Remove hidden data and personal information from Office documents

Before you share an important document with colleagues or clients, you probably take the precaution of proofreading or reviewing the contents of the document to ensure that everything is correct and the document does not contain anything you do not want to share with other people. If you plan to share an electronic copy of a Microsoft Office document, it is a good idea to take the extra step of reviewing the document for hidden data or personal information that might be stored in the document itself or in the document properties (metadata ). Because this hidden information can reveal details about your organization or about the document itself that you might not want to share publicly, you might want to remove this hidden information before you share the document with other people.

This article explains how the Document Inspector feature in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint can help you find and remove hidden data and personal information in your Office documents.In this article

bookmark link What types of hidden data and personal information are stored in Office documents?

bookmark link What information can the Document Inspector find and remove?

bookmark link How do I find and remove hidden data and personal information in my Office documents?

What types of hidden data and personal information are stored in Office documents?

Several types of hidden data and personal information can be saved in an Office document. This information might not be immediately visible when you view the document in an Office program, but it might be possible for other people to view or retrieve the information.

Hidden information can include the data that Office programs add to a file to enable you to collaborate on writing and editing a document with other people. It can also include information that you deliberately designate as hidden.

Office documents can contain the following types of hidden data and personal information:

Comments, revision marks from tracked changes, versions, and ink annotations If you collaborated with other people to create your document, your document might contain items such as revision marks from tracked changes, comments, ink annotations, or versions. This information can enable other people to see the names of people who worked on your document, comments from reviewers, and changes that were made to your document.
Document properties and personal information Document properties, also known as metadata, include details about your document such as author, subject, and title. Document properties also include information that is automatically maintained by Office programs, such as the name of the person who most recently saved a document and the date when a document was created. If you used specific features, your document might also contain additional kinds of personally identifiable information (PII), such as e-mail headers, send-for-review information, routing slips, printer paths, and file path information for publishing Web pages.
Headers, footers, and watermarks Word documents and Excel workbooks can contain information in headers and footers. Additionally, you might have added a watermark to your Word document.
Hidden text Word documents can contain text that is formatted as hidden text. If you do not know whether your document contains hidden text, you can use the Document Inspector to search for it.
Hidden rows, columns, and worksheets In an Excel workbook, rows, columns, and entire worksheets can be hidden. If you distribute a copy of a workbook that contains hidden rows, columns, or worksheets, other people might unhide these row, columns, or worksheets and view the data that they contain.
Invisible content PowerPoint presentations and Excel workbooks can contain objects that are not visible because they are formatted as invisible.
Off-slide content PowerPoint presentations can contain objects that are not immediately visible because they were dragged off the slide into the off-slide area. This off-slide content can include text boxes, clip art, graphics, and tables.
Presentation notes The Notes section of a PowerPoint presentation can contain text that you might not want to share publicly, especially if the notes were written solely for the use of the person who is delivering the presentation.
Document server properties If your document was saved to a location on a document management server, such as a Document Workspace site or a library based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, the document might contain additional document properties or information related to this server location.
Custom XML data Documents can contain custom XML data that is not visible in the document itself. The Document Inspector can find and remove this XML data.

What information can the Document Inspector find and remove?

The Document Inspector includes several different Inspectors that you can use to find and remove different kinds of hidden data and personal information. Some of these Inspectors are specific to individual Office programs. The Document Inspector displays different sets of Inspectors in Office Word, Office Excel, and Office PowerPoint to enable you to find and remove hidden data and personal information that is specific to each of these programs.

To learn more about what types of hidden data and personal information the Document Inspector can find and remove in a specific Microsoft Office program, review the tables below.

Note If your organization customized the Document Inspector by adding Inspector modules, you might be able to check your documents for additional types of information.

Office Word

Inspector name	Finds and removes
`Comments, Revisions, Versions, and Annotations`	Comments Revision marks from tracked changes Document version information Ink annotations
`Document Properties and Personal Information`	Document properties, including information from the `Summary`, `Statistics`, and `Custom` tabs of the `Document Properties` dialog box E-mail headers Routing slips Send-for-review information Document server properties Document Management Policy information Content type information Databinding link information for databound fields (last value is converted to text) User name Template name
`Headers and Footers`	Information in document headers Information in document footers Watermarks
`Hidden Text`	Text that is formatted as hidden (a font effect that is available in the `Font` dialog box) Note This Inspector cannot detect text that was hidden by other methods (for example, white text on a white background).
`Custom XML Data`	Custom XML data that might be stored within a document

Office Excel

Inspector name	Finds and removes
`Comments and Annotations`	Comments Ink annotations
`Document Properties and Personal Information`	Document properties, including information from the `Summary`, `Statistics`, and `Custom` tabs of the `Document Properties` dialog box E-mail headers Routing slips Send-for-review information Document server properties Document Management Policy information Content type information User name Printer path information Scenario comments File path for publishing Web pages Comments for defined names and table names Inactive external data connections
`Headers and Footers`	Information in worksheet headers Information in worksheet footers
`Hidden Rows and Columns`	Hidden rows Hidden columns that contain data Notes: If there are hidden columns in your workbook that do not contain data and they are located between columns that do contain data, these empty hidden columns will also be detected and removed. If the hidden rows or columns in your workbook contain data, you might change the results of the calculations or formulas in your workbook by removing them. If you do not know what information the hidden rows or columns contain, close the Document Inspector, unhide the hidden rows or columns, and then review their contents. This Inspector does not detect shapes, charts, controls, Microsoft ActiveX objects and controls, pictures, or SmartArt graphics that might be located in hidden columns.
`Hidden Worksheets`	Hidden worksheets Note If the hidden worksheets in your workbook contain data, you might change the results of the calculations or formulas in your workbook by removing them. If you do not know what information the hidden worksheets contain, close the Document Inspector, unhide the hidden worksheets, and then review their contents.
`Custom XML Data`	Custom XML data that might be stored within a workbook
`Invisible Content`	Objects that are not visible because they are formatted as invisible Note This Inspector does not detect objects that are covered by other objects.

Office PowerPoint

Inspector name	Finds and removes
`Comments and Annotations`	Comments Ink annotations
`Document Properties and Personal Information`	Document properties, including information from the `Summary`, `Statistics`, and `Custom` tabs of the `Document Properties` dialog box E-mail headers Routing slips Send-for-review information Document server properties Document Management Policy information Content type information File path for publishing Web pages
`Invisible On-Slide Content`	Objects that are not visible because they are formatted as invisible Note This Inspector does not detect objects that are covered by other objects.
`Off-Slide Content`	Content or objects that are not immediately visible in a presentation because they are located outside the slide area, including: Clip art Text boxes Graphics Tables Note The Document Inspector does not detect or remove off-slide objects with animation effects.
`Presentation Notes`	Text that was added to the Notes section of a presentation Note The Document Inspector cannot remove pictures that are added to the Notes section of a presentation.
`Custom XML Data`	Custom XML data that might be stored within a presentation

How do I find and remove hidden data and personal information in my Office documents?

You can use the Document Inspector to find and remove hidden data and personal information in Office documents that were created in Office Word, Office Excel, Office PowerPoint, and earlier versions of these Office programs. It is a good idea to use the Document Inspector before you share an electronic copy of your Office document, such as in an e-mail attachment.