How to Remove All Document Properties from MS Office Files


Microsoft Office® files, including Word, (DOCX) Excel, (XLSX) and PowerPoint (PPTX) files have embedded metadata within them - document properties. While document properties are useful for finding files, they pose privacy and confidentiality risks when the files are shared. This guide presents methods for removing these document properties. These methods do not make it possible to remove file system metadata properties that are not embedded in the file itself.

The information In the "General" and "Security" tabs of the Windows File Properties Viewer that can be accessed by right-clicking on a file, and selecting "Properties" from the context menu, are all file system metadata, and not part of the file itself. In the "Details" tab of the Properties Viewer, all the properties under the "File" section are file system properties, which is not part of the file itself. These include "Owner", "Computer", "Date created", and "Date modified". (there are also embedded "Date created" and "Date modified" that might not match the non-embedded ones and are removable using one of the methods in this guide)

The "Remove Properties and Personal Information" feature is not suitable

Windows® 11 has a very limited built-in metadata remover - the "Remove Properties and Personal Information" feature. This feature, however, is unsuitable for removing document properties from Microsoft Office files. It can only remove some standard document properties from old Microsoft Office® 2003 files. (files with three letter extension - DOC, XLS, PPT) If Microsoft Office® 2007 or above is installed on the computer, this feature can also remove some standard properties from Microsoft Word® 2007-2024 files. (files with four letter extension - DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) In either case, this feature cannot remove at all the following properties: Total Editing Time, Template, Last Modified, Created, Last Printed, Last Modified By, and custom properties.

"Document Inspector" can remove most properties from a single file at a time

Microsoft Office® has a built-in hidden data & metadata remover - the "Document Inspector". It's possible to remove "Document Properties and Personal Information" with it. However, this will remove all standard and custom properties except Created and Last Modified dates and times, which it will set to the current date and time, and Application and Application Version, which it will set to match the ones of the application. Any subsequent edits to the file, will update the Last Modified property to the date and time of the update, without allowing to remove "Document Properties and Personal Information" once more. The Document Inspector lacks batch hidden data removal capability for cleaning multiple documents at once.

Completely removing all document properties from multiple files at once

BatchPurifier™ can completely remove all standard and custom document properties from multiple Microsoft Office files at once, including Created and Last Modified dates and times, and and Application and Application Version. Its Professional Edition allows the user to selectively preserve some properties.

BatchPurifier™ is a batch multi-format hidden data & metadata removal tool, that supports multiple types of document, image, and media file formats, including Microsoft Office® Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, OpenDocument Text, Spreadsheet, and Presentation files, and PDF files. It's an offline privacy-oriented desktop application for Windows®, and has a broad-spectrum of supported hidden data types.

In addition to document properties, BatchPurifier™ can also selectively remove from Microsoft Office files other types of hidden data, such as tracked changes, comments, hidden text, and slide notes.

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