Metadata Cleaner
Version: 2.2.7 Web: https://metadatacleaner.romainvigier.fr
As long-time readers can probably tell, we’re suckers for privacy here at LXF Towers. One of the sloppiest ways to leak privacy information is through metadata in files posted in public forums. Metadata is sensitive information that, with the right context, can reveal a lot about you.
Cameras record data about when and where a picture was taken and which camera was used. Similarly, many office apps automatically add author and other details to all documents. With Metadata Cleaner, you can easily view the metadata embedded in a file and remove it without much effort.
The app recommends installing it via Flathub. Pull up a terminal and type flatpak install flathub fr. romainvigier.MetadataCleaner to install it. When it’s done, you can launch it from the distro’s Applications menu or from the terminal with flatpak run fr. romainvigier.MetadataCleaner .
You can use the Add Files button in the app to select a file you wish to sanitise or bring up the pulldown menu adjacent to the button to point the app to a folder and allow it to load all files in there.
After it’s done analysing the files you’ve added, you can click on them to view the metadata the app has found within each file. To clean all the files in the window, press the Clean button.
The developers warn that in its bid to be thorough with the purging, the removal process could modify the files in unexpected ways. However, you can change this default behaviour by switching the app to the Light mode, which isn’t as harsh and doesn’t make any destructive changes to the files.
The app has a detailed manual that does a good job of explaining the various options and points out why removing metadata isn’t a foolproof mechanism for ensuring that files don’t leak personal data.