Guides

Guides and how-tos

Short explainers on what your files store about you, why it matters and what to do about it.

How to remove the location tag from a photo

Where the coordinates in your photo come from, who reads them, and a step-by-step guide to stripping geolocation without quality loss.

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What EXIF is and what your file reveals

A field-by-field breakdown of metadata, a real-world example and instructions for inspecting your file and clearing out the rest.

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Re-uploading video: what uniquifying actually does

How platforms recognise a re-uploaded clip, what the uniquifier changes, which mode to pick and where the honest limits of the method are.

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Metadata in Word, Excel and PDF

What survives "Save as", how it shows up in CVs and contracts, and a step-by-step guide to cleaning your documents.

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How to remove metadata from a PDF

A PDF looks like a finished document, but the author, the company and the software that built it are still inside. What is in there and how to clear it.

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Metadata in video: what MP4 and MOV store

A phone clip records the coordinates of the shot, the device model and the name of your editing software. What is in there and how to clear it without quality loss.

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Social networks and metadata: what gets cleaned and what does not

Why metadata usually disappears on big platforms, why you cannot rely on that, and how to test any service yourself in five minutes.

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What a classified ad photo reveals

A photo for a listings board tells three separate stories about you. Here is each of them and what to do before you post.

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How to check that metadata is really gone

Do not take any service at its word, ours included. Three ways to verify it yourself — from file properties to a second upload — and what should remain in a clean file.

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Metadata and personal data: the legal side

Why coordinates in a photo and an author name in a document count as personal data, where this surfaces at work, and what to fix at the process level.

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