# About PDF metadata

PDF metadata represents any piece of information about your PDF file. Adding metadata to your PDF documents allows more efficient archiving and retrieving of documents by searching keyword, title, author or any other field. Once the metadata has been saved in a PDF file, it can be viewed under File -> Properties -> Custom tab (in Adobe reader).

## Enabling PDF metadata export with the PDF Converter toolbar icon

SWING PDF Converter uses values in Lotus Notes document fields to write PDF metadata as Field name -> Value key pairs. This option can be enabled in PDF Settings under the General tab (click on the below image for a bigger display). When enabled, PDF Converter will export all the Notes fields found in the document or email to PDF metadata. 

Additionally, the Notes fields may be exported to sidecar XML files by selecting the "For each PDF create a sidecar file with metadata" check box. Note that the export to XML is provided only with the Enterprise Edition of PDF Converter and works only when exporting documents to individual PDF files. 

![](/files/-MlFeYKlbKchKow_1j5A)

## Enabling PDF metadata export in archiving jobs

Metadata can also be exported by adding new attributes in the Archiving Job settings document (click on the below image for a bigger display). When adding the new attributes, you can select the existing Notes document field values or use a Lotus Notes formula to generate folder-specific or other custom information, which will be saved in PDF as metadata. The Archiving Jobs also allow you to export metadata to sidecar XML files (a new XML file will be created for each generated PDF file). 

![](/files/-MlFeeI5HvCGobF_0VFJ)

## Enabling PDF metadata export using SWING PDF Converter API

For more information on how to export metadata using our API, see [this article](https://sites.google.com/a/swingsoftware.com/lc/pdf-converter/for-developers/lotusscript-code-samples/metadata-example).

## Examples of exporting metadata and retrieving it from the PDF file

The SWING PDF Converter database contains two code examples for exporting metadata to PDF and retrieving metadata from a selected PDF file. The code examples can also be executed from the PDF Converter database. 

To test this functionality, open For Developers menu in your PDF Converter database (1), and use the provided export (2) and retrieving (3) actions. Click on the below image for a bigger display.

![](/files/-MlFf2OEPxXUhfH12_5K)


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