Removing Personal Information from Word Documents

As more and more features are added to Word, there is an increased danger of exposing information that one would rather not share with users who receive the document electronically. Information such as who worked on a document, who commented on a document, routing slips, and email headers are best left private. Of course, one would go mad trying to remove all this information manually. Thus, Microsoft has included an option in Word that will remove personal information from your document before you share it with others:

1. Select Options from the Tools menu
2. Click the Security tab
3. Under Privacy Options, select the box next to Remove personal information from the file on save
4. Click OK

When you next save the document, this information will be removed. Remember, however, you will want to wait until the document is completed before you remove the personal information, particularly if you are collaborating with other users, as names associated with comments and document versions will change to “Author,” making it difficult to ascertain who made changes to the document.