Tech
Tech Tip 2: Removing Metadata
To avoid inadvertently sharing personal or sensitive information with clients or third parties, it is a good practice to review documents for hidden data or personal information and remove it.
Microsoft Word
- Click on the File tab and select info.
- Select the Check for Issues box and choose Inspect Documents.
- Select which hidden data you would like to check and select Inspect. All hidden properties will be listed in the results.
- To remove a property, select Remove All.
- Reinspect the document or close the dialog box.
Hidden properties in Word that can be fixed in this way are:
- - Comments, revisions, versions, and annotations
- - Document properties and personal information; this includes metadata, SharePoint properties, custom - - properties, and other content information
- - Custom XML data
- - Headers, footers, and watermarks
- - Invisible content
- - Hidden text
Adobe PDF
- Open the PDF document.
- Click the top left Menu (Windows) or File (macOS) > Document Properties.
- Edit or delete metadata properties - you can also check additional metadata fields in the Additional Metadata menu.
- Press OK and save the PDF.
This will delete all the metadata in the PDF. Alternatively, you can also choose to edit the existing metadata in the Document Properties menu. Simply change whichever fields you want, click OK, and save your document. However, if the PDF is not owned by you, certain PDF permissions might restrict your ability to delete metadata in a shared PDF.
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