Metadata is information about a person or thing that is collected by a third party, such as a company, government, or social media site. This data can be used to help or harm people by revealing personal information, including their name, age, and other sensitive details.
What is Metadata?
Metadata is data about data. Don’t you hate it when people use a word to define that word? Data is facts that are completely objective. It cannot be reasonably disputed. One is one and zero is zero. The temperature is what it is. Today’s date is today’s date. You get the point.
To write a letter in Microsoft Word, you need to create a document. You then need to add data to your document. This data can be anything that you want. For example, you could add your name, address, and phone number to your document. You can also add pictures and videos to your document. After you have added data to your document, you need to save it. You can save your document in any of the following ways: -You can save it as a PDF file. -You can save it as an image file. -You can save it as a text file.
Dear Authorities, I am writing to report that I have been experiencing unethical behavior at work. It is possible that this behavior is illegal, and I would like to make sure that it is reported to authorities. Thank you for your time and consideration.
The letter is a bunch of data made up of ones and zeroes.
When you type a letter in Microsoft Word, the software creates other data about the letter, including when you typed it, who typed it, when it was last saved, and what version of Word was it created in. ..
What Does Metadata Do?
In Microsoft Office, most of the metadata is there just for your benefit. It can help you find the newest version of a document or see who created the document so you could ask them questions about it. It helps to keep track of edits or comments on documents.
Windows Explorer uses the information to categorize and sort documents.
Why Would I Want to Remove Metadata?
You’ve been working at a company for a while now, and you’ve noticed something strange. You don’t know if it’s illegal or not, but there are people in your department who are doing things that don’t seem right. You want to report it, but you don’t want to get fired or have your career ruined. What do you do? Whistleblowing is the act of reporting wrongdoing to authorities without fear of retribution. It can be difficult to do, but it’s important because it allows the authorities to investigate and take action if necessary. ..
You create a temporary e-mail address and send it from a public computer at a library to cover your tracks. Because of metadata, the document may have information that can be used to link it back to you. It even may still have your name attached to it.
If you made changes to a document that is currently visible to you, but which may be hidden to others, your changes may still be in the file. If you wrote a paragraph about something specific to you but then removed it because it could be used to identify you, your changes may still be in the file as metadata.
How Can I View Office Metadata?
- Open the file in question.
- In the File menu, choose “Info.”
- In the Info window, under “File Type,” select one of the following: Word: Document Properties Excel: Workbook Properties PowerPoint: Presentation Properties
- Under “File Name,” look for any metadata that may have been added by the program’s creator or publisher. This could include title, author, copyright information, and so on. If you’re not sure what to look for, consult your program’s documentation or search online for help. ..
View Metadata in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
- On your computer, open the document, workbook, or presentation.
- On the toolbar, click View > Fit on Screen.
- If necessary, resize the window so that all of the content is visible. With the document open, you can view it in different ways: • You can fit the window to see all of its content at once by clicking View > Fit on Screen. • You can zoom in or out to see more or less of the document by using the mouse wheel or buttons on your keyboard. • You can scroll through the document by using your mouse or trackpad. ..
In the top-left corner of the file window, you will see a “File” button. Click on it to open a new window with the file’s contents.
The Info screen on a website shows a variety of information, such as Size, Pages, Words, Total Editing Time, Last Modified, Created, and Related People.
Under the data, click on Show All Properties to see more data. NOTE: Pay attention to the Template data. If you used a template that has your name, or a company name in its filename, that could be tracked to you.
View Metadata in Windows Explorer
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the location where you saved the file.
In the properties window, click on the General tab. In the General tab, click on the Security tab. In the Security tab, click on the Encryption button. Click on OK to close the properties window.
In the Details tab of the Properties window, you can see all the metadata for a file in a compact and concise list. ..
View All Metadata for Word, Excel, or PowerPoint Files
XML is a language that enables you to store metadata about files in a way that is easy to use and understand. It accompanies all kinds of files, including Microsoft Office files.
Opening and viewing XML documents is surprisingly easy. Let’s do this with a Word file. ..
When you open a file that ends in .zip, you’ll get a warning about decompressing it. Click Yes to continue. ..
Extract all the files from the file.
In the window that opens, it will ask you where you want to save the extracted files and if you want to show the extracted files when finished. The default values are good. Click Extract.
After the extraction is complete, you’ll see three folders and an XML file. Explore these files to see what information is stored there. If you double-click on an XML file, it will likely open in Internet Explorer. ..
The first XML file, core.xml, is in the docProps folder and contains information about the document, such as the title, author, and publication date. The second XML file, document.xml, is in the word folder and contains information about people who are mentioned in the document. People.xml includes their full name and contact information if available. ..
How to Delete Metadata from Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
It took a long time to get here, but if you’re going to do something like this you should know exactly why. Let’s get on with it. ..
Delete Metadata in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
Select New Document. In the Name field, type a name for your document. In the Location field, type a location where you want to save your document. Click on Save. ..
If you experience any problems with the site, please click on the “Check for Issues” link on the left side of our home page and let us know. We’ll do our best to fix any issues as soon as possible. ..
Inspect Document. The Document Inspector window will open. Click on the Details tab. The Details tab will open. Inspect Document. The Document Inspector window will open. Click on the Details tab. The Details tab will open and you will see a list of all the content in the document, including any embedded images or videos. If you want to view only certain types of content, click on the appropriate tabs at the top of the window: Content, Structure, or Style. ..
In the Document Inspector, make sure all the checkboxes are checked and then click the Inspect button.
After the Document Inspector is done, you’ll see information about what kind of data it found. A green checkmark in a circle means it found no data of that type. A red exclamation mark means it found data of that type. Next to that data type’s description you’ll see the Remove All button. ..
Please remove all data of the type “address”. There may be several of these buttons, so scroll down to ensure you get all of them.
After you remove the metadata from a file, you may want to click the Reinspect button to make sure that it was not missed any important information.
Save your document now to ensure the data is never entered again.
How to be Certain the Metadata was Deleted
To view all metadata in a document, follow these steps:
- Open the document in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
- Inspect the core.xml, document.xml, and people.xml files to see if there is any personal data in them. If there is not, then the document is free of personal data and can be processed without further precautions. ..
If you change the extension back from .zip to .docx, you’ll be able to open the file normally in Word again if you have a version of Word that supports DOCX files.
How to Delete Metadata in Windows Explorer
This is a great method if you want to strip metadata from several files quickly. Doing this for 2 or more files can be done in a matter of seconds.
In the Properties window, click on the Details tab. Under the Details tab, scroll down to the Media section and click on the Metadata button. In the Metadata dialog box, click on the Remove button. Windows will now remove all metadata from the file. ..
Remove Properties and Personal Information from the Details tab of the Properties window. ..
Remove metadata from the original file:
- Open the file in a text editor and remove all of the information that is not related to the main topic of the article.
- Make a copy of the file without any metadata and rename it to “original”.
Remove Metadata from Original File
To remove properties from a file, select them and click on the Remove button. You can also check only the boxes you want and click on the Select All button. ..
Make a Copy with No Metadata
This will make a copy of the file and add the word Copy to the end of the filename. That copy will have no metadata associated with it.
In the Remove Properties window, select Create a copy with all possible properties removed and click the OK button.
The original is a picture of a happy couple. The copy is a picture of two people who are in pain. The original is a representation of love. The copy is a representation of hate.
In the Clear?
This document seems to be clear that it is not from the same source as the others. It will be up to the individual user what they do with it next.
A possible solution is to print the document and mail it. It’s difficult to get metadata from paper.
