Extract Metadata from PDF Documents in C# .NET Leave feedback

PDF files often contain metadata such as the title, subject, author, creation date, and application used to generate the document. With GroupDocs.Parser for .NET, you can easily read these metadata properties programmatically using the GetMetadata method.

This guide shows how to extract metadata from PDF documents in C# step by step.

The GetMetadata method can return the following properties from a PDF document:

⚡ Note: The available metadata depends on the PDF file itself. Not all fields may be present in every document.

Follow these steps to get metadata from a PDF document:

1. Create a Parser object and load the PDF file.
2. Call the GetMetadata method to retrieve metadata items.
3. Iterate through the collection and read metadata names and values.

// Load the PDF file
using (Parser parser = new Parser(filePath))
{
    // Extract metadata
    IEnumerable<MetadataItem> metadata = parser.GetMetadata();
  
    // Display metadata fields
    foreach (MetadataItem item in metadata)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"{item.Name}: {item.Value}");
    }
}

Warning

GetMetadata method returns null value if metadata extraction isn’t supported for the document. For example, metadata extraction isn’t supported for TXT files. Therefore, for TXT file GetMetadata method returns null. If PDF document has no metadata, GetMetadata method returns an empty collection.

Extracting PDF metadata is useful for:

• Document management – quickly find and categorize files by author, subject, or keywords.
• Compliance checks – verify creation and modification dates.
• Search indexing – improve search accuracy by including document properties.

You may easily run the code above and see the feature in action in our GitHub examples:

• GroupDocs.Parser for .NET examples
• GroupDocs.Parser for Java examples

Along with full featured .NET library we provide simple, but powerful free Apps.

You are welcome to parse documents and extract data from PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, Emails and more with our free online Free Online Document Parser App.