What your client PDFs and Word files still carry

Written with AI assistance and reviewed by Hexloom Labs.

When you send a proposal, a contract draft or a resume, the visible pages are only part of the file. Word and PDF files store extra information about who made them and how. Most of it is harmless, and some of it is not what you meant to share.

Five kinds of hidden information

1. Author and company names. Word stores the author, the last person to save the file and often the company set in the Office installation. A proposal built from an old client's file can still name that client.
2. Edit history. Tracked changes that were never accepted, and deleted text still recorded as a deletion, stay in the file until someone removes them.
3. Comments. Reviewer comments and replies travel with the document even when the margin looks empty.
4. Document properties. Title, subject, keywords, custom fields, editing time, template path and software version. Template paths can show folder and user names.
5. Images and their metadata. A photo pasted into a document can keep its EXIF data, including GPS coordinates and camera details. PDFs also carry producer and creation fields.

How to check one file yourself

In Word, open File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document. It lists comments, properties and personal information and offers to remove them. For PDFs, open the document properties in your viewer to see author, producer and dates.

If you would rather not upload anything, our free browser tool at https://hexloomlabs.com/doc-scrub/?ref=devto-services shows and removes this information on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server. It has usage limits on the free plan; the page states them.

When there are many files

Checking files one by one is fine for a handful. For a larger batch, we also offer a fixed-price cleaning with a written report of what was removed: US$39. The details and limits are on the service page: https://hexloomlabs.com/services/metadata-removal/?ref=devto-services

Whatever route you choose, open the cleaned copy and look at it before you send it. No tool replaces that last check.