Hidden data identification and removal

[fuzzychicken]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

Hello All,

I have read a lot that there is hidden metadata in Office documents All the tools available for removal of this data that I found are for Windows version.

I was wondering how do I first identify what hidden data my documents (word/excel) have and once identified, how do I remove it?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[CyberTaz]

It isn't only Office documents... ALL files contain metadata, including
image files. In the Office apps you can use File> Properties to view & edit
the majority of what might be of concern. In Word the most significant
additional concern results from the inappropriate use of the Track Changes
feature.

If you use it, do your homework to understand how to do so correctly in
order to avoid sending out documents which otherwise retain & reveal the
changes. Additionally, there is a document-specific setting in Preferences>
Security to "Remove personal information from this file on Save".

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

This can turn out to be a long discussion. Let's try to simplify it a bit:

* The user name and file location of the past few saves of the document are
saved in the document, as is the location of the last few printers used.

There is a lot of other information that is named "metadata" in a document,
and it is essential for the document to exist: things such as fonts, and
styles and paper size.

Bu the metadata that people worry about is "names". They also worry about
file names, because the full path to a file often contains the User ID of
the person using the computer.

It is important to realise that versions of Word later than 2002 provide
tools that instantly and completely remove this information.

Mac Word removes this kind of information instantly from a file, by turning
on the Privacy Options in the Word>Preferences>Security tab.

However, you have to be aware that removing this information has some
side-effects. For example: Tracked Changes and Comments no longer contain
the name of the person who made them, because all names get removed from the
document.

Hope this helps

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

Hello All,

I have read a lot that there is hidden metadata in Office documents All the
tools available for removal of this data that I found are for Windows version.

I was wondering how do I first identify what hidden data my documents
(word/excel) have and once identified, how do I remove it?

Thank you very much in advance.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[fuzzychicken]

Thank you for your quick replies.

As CyberTaz said, do your homework. This is exactly I want to learn. John's answer flashes some light on it still I would like to learn in more details.

@John, the security tab that you mentioned, is that workout enough to remove metadata? (MS has issued special patch for office 2007 and Mac Office 2004 already has it?? Just curious?

Thanks again.

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, the Security tab is massively quicker than the manual process:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA010776461033.aspx

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011400341033.aspx

Office 2004, 2007 and 2008 all have the "Remove Metadata" function built-in.
It was an add-in for Word 2003 and earlier. They may tweak this
functionality from time to time. Which "patch" are you talking about? (I
need the KB Number of it to determine what you are talking about).

It would also help to know exactly what metadata you are worried about.
There are thousands of types of information in any Word document that could
be considered "metadata". Which ones in particular? And in which objects
do you believe they might be?

Remember: If you take a Word document and remove "all" the metadata from it,
you are left with a Unicode text file that has no formatting, layout, or
graphics To have any formatting in any kind of file (including a Word
document) you must have some metadata in it, to tell the application what
formatting to use.

We need to be careful not to let the Black Helicopter and Tin-Foil Hat
brigade waste too much of our lives on this kind of thing

Part of the skill in applying "Security" to a computer, is to know when to
stop! How much is "enough"? The answer to that begins with the answer to
the question "Who is your attacker?"

Obviously, if your attacker is a first-world nation-state, you need to be a
bit more vigorous than if all you need to do is keep the kids out of your
naughty pictures collection. I understand that the CIA is currently having
a spot of bother keeping China out of its naughty pictures collection

At some point, you run into the conundrum that anyone who REALLY knows what
they are doing with this stuff is not going to discuss it in a public forum.
If you believe that your data is worth several hundred million dollars, or
could change the government of a first-world nation, then you better hire
yourself a security consulting company and start writing blank cheques

If all you want to do is prevent a competitor's company from finding out
what prices you offered to a mutual client, the Word Security tab is plenty
more secure than you need.

And remember: Don't remove the metadata until after your review process,
because it renders the tracked changes and comments useless.

Cheers

Thank you for your quick replies.

As CyberTaz said, do your homework. This is exactly I want to learn. John's
answer flashes some light on it still I would like to learn in more details.

@John, the security tab that you mentioned, is that workout enough to remove
metadata? (MS has issued special patch for office 2007 and Mac Office 2004
already has it?? Just curious?

Thanks again.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected], and it is a