Short answer
What you need to know
Preserve the original. Review metadata, comments, revisions, properties, hidden content, attachments, and links in the creating application; remove only what you understand, save a new copy, and inspect the exported result again.
Why cleanup should be deliberate
Metadata may identify authors, organizations, software, file paths, editing dates, or workflow steps. Comments and revisions can reveal discussions or removed text.
Some metadata supports accessibility, authenticity, records management, or collaboration. Removing everything can damage useful information.
A format-neutral cleanup workflow
Keep an unchanged original and make a clearly named working copy.
Resolve or remove comments and tracked changes intentionally; do not merely hide markup.
Review properties, headers, footers, links, attachments, objects, and hidden rows, sheets, or text. Use the application's inspection feature, export, reopen, and inspect the result.
Use scan results as a checklist
A before-and-after scan can help confirm identified elements no longer appear. A clean report is not a guarantee that every kind of sensitive data was removed.
Where metadata comes from
Most metadata is written by software without anyone typing it. The author field is usually copied from the name on the computer account or the Office licence. The company field often comes from the organisation that installed the software. A template carries its own author and title into every document made from it.
PDFs record two programs: the one that created the content and the one that produced the PDF. A file exported from a word processor commonly names both, which is why a PDF can reveal what it was written in.
What a metadata scan can and cannot tell you
It can show the property values stored in the file, the names attached to comments and tracked changes, and whether attachments or links are present.
It cannot prove who wrote a document. Property fields are plain text that anyone can edit, and a copied template or a shared computer produces a misleading author name all the time.
It cannot see information that is not in the file, such as a cloud service's version history or the sender's email headers, and an empty field does not mean anything was removed.
Removing it in common programs
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint: choose File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document. Run the inspection, then use Remove All beside each category you want cleared. Do this on a copy, because some removals cannot be undone.
PDF editors: open the document properties to clear the description fields, then use the remove hidden information or sanitize feature, which also clears comments, attachments, and hidden layers.
Exporting a document to PDF does not clear its properties. The title and author usually travel into the PDF, so check the exported file rather than assuming.
Important limitation
Verify important findings
Cleanup differs among PDF, Word, Excel, and third-party applications. Regulated, legal, or sensitive releases should follow an approved organizational process.
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.