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About this tool
Reveals what a recruiter or ATS can read from your CV's file properties, edit history, filename and hidden text.
Resume Metadata Risk Explainer sets out what a recruiter or applicant tracking system reads from your CV besides the words: the Author and Company properties, revision count and total editing time, the creation date, tracked changes and comments, hidden keyword text, the filename, and the candidate record the platform keeps. Each item is tied to the submission route you choose, because emailing a Word file, exporting a PDF, uploading to a portal and handing over paper expose very different amounts. Written for job seekers who want their file to say only what they intended.
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Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Shows how much a PDF export removes and what it copies across from the Word original.
Includes the candidate record an ATS keeps, not just the properties inside your document.
Every flagged item comes with the specific setting or step that clears it.
They can see the Author and 'Last modified by' properties, which hold the name registered in the copy of Office that created and last saved the file. If you started from someone else's document, their name travels with yours until you edit the properties.
PDF is safer for metadata: exporting drops comments, tracked changes and text hidden by formatting because only the printed view is written out. Word and PowerPoint still copy the Author and Title into the PDF's own properties, so clear those in the source document first. Send Word only when the employer explicitly asks for it.
No — and it backfires. Parsers extract text regardless of its colour or size, so the stuffed keywords appear in the parsed profile a recruiter reads, where they look like deliberate deception. Put genuine keywords in visible sentences instead.
It depends on the employer's stated retention period and local law, and the record usually includes recruiter notes and the original file, visible to the hiring team. Check the privacy notice attached to the application, and use the access or erasure rights available to you if you want it removed.