A Word document is more than the words on the page. Behind them, the file records who wrote it and who saved it last, the company name, when it was created, how long it was edited, and often the folder it lives in. If reviewers worked on it, the file can also still hold their comments and the text they deleted. You do not see any of this when you read the document, but the person who receives it can find it in a few clicks.
This guide explains what Word stores, how to check what your own document reveals, and how to remove it with the tools built into Word. It draws on Microsoft's support documentation for the Document Inspector, the Library of Congress description of the Office Open XML format, and Microsoft's documentation of how a Word file is structured, all linked at the end.
The short answer: make a copy of the file, run the Document Inspector on the copy, remove what you do not want to share, and then check the result before you send it.
What metadata a Word document contains
Metadata is data about the document rather than the document itself. A modern .docx file is a ZIP archive of separate parts, as the Library of Congress describes for the Office Open XML family, and the metadata lives in parts of its own. That is why it does not appear on the page and why it can be removed without changing your text.
Several kinds of information are stored, and they differ in how risky they are. The first group is written automatically, and the second group exists only if someone added it.
- Document properties: the author, who saved it last, the title, subject, keywords, category, and a free-text comments field.
- Dates and counts: when the file was created, when it was last saved, when it was last printed, the number of times it was saved, and the total editing time.
- Company and manager names, filled in from the computer or account that first created the file.
- A thumbnail: a small picture of the first page, saved inside the file.
- Comments, with the name of each person who wrote one.
- Tracked changes: the deleted text, the inserted text, and who made each change and when.
- Hidden text: words formatted so that they do not show on the page or in print.
- Paths and links: the template the document is based on, and printer settings that can name a printer on your office network.
- Photos with their own hidden details, such as the GPS location where a picture was taken.
How to check what your document reveals
Start by looking, so that you know what you are removing. Open the document and choose File, then Info. The right-hand side shows the author, the last person to modify it, the dates, and the size. Choose Show All Properties to see more, such as the company and manager.
To see what Windows shows to anyone who has the file, close it, right-click the file in File Explorer, choose Properties, and open the Details tab. Everything in the Origin and Description sections is stored inside the file. For comments and tracked changes, open the Review tab, choose Show Markup, and set it to All Markup. Every comment and every change appears in the margin or in the text.
There is also a way to see the file the way a program sees it. Make a copy, rename the copy so it ends in .zip, and open it. The folder named docProps holds the document properties, and the word folder holds the text, the comments, and any pictures. Do this only on a copy, and delete the copy afterwards.
Method 1: the Document Inspector
The Document Inspector is Microsoft's built-in way to find and remove hidden data. According to Microsoft's support page, it checks for comments and annotations, document properties and personal information, headers, footers, and watermarks, hidden text, custom XML data, and revision tracking data. In Excel and PowerPoint it also checks for hidden rows, columns, and worksheets, and for content that sits off the slide.
Microsoft's advice is to run it on a copy of your original, because it is not always possible to restore the data that it removes. Follow that advice. Save a copy under a new name, such as the original name with the word clean added, and work on the copy.
- Save a copy of the document under a new name and open the copy.
- Choose File, then Info, then Check for Issues, then Inspect Document.
- If Word asks you to save the file first, save it.
- Leave all categories ticked and choose Inspect.
- Read the results. Each category that found something has a Remove All button.
- Choose Remove All for the categories you want to clear, and leave the others, such as hidden text you actually need.
- Choose Reinspect to confirm that nothing is left, then close the inspector and save.
Method 2: remove personal information on save
If you send documents often, you can ask Word to strip personal information every time you save a file. In the Windows version, open File, then Options, then Trust Center, then Trust Center Settings, and open Privacy Options. Tick the option that removes personal information from file properties on save. Word then clears the author and similar fields each time the file is saved.
This setting is narrower than the Document Inspector. It deals with the personal information stored in the file properties, but it does not accept tracked changes, delete comments, or find hidden text. Treat it as a safety net for routine use rather than as a full clean-up, and still run the Document Inspector on documents that went through review.
