Document information

This page covers what a document says about itself, and the parts of a document that aren’t text on a page: its properties, its opening behaviour, layers, links, attached files and accessibility.

Document properties

1. On the Home tab, click Properties… (or choose More › Document properties…).
2. The Document properties dialog opens.

The four properties you can change

To change them, edit the fields and click Save. An empty field removes that property. Undo takes the change back. A document that never had any properties is given them.

The fields can’t be changed on a document that is Read only; the dialog then offers only Close.

What the document is

Under the fields, the dialog lists facts about the document:

Custom properties, fonts and XMP

Organisations often file documents by properties of their own — a matter number, a cost centre, a retention class. Print shops and legal teams ask which fonts a document carries.

1. On the Protect tab, click Properties and fonts… (or choose More › Properties, fonts and XMP…).
2. The What this document says about itself dialog opens. Click Done to close it.

When the metadata contradicts itself

A PDF can store its title, author and subject twice: in its properties, and in an XMP record that archives and compliance checkers read. When the two disagree, the dialog starts with Its metadata contradicts itself and lists each difference, for example Title: the document says “Q3 report”, its XMP says “Draft”. Nixt PDF doesn’t choose between them. Correct the property in Document properties if that is the one that’s wrong.

Properties

Under Properties, each custom property is listed with its name and value.

• To add or change one: type its name in Name and its value in Value, then click Add or press Enter. Adding a name that already exists changes its value.
• To remove one: click Remove on its row. The property is taken out entirely rather than left empty, because a system filing by it would still see an empty one.

The standard properties — title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and the dates — can’t be added here. When there are no custom properties the section says None beyond the standard title, author and subject.

Fonts

Under Fonts, every font the document draws text with is listed, with its type and whether the file carries it:

• embedded in full — the whole font is in the file.
• embedded, only the characters used — the letters the document needs are in the file.
• NOT embedded — a reader without it will substitute — shown in red, and counted at the top as 2 not embedded, for example.

A document relying on a font that isn’t embedded is drawn in another font on a computer that doesn’t have it, which can change where lines and pages break. This document draws no text. means there are no fonts to list.

XMP

The XMP section says whether the document carries an XMP record and how large it is.

How the document opens

A document can ask every reader to open it a particular way — on its contents list, at page one, or full screen. This is a property of the document, so whoever you send it to gets it.

1. On the Pages tab, click How it opens….
2. Set the options below.
3. Click Save.

The message says Saved. That is how this document will open for whoever you send it to. Nixt PDF itself uses the Pages layout and Full screen when it opens a document; the other choices are for the readers you send it to.

Layers

Some documents — drawings with the dimensions, the wiring and the structure on separate layers, for example — let you show and hide parts of their content.

1. On the Edit tab, click Layers…. It’s dimmed on a document with no layers.
2. In the Layers dialog, turn a layer’s switch on or off.
3. Click Close.

Each row shows the layer’s name and the pages it draws on, such as pages 2, 3, 4, or nothing is drawn on it. A layer meant for whoever made the document rather than for readers is marked marked for whoever drew the document. A layer the document asks not to be switched shows locked, and its switch can’t be changed.

When layers are switched off, the dialog says how many, and Show all 2 (for example) turns them all on.

Switching a layer is saved in the document, so it is what the next person to open it sees. Undo takes it back.

Links

1. On the Edit tab, click Links….
2. The Links dialog lists every link in the document.

Each link shows where it goes:

Under the destination, on page 3, over “Terms and conditions” says where the link is and what text it sits on. Links in red also say Nixt PDF will not follow this one.

On each row:

• Go there closes the dialog and goes to the page the link is on.
• Remove takes the link off the page. The words underneath stay.

Turning written addresses into links

Documents exported from a word processor often contain web addresses written as plain text that can’t be clicked. At the top of the Links dialog, Nixt PDF lists the ones it found on the current page, under Written as addresses on page 3 and not links.

• Click Link 4 on page 3 (for example) to make each of them a working link.
• When there are none, the button reads Nothing to link on page 3 and is dimmed.

Attached files

A PDF can carry whole files inside it — a spreadsheet behind a report, the original of a scanned form. When a document carries any, the side panel adds a Files view.

Each file shows its name, its size, and where it’s fastened: In the document, or On page 4 for a file pinned to a page. A description is shown when the document gives one.

Saving an attached file

1. In the Files view, click the More button (three dots) on the file’s row.
2. Choose Save it as a file….
3. In the Save the attachment dialog, choose where to save it.

Attached files are only ever saved, never opened. What happens to the file next is up to you.

On the same menu, Go to its page goes to the page a pinned file sits on, and Take it out of the document removes the file from the document’s list.

Attaching a file

1. On the Edit tab, click Attach a file….
2. In the Choose a file to attach dialog, choose any file.

The message says Attached followed by the file name. A file larger than 64 MB is refused with That file is too large to carry inside a PDF. Save the document to keep the attachment.

Checking accessibility

This checks how well a document can be read by somebody using a screen reader, and fixes the things that can be fixed without guessing.

1. On the Protect tab, click Accessibility… (or choose More › Reading this without seeing it…).
2. Read the Reading this without seeing it dialog.

It opens with a summary — for example 2 things stop a screen reader using this document, and 3 more would be read wrongly., or Everything Nixt PDF can check, this document passes. Then it lists each problem found, marked Blocking, Serious or Worth doing:

Fix what can be fixed sets the language, asks readers to show the title, and describes links with their addresses; see Fixing what can be fixed. For a scanned document, recognise the text first; see Scanned documents. To describe form fields, use What is this field for?… in the Form view; see Filling in forms.

Checks the document passes are listed under Passed. Under Not checked, the dialog lists what no file-based check can answer: Whether the alternate text is accurate, Whether the reading order makes sense, Colour contrast and Whether tables have headers, each with the reason.

Fixing what can be fixed

1. In What language is this document in?, type a language tag such as en-GB, cy or fr. The field starts with the language the document already declares, if any. Nixt PDF won’t guess it.
2. Click Fix what can be fixed. It’s dimmed until a language is filled in.

Nixt PDF sets the language, asks readers to show the title, and describes undescribed links with their addresses. The message lists what was done, or says There was nothing here Nixt PDF could put right without guessing. Undo takes it back.