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How to remove metadata from a Word document
Updated 9 October 2026
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Every Word document carries information you never typed on the page: who wrote it, which company's copy of Word made it, how long it was edited for, and sometimes old comments and deleted text. Here's how to remove it before the document leaves your hands.
What metadata does a Word document hold?
- Document properties: author, "last modified by", company, manager, title, subject, template name and total editing time.
- Comments and tracked changes, including text you deleted but never accepted the deletion of.
- Hidden text, formatted so it doesn't display or print.
- Custom properties and custom XML added by document management systems and templates.
On Windows: use the Document Inspector
- Save a copy first. Go to File > Save As and save under a new name. Microsoft warns that removed data can't always be restored.
- In the copy, go to File > Info.
- Click Check for Issues, then Inspect Document.
- Leave every box ticked and click Inspect.
- Click Remove All next to each section you want cleared. Be careful with "Headers, Footers, and Watermarks": removing it deletes your real headers and footers too.
- Close the inspector and save.
On a Mac
Word for Mac doesn't have the full Document Inspector. The closest option is in Tools > Protect Document on the menu bar (also under Review > Protect Document in some versions). Tick Remove personal information from this file on save, click OK and save. This clears the author and similar properties, but not comments, tracked changes or hidden text. See our guides on comments, tracked changes and hidden text for those.
What the Document Inspector misses
Microsoft's own documentation says the inspector can't find text hidden by other means, such as white text on a white background, or objects covered by other objects. It also won't spot invisible Unicode characters such as zero-width spaces, which some tools use to tag text. Because the inspector edits the original file, anything it doesn't know about simply goes along with the document.
Or skip the checklist
Clean Retype reads your document the way a person would and types the visible words into a brand-new Word file. Metadata, comments, tracked changes, hidden text and invisible characters can't come along, because the original file is never copied.
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Headings, bold, italic, lists, tables and pictures come through. Exact fonts don't.