How do I hide the file names/path names of embedded images in a PDF document?

Question

I created a PDF document from a Word document, and the problem is that the PDF document shows the file names and path names for all of the embedded images in the PDF document. I don't want that information displayed. I don't want to send the PDF out to clients and have them read the names I've assigned to those images, plus it looks messy. And I've lost many of the original image files so they only exist in the Word document, thus I can't go back and rename them. I searched the internet for an answer but I couldn't find one anywhere.

Answer 1

When you create a tagged (accessible) PDF file from Word, placed bitmap images will use their filename as the "ALT text" if you don't define something else for the text to say, because an image without any ALT text is a failure against the accessibility standards. You can't change that default action, so you should put your own meaningful text into the ALT field for each image - which is what you should be doing anyway if the PDF is standards-compliant.
You can can set the text in Word, but it depends on your version as to where the dialogs are - Google for it - or you can change/delete it in Acrobat using the tags navigation pane on the left side of the window (right-click the sidebar if it's not visible). Drill down through the tags structure to find the "<Figure>" tag you want to change, right-click and choose Properties, then put something in the "Alternative text" field. This process isn't something you can easily automate, but if you don't need tags at all, you can save without tags (or print to PDF).