Word uses it internally to organize, index, search and understand the content. More specifically, metadata describes the document’s data. It’s not part of the content-you won’t see it in the content-but it can be easily exposed when distributing an electronic copy. Microsoft Word lets you delete metadata that contains personal and confidential information from a document. How to run Document Inspector in Word Must-read Windows coverageĭefend your network with Microsoft outside-in security services When redacting a Word document, always work with a copy. Word for the web doesn’t offer the Document Inspector. For your convenience, you can download the demonstration. Office apps support the Document Inspector through 2010. I’m using Microsoft 365 desktop on a Windows 10 64-bit system, but you can use an earlier version. SEE: Software Installation Policy (TechRepublic Premium) This article uses Word, but all the information applies to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint as well. In this article, I’ll show you several steps you can take to redact a Word document. If you’re in an industry that requires a heavier hand, your company might have internal conventions about what to redact. Most of us might only need to redact personal data, such as our name as the document’s author. Not everyone needs to worry about this, but it’s something to think about even if you’re not producing legal, financial, government or other sensitive business documents.

Most Word documents contain sensitive information that you might not want shared.

For more info, visit our Terms of Use page. This may influence how and where their products appear on our site, but vendors cannot pay to influence the content of our reviews. We may be compensated by vendors who appear on this page through methods such as affiliate links or sponsored partnerships. Susan Harkins shows you how to do it correctly. Microsoft Word doesn’t have a dedicated redact tool, but you can still remove sensitive data from your Word files.

How to redact a word document in mac