Can file names reveal my real name or home address?

Depends entirely on where you share it. Email attachment? Recipient sees the filename. Cloud link? Usually sees the filename too, unless the service renames on upload. So yes, it can leak. The fix is a rename, not a prayer.

File names are metadata. Metadata is the thing everyone forgets about until it bites them. Turn off the auto-name feature on your scanner, it's like two menu clicks.

Wait, are we talking about the filename or the stuff *inside* the PDF? Cuz if it's the latter, renaming is pointless. Word and PDF files carry author names in the properties. I learned that the embarrassing way.

Right, but OP specifically asked about file *names*. Though yeah, the PDF metadata thing is a whole other hole. Scanned PDFs are usually just images so less of an issue, but exported Word docs are a disaster.

@saltwatertaffy that's the part that gets people. Everyone obsesses over the LLC formation docs and then emails a scanned W-9 with 'author: John Smith' baked into the file properties. Renaming the file doesn't touch that. You need to strip metadata or print-to-PDF from a clean source.

Also check your scanner's default save path. Half the time it's dumping into a folder synced to Dropbox with your legal name in the path. The filename is the least of your worries.

Not to be that guy but most shared drives show the uploader's account name anyway, so if your account is '[email protected]' the file name is moot. The anonymity comes from the accountt/agent layer, not from renaming PDFs.

Counterpoint: your account name might be pseudonymous but the file name can still expose a real name you slipped in. Belt and suspenders. It's not either/or.

Fair enough. I just see a lot of people stress over filenames while their Gmail signature says 'John Smith, Owner'. Priorities.

OK so the scanner setting is the obvious one, and I'll check the PDF properties too since I hadn't thought about that. The account name thing is a good point. I'm using a throwaway email but my scanner's folder path does habe my last name in it, so that's fun. Guess I'm renaming folders tonight