Windows offers a third route for the properties alone. In File Explorer, right-click the file, choose Properties, open the Details tab, and choose Remove Properties and Personal Information. You can either create a copy with the properties removed or choose the fields to remove from the file itself.
Method 3: deal with comments and tracked changes yourself
Comments and tracked changes are the items most people regret leaving in a file, so it is worth handling them on purpose instead of leaving them to a tool. On the Review tab, open the Delete menu under Comments and choose Delete All Comments in Document. Then open the Accept menu under Changes and choose Accept All Changes and Stop Tracking. The deleted text is now gone and the inserted text becomes ordinary text.
Before you accept everything, read the changes once, because accepting is as final as the Document Inspector. A deleted sentence that was wrong is fine to lose, but a sentence someone deleted by mistake would be lost for good. If other people still need to review the document, send them the version with markup and keep the clean copy for the final recipient.
Hidden text needs a separate look. Text formatted as hidden does not show unless you turn on the option to show hidden text, so select all with Ctrl+A, open the Font settings, and see whether the Hidden box is ticked or shows a filled square, which means some of the selected text is hidden. The Document Inspector reports hidden text and can remove it.
Excel and PowerPoint work a little differently
The same Document Inspector exists in Excel and PowerPoint, and the same advice about working on a copy applies. Each program hides different things, so look for them on purpose.
In Excel, check for hidden sheets by right-clicking a sheet tab and choosing Unhide. A sheet can also be hidden so thoroughly that it does not appear in that list, and it is then only visible in the Visual Basic editor. Check for hidden rows and columns, for comments and notes on cells, and for pivot tables, which keep their own copy of the source data. Excel files also record the folder they were last saved in.
In PowerPoint, look at the speaker notes under each slide, which the audience does not see but which travel with the file. Check for hidden slides, which are skipped in a slide show but are still in the file, and for objects placed outside the edge of a slide. Charts in both programs keep a complete copy of their spreadsheet, so paste a chart as a picture if its data should not be shared.
- Excel: hidden sheets, hidden rows and columns, comments, pivot tables, and the saved folder path.
- PowerPoint: speaker notes, hidden slides, comments, and objects off the slide.
- Both: document properties, the preview picture, and charts that carry their data.
Check the result before you send it
Never assume that a removal worked. Close the cleaned copy, reopen it, and look again. Choose File, then Info, and confirm that the author and the dates are gone. Open the Review tab and confirm that no comments or changes are listed. Run the Document Inspector once more and check that every category reports nothing found.
Then read the document itself, because removing metadata should not change the text. If a paragraph looks different from what you expect, compare the cleaned copy with the original. Keep the original in a safe place, because some of what was removed, such as the text of deleted changes and comments, cannot be restored from the cleaned file.
Sending a PDF instead
Many people send a PDF rather than an editable file, which hides comments and tracked changes from view when you export the final version. It does not remove everything, though. A PDF made by Word has its own properties, such as the author and title, and the export options let you choose whether document properties are included. If you export, clean the source file first, clear the document properties option in the export settings, and then check the properties of the PDF itself.
What none of these methods remove
Removing metadata clears what is stored around your text. It does not clear what the text itself says. A client's name written in a paragraph, a person's name in a header or footer, an address in a footnote, or a file name that includes someone's name all stay unless you change them yourself. Photos pasted into the document can also carry their own hidden location data, so check them as well, or use a tool that cleans the pictures inside the file.
A tool that runs in your browser can do the same job without Office, and the one on this site shows what it found before it removes anything and checks that your text is unchanged. Whatever you use, keep the habit of working on a copy, reading the report, and reopening the result.
Practical checklist
- Work on a copy of the document and keep the original.
- Check File, Info, and the Details tab of the file properties before you start.
- Run the Document Inspector and read each result before removing it.
- Accept or reject tracked changes and delete comments on purpose.
- Look for hidden text, hidden sheets, hidden slides, and speaker notes.
- Paste charts as pictures if their data should not be shared.
- Reopen the cleaned copy and check the properties, the markup, and the text.
- Clean the source before exporting a PDF, and check the PDF's properties.
Research and references
This guide was prepared from the authoritative references below.
