What ShieldDrop Removes — and What It Doesn't
We believe attorneys and paralegals deserve complete honesty about what any scrubbing tool can and cannot do. Read this page before using ShieldDrop for production-critical documents.
What ShieldDrop Removes
The following metadata fields are stripped from all supported file types during processing. For PDFs specifically, a two-pass process is used: ExifTool removes all known metadata tags, then qpdf rebuilds the entire file structure from scratch — permanently destroying any metadata bytes that ExifTool's incremental-update method might leave recoverable.
- Author name, last modified by, creator application
- Document creation date and last-modified timestamp
- Total edit time and revision count
- EXIF data: camera make/model, lens, settings
- GPS coordinates (location where a photo was taken)
- Software version used to create/edit the file
- Company name and manager fields
- Document title, subject, keywords, description
- XMP metadata blocks (full schema)
- IPTC metadata (news/photo industry fields)
- ICC color profile metadata
- Thumbnail images embedded in the metadata header
- Audio/video codec info, recording device, encoder settings
- Custom/extended metadata fields (most formats)
- PDF Info Dictionary fields (all standard keys)
- PDF XMP metadata stream
- PDF linearization rebuilt from scratch (qpdf pass — destroys incremental-update history)
What ShieldDrop Does NOT Remove
These items exist in the document body or outside the file entirely — not in metadata headers. No metadata scrubbing tool removes them because they are not metadata. Misunderstanding this distinction is the most common source of inadvertent disclosure.
ExifTool removes the author names and timestamps from tracked changes, but the change content itself (the actual added/deleted text) is part of the document body — not metadata. Use Word's 'Accept All Changes' then 'Document Inspector' before uploading.
Comments are document content, not metadata. They must be manually deleted in the source application before scrubbing.
Hidden text is a formatting attribute on document content — not stored in metadata headers. Must be removed in Word before uploading.
PDFs can contain content on non-visible layers (e.g., original text under a redaction box). ShieldDrop does not flatten PDF layers. For redacted documents, use Adobe Acrobat Pro's 'Apply Redactions' and 'Sanitize Document' features.
If a document was 'redacted' by placing a black rectangle on top of text in a PDF editor, the underlying text is still in the file. ShieldDrop does not inspect or remove content layers. Use a proper redaction tool that permanently removes the underlying text.
Some PDFs contain JavaScript for interactive forms. ExifTool removes metadata tags but does not strip embedded scripts. Adobe Acrobat's 'Sanitize Document' removes scripts.
A PDF can have other files attached to it (e.g., the original Word document). These are content objects, not metadata. Check for attachments in Acrobat before sharing.
ShieldDrop only modifies metadata headers and file structure. Document body content is never altered.
Color laser printers embed microscopic yellow dots encoding printer serial number and print date. These are physically in the printed paper — they cannot be removed from digital files because they don't exist there in the first place.
External records of file ownership or provenance stored on a blockchain are not embedded in the file and cannot be affected.
Coverage by File Format
| Format | ExifTool Pass | PDF Rebuild Pass | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ Full tag removal | ✓ Full rebuild (closes forensic gap) | Best coverage of any format | |
| DOCX / XLSX / PPTX | ✓ Full OOXML property removal | N/A | Remove tracked changes in Word first |
| JPG / JPEG | ✓ Full EXIF / XMP / IPTC removal | N/A | Excellent — most thorough |
| PNG | ✓ Full metadata removal | N/A | Very thorough |
| TIFF / HEIC / WebP | ✓ Full removal | N/A | Thorough |
| MP3 / FLAC / WAV / AAC | ✓ ID3 / Vorbis / metadata tags | N/A | Recording device info removed |
| MP4 / MOV / AVI | ✓ Video metadata removed | N/A | Includes GPS from phone videos |
| ZIP archives | ⚠ Partial (container only) | N/A | Files inside the ZIP are not individually scrubbed — extract and scrub separately |
| Encrypted / password-protected files | ✗ Cannot process | N/A | Remove encryption before uploading |
Recommended Pre-Production Workflow for Legal Documents
- Remove tracked changes in Word: Review All Markup → Accept All Changes → Document Inspector → Remove all Comments, Revisions, Versions and Annotations.
- Delete all comments manually in the source application before saving.
- For PDFs with redactions: Use Adobe Acrobat Pro → Apply Redactions → Sanitize Document. Then upload the sanitized PDF to ShieldDrop for metadata cleanup.
- Upload to ShieldDrop for EXIF/XMP/IPTC removal and (for PDFs) full incremental-update destruction via qpdf rebuild.
- Verify before producing: Open the cleaned file and inspect Document Properties. On PDF, use a hex editor or pdfinfo to confirm no Info Dictionary fields remain.
ShieldDrop is not a substitute for professional legal review or certified forensic document sanitization. This tool is provided "as is" without warranty. See our Terms of Service for full limitation of liability.