Short answer
What you need to know
Review the visible document, filename, properties, comments, revisions, hidden content, links, attachments, accessibility, and final exported copy. Preserve the source and confirm the recipient will receive the intended file.
Content and identity
Confirm the filename, title, author information, visible text, page order, formulas, and dates.
Remove placeholders, private notes, personal identifiers, and unrelated material only after confirming they are not required.
Hidden structure and editing history
Review comments, tracked changes, hidden text, headers, footers, properties, worksheet visibility, names, annotations, attachments, links, and objects.
Check invisible Unicode or pasted formatting when text behaves unexpectedly.
Final delivery check
Export a new distribution copy, reopen it in the recipient's likely application, and verify links, fonts, accessibility, redactions, and layout.
Scan the final copy, compare it with the original, and send only the intended version.
Checks for a PDF
Select all the text and paste it into a plain-text editor. Read it for anything that is not on the visible pages.
Open the comments or annotations panel and the attachments panel. Open the document properties and read the title, author, and subject.
If anything is redacted, drag across each covered area on a duplicate and confirm nothing underneath can be copied.
Checks for a Word document
On the Review tab, set the display to All Markup and step through every tracked change and comment. Accept or reject each one; switching the view to No Markup only hides them.
Turn on the paragraph marks button to reveal text formatted as hidden, which appears with a dotted underline. Open the headers and footers, footnotes, and any text boxes.
Run File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document on a copy to list properties and hidden content in one place.
Checks for an Excel workbook
Right-click a sheet tab and choose Unhide to see hidden sheets. Look for gaps in the row numbers and column letters.
Press Ctrl+` to show formulas and look for references to other files. Open Name Manager and the workbook links list.
Check the comments and notes, and click any cell that looks empty but sits inside your data to see what the formula bar shows.
Checks for plain text
If text will be pasted into a form, a code file, or an AI tool, run it through a tool that reveals invisible characters. Zero-width characters and unusual spaces survive copy and paste and can break searches, passwords, and formulas.
If you only have two minutes
Copy all the text out and skim it, read the document properties, and look for comments and tracked changes. Those three checks catch most of what people regret sending.
Important limitation
Verify important findings
A checklist reduces mistakes but cannot cover every proprietary feature, security rule, or retention obligation. Adapt it to your institution or organization.
Further reading
Authoritative references
These primary sources support the concepts and reference information in this guide. Their inclusion does not imply endorsement of Hidden Word Scanner.