Deleting private data in MS Word

[Zacharia]

Hi, i am using Microsoft Office 2007 and have a short query regarding word. As you all guys might be knowing that when we save any word documents, some private data are stored in the document properties. I use to send this files to my clients and all, and i guess they might be getting the private data as well. So i just wanted to know is there any to remove or delete private data in MS Word ? Please let me know soon. Thanks in advance.

[Michael Sabin]

As more and more features are added to Word, risks of exposing information also increased at the same time. I refer to dates, user names, it has taken time to edit the document and comments and corrections are of private interest and should not reach the end user that receives them to preserve our privacy. But anyways, there is a handy tool named Private Data Protector than protect this kind of data from getting exposed. It scans your HDD and shows you all hidden information. It allows you delete all this private data from documents. If you are sending files via Internet you Private Data Protector helps you to wash them before sending.

Private Data Protector supports these formats:-

1. .doc - MS Word
2. .xls - MS Excel
3. .xls - MS Power Point
4. .pdf - Adobe Acrobat
5. .rtf - MS Word, Worpad

[Macarenas]

Well, we can also delete private data from MS word, right from the application. Here is how to do that:-

1. Open the Microsoft Word 2007 and click on the Office button, located on the top of the document.
   
2. Once you open the menu, select the "Prepare" and click "Inspect Document".
   
3. Next you will see that you are open to a number of details to be inspected, selectable according to your preferences: Comments, Revisions, Versions and Annotations, Document Properties and Personal Information, custom XML data, headers, footers and watermarks and hidden text or.
4. From here, select the options you want to check and click on the "Inspect".
   
5. After the review, the system will bring a report in which you can remove items that exist within the document. You do this by pressing the button "Remove All".
6. To continue editing or close the document, click on the "Close" button.

Thats it..The saved document will not have personal data that could provide confidential information to the receiver.

[Maq.H]

When i was in trouble for the same purpose, i found a simple step to remove all private data from my word documents. I did it in just four simple steps. here are the same and hope will help you as well:-

• Go to Tool Menu and click on Options
  
  
• Select Security Tab and go to Privacy Options
  
  
• Now mark the check box infront of Remove personal information from the file on save
  
  
• Click Ok and you are done

[Raine]

In order to prevent mt private data that get exposed with Word document, i use to convert the doc file into PDF format before sending it on internet. I think is much safer way to prevent our data and i guess it van help you as well. If you want to do so just go through this to know how to convert Word file into PDF:-
How to convert word doucment into pdf
Java API to convert Microsoft Word to PDF