Documents
What a Word document remembers about you
A DOCX or ODT file is a small zip archive. Inside it, next to the text, sits a properties file the word processor fills in on your behalf: who created the document, who last saved it, the company name entered when the software was installed, how many times it has been saved, how many minutes were spent editing it, and which template it started from. You never typed any of it. It goes wherever the file goes.
What the properties file records
- Creator and last modified by. Two names, and they are often different. A document written by one person and tidied by another names both.
- Company and manager, if they were ever set on that install.
- Revision number and total editing time. A revision count of forty on a "quick note" says something. So does an editing time of three minutes on a proposal.
- Created and last saved dates, independent of the file system dates.
- Template name and the application version that wrote the file.
- Title, subject, keywords and comments from the properties dialogue, which sometimes still describe a different document the file was copied from.
How to remove it
Open the tool on the Files tab, drop the DOCX or ODT in and press Clean. The
properties are cleared and the archive is rebuilt with the document body exactly as it was. You
get name.cleaned.docx. Drop that into the Metadata tab to read it back: the
author, company and editing time fields should be empty. If you have an older binary .doc
file, save it as .docx first.
What is content, not metadata
Two things people expect cleaning to remove are not in the properties file at all.
- Tracked changes. Every insertion and deletion carries the name of the person who made it and the time. They are part of the document body. Accept or reject all changes before you send the file.
- Comments. Each one names its author. Delete them before you send the file.
Cleaning the properties on a document with live tracked changes leaves the reviewer names in the changes. Accept the changes first, then clean, then read it back.
Images inside the document
A photo pasted into a document keeps its own metadata inside the archive, including a location if it was taken on a phone. Cleaning the document properties does not open the pictures. If a document contains photos you took yourself, clean the photos on the Images tab before you insert them.
Why the built-in inspector is not always enough
Word processors have a document inspector of their own, and it is worth running. It relies on you remembering to run it, on every file, every time, and it is not available on every device a document gets sent from. Dropping a file into a browser tab before you attach it is a habit that works from a phone as well as a desk.
Common questions
Does it remove tracked changes and comments?
No. Those are part of the document body and name their author. Accept or reject all changes and delete comments in the word processor first, then clean the properties.
Which document formats are accepted?
DOCX and ODT, plus PDF, Markdown, HTML, SVG, plain text and code files. Save an old binary .doc file as .docx first.
Is the text of the document changed?
No. Only the properties in the package are cleared. The body, formatting and images are written back as they were.