Remove the author and company from Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Office files record who wrote them, who saved them last, the company and how many minutes were spent editing. Here is where that lives, how to remove it in Office, and what to check that the properties do not cover.
Where it is stored
A .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file is a zip of XML parts. Three of them are metadata:
| docProps/core.xml | Author (dc:creator), last modified by (cp:lastModifiedBy), created and modified dates, revision number, title, subject, keywords |
|---|---|
| docProps/app.xml | Company, Manager, total editing time (TotalTime, in minutes), application and version, template |
| docProps/custom.xml | Custom properties a firm or a document system adds, such as client or matter numbers |
Some files also carry docProps/thumbnail, a small picture of the first page or slide.
Separate from those, the document's content can name people: comments and tracked changes record their authors, and headers, footers and hidden text can hold anything. Those are part of the document, not its properties, and need their own check.
Windows: Document Inspector
Word, Excel and PowerPoint on Windows have a built-in tool. From Microsoft's support page:
- Save a copy first (File > Save As, new name). Microsoft warns that it is not always possible to restore what the inspector removes, and Undo may not bring it back.
- In the copy, choose File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document.
- Tick the kinds of content to check and choose Inspect.
- Choose Remove All next to Document Properties and Personal Information, and next to any other result you want gone, such as comments and revisions.
- Save the copy.
Microsoft notes two limits. The inspector cannot find text hidden by other means, such as white text on a white background. And in Excel, if a workbook has been saved as a shared workbook, you cannot remove comments, document properties and personal information until you copy it and turn sharing off.
Mac
Document Inspector is not in the File menu of current Word for Mac. In a Microsoft Q&A thread about Word for Mac 16.108, the accepted answer points to Tools > Protect Document, where the option to remove personal information on save sits. Turn it on, then save, and check the result as described below: a Q&A answer is not official documentation.
See what is left
File > Info shows the properties on the right, including who last edited the file and the total editing time, per Microsoft's page on the Info tab. Choose Show All Properties to see Company and Manager. If a field still shows a name after cleaning, it was not removed. Check a file is clean covers other ways to look.
When Office alone is enough
If you have desktop Office on Windows, Document Inspector does more than a metadata cleaner: it also removes comments, tracked changes, hidden text and invisible objects. For a contract or a disciplinary letter going outside, that is the right tool, and you may not need anything else.
A separate cleaner helps when you do not have desktop Office to hand, when you are on a Mac or a phone, or when you have a folder of files and want them all done the same way.
Or clean it here
FileSanity's document cleaner reads a .docx, .xlsx or .pptx in your browser, shows the author, last editor, company, manager, editing time, custom properties and thumbnail, and downloads a copy with those parts emptied. It also removes comments, with their authors' names, and accepts tracked changes, so deleted words leave the file. Every other word, cell and slide is copied as it was. Hidden text, hidden sheets and speaker notes are listed and left for you to remove in Office. Legacy .doc, .xls and .ppt are not read yet; save them as the newer format.
Checked
Menu paths checked on 9 October 2026 against the pages linked above. Menus move between versions; when yours differs, the vendor's page is the authority. Found a mistake? Tell us.