Document Properties -- can they be eliminated?

[Marc Wielage]

I have a document I need to send to a colleague, but for various reasons, I
need to delete the imbedded properties visible under File -> Properties.

Eliminating the "Summary" info is no problem, since these fields are
editable, but I'd also like to blank out the Properties "Statistics,"
specifically the name of the user who last saved the document.

This is for MS Word 11.0, Office 2004, under Mac OSX 10.4.8.

Is there a way to strip this information out of the document to just leave it
anonymous? I've considered creating a new OSX user login that has no name
(or "Anonymous"), but I'd rather avoid that if possible.

--MFW

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Marc:

Search in the Word Help on the word "privacy" for a range of options.

Cheers

I have a document I need to send to a colleague, but for various reasons, I
need to delete the imbedded properties visible under File -> Properties.

Eliminating the "Summary" info is no problem, since these fields are
editable, but I'd also like to blank out the Properties "Statistics,"
specifically the name of the user who last saved the document.

This is for MS Word 11.0, Office 2004, under Mac OSX 10.4.8.

Is there a way to strip this information out of the document to just leave it
anonymous? I've considered creating a new OSX user login that has no name
(or "Anonymous"), but I'd rather avoid that if possible.

--MFW

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Marc Wielage]

Search in the Word Help on the word "privacy" for a range of options.
------------------------------<snip>------------------------------<

By trial and error, I was able to figure it out. Creating a new user log-in
didn't help me, either, because Word takes the information directly from the
installed copy (which I feel is dangerous and wrong).

Here was the answer I was looking for:


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under the Word -> Preferences menu, select User Information.

None of these fields can be left blank, or else Word will attempt to fill in
the information directly from the OS (or from the software owner details).

Fill in the information using anonymous "place holders," such as "Sue" and
"Donym" (for first and last name), make up a city and a state and so on.

Save the document.

Now, the "Last saved by" statistics will reflect the new information.

Be sure to manually delete all the SUMMARY information in the editable
fields.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



These instructions are not quite what's in the HELP file. But it's the only
way to actually accomplish what I wanted to do.

You might want to give this answer, in case somebody asks a question
regarding Document Properties privacy.


--MFW

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Actually, what I wanted you to do was check the box marked "Remove personal
information from this file on save".

I'm not sure where you got the rest of the information from, but it's a bit
risky. The metadata should indeed be populated directly from the operating
system when you close the file.

Unless you check the Remove personal information..." box in the Preferences,
there's a good chance Word will repopulate the fields from the OS whenever
you close the file. And the visible fields are not the only ones that
exist. The OS maintains its own set that are not editable by the Word user.
"Last saved by" is a particular worry: that comes from the File System.

If you check the "Remove personal..." box as described in the Help, Word
blanks them all for you.

Cheers

By trial and error, I was able to figure it out. Creating a new user log-in
didn't help me, either, because Word takes the information directly from the
installed copy (which I feel is dangerous and wrong).

Here was the answer I was looking for:


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Under the Word -> Preferences menu, select User Information.

None of these fields can be left blank, or else Word will attempt to fill in
the information directly from the OS (or from the software owner details).

Fill in the information using anonymous "place holders," such as "Sue" and
"Donym" (for first and last name), make up a city and a state and so on.

Save the document.

Now, the "Last saved by" statistics will reflect the new information.

Be sure to manually delete all the SUMMARY information in the editable
fields.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------



These instructions are not quite what's in the HELP file. But it's the only
way to actually accomplish what I wanted to do.

You might want to give this answer, in case somebody asks a question
regarding Document Properties privacy.


--MFW

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Marc Wielage]

Actually, what I wanted you to do was check the box marked "Remove personal
information from this file on save".
------------------------------<snip>------------------------------<

Ah, you mean under Word -> Preferences -> Security. Now I see it. I wish
you had specified that before.

The other method I came up with does work, but setting the checkbox is
obviously more surefire. Thanks for the suggestion.

--MFW

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

That's why I sent you to the help -- I knew it was hard to find The
help explains how to get there

Ah, you mean under Word -> Preferences -> Security. Now I see it. I wish
you had specified that before.

The other method I came up with does work, but setting the checkbox is
obviously more surefire. Thanks for the suggestion.

--MFW

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Phillip Jones]

That why John is a MVP ;-)

That's why I sent you to the help -- I knew it was hard to find The
help explains how to get there

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