Removing Hidden Personal Information From a Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 15, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2002 and 2003

In the past, Microsoft has come under fire because Word maintains quite a bit of identifiable information with each document. This information is not normally visible, but with a little bit of sleuthing, someone could locate the information. For example, the name of a document's original author is saved with the document, but is hidden. Looking at the document file using a program besides Word allows someone to quickly locate the author's name. The problem, of course, is that you may not want this information disclosed.

Beginning with Word 2002, Microsoft finally provided a way for you to stop personal information from being saved with a file. To make sure personal information is not saved with a document, follow these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Make sure the Security tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Security tab of the Options dialog box.

Select the Remove Personal Information From This File On Save check box. (In Word 2003, the option is called Remove Personal Information From File Properties on Save.)
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1574) applies to Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Overtype Mode

When you type information into a document, what you type normally is inserted just the left of the insertion point. Word ...

Discover More

Printing Copy Numbers

Copy 1, Copy 2, Copy 3... Do you want to mark your printouts so that they are numbered? Here's how you can do it.

Discover More

Limiting Printing to a Workbook from a Set Location

When you share workbooks on a company server, it can be frustrating if the workbooks are downloaded to individual ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Automatically Saving Document Copies on Floppy

WordPerfect included a command that allowed users to save a copy of their current document to the A: drive. Word has no ...

Discover More

Can't Save Edited Document

Each day of using Word is filled with opening documents, editing them, and then saving those changes to disk. So it can ...

Discover More

Rubbish In Your File

Do your files look garbled when you open them? Here's one possible reason.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 6 - 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.