Important: This workflow checks standard PDF properties such as the author, title, subject, and keywords. It does not perform a comprehensive forensic inspection of metadata that may remain inside embedded image data.
How to Convert an Image to PDF Without Carrying Over Descriptive Metadata Using PDF.co and Zapier
4 Minutes Read
PDF.co’s Anything to PDF Converter can convert JPG, PNG, and TIFF images into PDF documents. In this tutorial, you will create a Zap that monitors a Google Drive folder, converts each new image into a PDF, and checks the resulting PDF for common descriptive metadata.
The workflow consists of three main steps:
- Detect a new image in Google Drive.
- Convert the image into a PDF with PDF.co.
- Inspect the PDF’s metadata with PDF.co.
Step 1: Create a Zap
Sign in to your Zapier account.
Click Create, and then select Zap to open the Zap editor.
Enter a descriptive name for the workflow, such as Convert Images to PDF and Check Metadata.
Step 2: Set Up the Google Drive Trigger
Select Google Drive as the trigger app.
For the trigger event, choose New File in Folder. This event starts the workflow whenever a new file is added to a selected Google Drive folder.
Connect your Google Drive account and click Continue.
Configure the trigger:
- Drive: Select the Google Drive containing the source folder.
- Folder: Select the folder where images will be uploaded.
- Include Subfolders: Choose whether files added to subfolders should also trigger the workflow.
- Subfolder Depth: If applicable, specify how many levels of subfolders Zapier should monitor.
- Include Deleted Files: Leave this disabled unless deleted files are relevant to the workflow.
Click Continue, and then test the trigger.
Zapier will retrieve a recent file from the selected folder. Confirm that the test record includes the image’s name, file type, and downloadable File property.
Optional: If the folder may contain non-image files, add a Filter by Zapier step. Configure the filter to continue only when the file’s MIME type begins with image/.
Step 3: Add the PDF.co Conversion Action
Add another step and select PDF.co as the action app.
Choose Anything to PDF Converter as the action event.
Connect your PDF.co account. If prompted, enter the API key available in your PDF.co dashboard.
Configure the conversion:
- Input Format: Select the image input option.
- Input Source: Map the File property returned by Google Drive.
- Output PDF Name: Enter a name for the resulting PDF, such as
converted-image.pdf. - Custom Profiles: Leave this blank unless you need advanced conversion settings.
Use Google Drive’s File property instead of the older Web Content Link field. Zapier-generated file links are designed to pass files between workflow steps.
If you need to convert multiple images into one PDF, provide the image URLs as a comma-separated list. PDF.co will place the images into the PDF in the supplied order.
Click Continue, and then test the action.
The test result should contain a URL for the converted PDF. Open the URL and verify that the image was converted correctly.
Note: PDF.co output URLs use temporary storage and expire after a limited period. Add a storage step if the PDF must remain available.
Step 4: Inspect the PDF’s Metadata
Add another action and select PDF.co.
Choose Get PDF Information as the action event. This dedicated action replaces the older Custom API Call configuration.
Configure the action:
- PDF URL: Map the PDF URL returned by the Anything to PDF Converter step.
- Extract Fillable Fields: Leave this disabled because form information is not needed.
- Custom Profiles: Leave this blank unless advanced settings are required.
Click Continue, and then test the action.
PDF.co will return information about the converted document. Depending on the PDF, the response may include:
- Title
- Author
- Subject
- Keywords
- Creator
- Producer
- Creation date
- Modification date
- Page count
- Page dimensions
- Encryption status
- Security permissions
Check the Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords values. Empty values indicate that those common descriptive properties were not added to the new PDF.
The resulting PDF may still contain technical properties generated during conversion. For example, Creator, Producer, or Creation Date may identify when and how the PDF was produced. These values do not necessarily originate from the source image.
Step 5: Save or Deliver the PDF
After checking the result, add an action that saves or delivers the converted PDF.
For example, you can:
- Upload the PDF to Google Drive, Dropbox, or another storage service.
- Attach it to an email.
- Send it to another document-processing workflow.
- Record its URL and metadata results in a spreadsheet or database.
To save the PDF to Google Drive, add a Google Drive – Upload File action. Select the destination folder and map the temporary PDF.co output URL into the file field.
You have created a Zap that automatically converts images from Google Drive into PDF documents using PDF.co. The workflow also uses PDF.co’s Get PDF Information action to check whether common descriptive metadata fields—such as the author, title, subject, and keywords—are present in the converted PDF.
This process can help prevent descriptive properties from being carried into the new document. However, it is not a comprehensive metadata-sanitization process. If complete metadata removal is required for privacy, legal, or regulatory purposes, use a dedicated sanitization tool and conduct a more extensive inspection before distributing the PDF.
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