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About this tool
Shows which document properties, tracked changes, hidden content and image EXIF survive when you attach a file to an email.
Email Attachment Metadata Explainer sets out what actually leaves your outbox with a file: SMTP carries an attachment byte-for-byte, so the recipient opens the identical document that sits on your disk, tracked changes and all. It classifies each risk by where it lives — Office core properties, editing history, hidden content, embedded pictures, the filename, or the mail headers — and shows which of the usual clean-up steps clears it, because Inspect Document, exporting a PDF and running a metadata stripper each remove different things. Intended for anyone sending contracts, proposals or spreadsheets outside their own organisation.
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Only shows the risks that can exist in the format you are attaching, from .docx to a zip archive.
Makes clear that Inspect Document ignores image EXIF and that PDF export copies the Author across.
Flags header and quoted-thread exposure that no amount of attachment cleaning will fix.
No. Attachments are Base64-encoded for transport and decoded back to an identical file, so document properties, tracked changes, comments and image EXIF all arrive intact. Only a step you take before attaching, or a data-loss-prevention system your employer runs, changes the file.
It removes comments, tracked changes and hidden content because only the printed view is exported, but Word and PowerPoint copy the Author and Title fields straight into the PDF's own properties. Clear the source document's properties as well, or check the PDF's properties after export.
Yes. Office crops non-destructively, so the cropped-away pixels stay in the file and reappear when the crop handles are dragged back. Use Compress Pictures with 'Delete cropped areas of pictures' ticked, or crop in an image editor before inserting.
Not on its own. A standard zip encrypts file contents but leaves the central directory readable, so anyone with the archive can see every filename, folder path, size and modification time without the password. Repackage from a clean folder, or use an archive format that encrypts the file list too.