract.docx")) {
IDocumentInfo info = metadata.getDocumentInfo();
System.out.println("File format: " + info.getFileType().getFileFormat());
System.out.println("Extension: " + info.getFileType().getExtension());
System.out.println("MIME type: " + info.getFileType().getMimeType());
System.out.println("Pages: " + info.getPageCount());
System.out.println("Size: " + info.getSize() + " bytes");
System.out.println("Encrypted: " + info.isEncrypted());
}
contract.docx is the sample file used in this example. Click here to download it.
File format: WordProcessing
Extension: .docx
MIME type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Pages: 3
Size: 15096 bytes
Encrypted: false
Properties are searched with a specification rather than by name, because the same idea is spelled differently in every format. Tags describe what a property means, so Tags.getPerson().getCreator() finds the author whether the file calls it Author, Creator or dc:creator.
import com.groupdocs.metadata.Metadata;
import com.groupdocs.metadata.core.MetadataProperty;
import com.groupdocs.metadata.search.ContainsTagSpecification;
import com.groupdocs.metadata.tagging.Tags;
try (Metadata metadata = new Metadata("contract.docx")) {
// Every property tagged as identifying the person who created the document
Iterable<MetadataProperty> properties = metadata.findProperties(
new ContainsTagSpecification(Tags.getPerson().getCreator()));
for (MetadataProperty property : properties) {
System.out.println(property.getName() + " = " + property.getValue());
}
}
contract.docx is the sample file used in this example. Click here to download it.
Author = Dana Whitfield
dc:creator = Dana Whitfield
sanitize removes every metadata property the format allows to be removed. This is the sanitising step to run before publishing a document externally.
import com.groupdocs.metadata.Metadata;
try (Metadata metadata = new Metadata("contract.docx")) {
int removed = metadata.sanitize();
System.out.println("Properties removed: " + removed);
metadata.save("metadata-sanitize.docx");
}
contract.docx is the sample file used in this example. Click here to download it.
Binary file (DOCX, 14 KB)
GroupDocs.Metadata also adds and updates properties, removes only the properties matching a specification, and works with format-specific standards — EXIF, XMP and IPTC in images, ID3 and APE in audio, and the built-in and custom property sets of Office documents.
- GroupDocs.Metadata for Java documentation — the full product guide
- Supported file formats
- API reference
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