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About this tool
Shows how Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF metadata exposes authors, employers, local paths and edit history.
This explainer maps the metadata inside Office and PDF files to the specific thing each field tells a recipient. An OOXML file (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) is a ZIP whose docProps/core.xml holds dc:creator and cp:lastModifiedBy and whose docProps/app.xml holds Company, Manager, Template and TotalTime; a PDF keeps an Information dictionary with /Author, /Producer and /CreationDate plus an XMP packet with lineage identifiers. Tick what your file still carries and it scores the exposure, flags the worst combinations, and gives a clean-up order.
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Add your input to the workspace.
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Fields are labelled with dc:creator, cp:lastModifiedBy, Company in app.xml, /Producer and xmpMM:DocumentID.
Exporting to PDF creates new metadata rather than removing the old, and the tool models both stages.
The clean-up plan starts with whichever risk is actually present in your file.
In docProps/core.xml: the author (dc:creator), the last person to save it (cp:lastModifiedBy), the revision number and the created and modified timestamps with a UTC offset. In docProps/app.xml: the Company from the Office licence, the Manager, the template name and TotalTime, the number of minutes the file has been edited. The body can also hold tracked changes, comments, hidden text and full-resolution originals of cropped images.
No. Exporting usually carries the author and title across into the PDF Information dictionary and adds new fields such as /Producer and /CreationDate, plus XMP identifiers linking the PDF to the source file. It does drop tracked changes and comments in most exports, but the safest approach is to clean the source first and then inspect the exported PDF as well.
Because the rectangle is drawn on top of a text layer that is still in the PDF's content stream. Anyone can select the area and copy the text out, or extract it with a command-line tool in seconds. Proper redaction deletes the underlying characters and images, then applies the change; always verify by trying to select the redacted area afterwards.
Use File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document, then remove the 'Document Properties and Personal Information' section along with comments, revisions and hidden content. Also correct the user name in Office options, otherwise the next save writes your name straight back in. For documents subject to disclosure obligations, follow your organisation's own review process rather than relying on the inspector alone.