The Microsoft Word program, besides being very useful, brings many functions and options, so much so that some of these are even hidden from the naked eye. One of these hidden options or functions is the default embedded metadata in all documents made in Word. If you want to know more about how to eliminate this metadata from Word, you have come to the right place because then we will talk about how to eliminate the metadata or personal information of the Word user.
What is the metadata of Word documents
The metadata or personal information of the user, is certain information such as the name of the author of the document, date of creation and modification, size, resolution and other hidden aspects that are embedded in all Office documents.
During the creation of a document in Word, diverse aspects intervene and can be added such as comments, views of the document , annotations, presentations and spreadsheets, among others.
These types of aspects can be added in a visible or hidden way, so that many times the user is not aware that if they are going to share a document with someone else inadvertently they can let others know more than necessary.
That is why by deleting the metadata you are presented with the opportunity to make sure that if you do not want anyone to know who the author of the document is, no one will know it or that no one will see a certain internal comment on the document or know the creation date.
How to Delete User Personal Information or Metadata from Word
There are at least two ways you can remove your personal information from Word documents, so let’s look at both ways:
From the Properties option
- First you must go to the file in which you want to delete the metadata , after you have it, right click on it and click on the Properties option.
- After you select this option, a window with several sections will appear, but you must go to the Details section within the window.
- In this section you will see all the metadata or personal information that is embedded in said Microsoft Word document in a hidden way. Below this list you will see an option that you must click on, which is Remove properties and personal information, you must select it to open a new window.
- In this new window you will see two buttons with two different options: Create a copy with all possible properties hidden and the other is Remove the following properties from this file .
- You must select this last option and below you will see a list with all the metadata you can delete from the document, to select any you just have to check the box with the name of the metadata and then click OK to save the changes.
- If you want to select all the boxes, click on the Select all button and then OK, then you will be able to close all the windows and send or share the document with the assurance that you will have the metadata 100% eliminated. You should know that to eliminate the metadata of a document it must not be in read-only mode and you must be the author of it.
From inside the document
- First you must access the document you want to remove the metadata and once you are inside it, you must go to the File section .
- Then you must go to the Information section and then you must click on Check for problems and then a drop-down menu will open in which you must select the option Inspect document.
- When you select this option, a new window will open with all the options available in the document, which you can uncheck to dispense with these or mark them to keep them. In this list of options you will see all the options that you may not have to delete, for example embedded documents, header, footer , among others.
- After you check or uncheck the boxes that seem best to you, you must click the Inspect button so that an analysis is made in the document of those aspects you selected. After the analysis is finished, you can click Remove all in each item to delete the metadata and end the process by clicking Close.
