Hidden data in PDF and Office files: what can remain

Review a document before sharing

1. Keep the original and make the document available locally on your phone.
2. Choose Browse Files in MetaQuiet and select the PDF, DOCX, XLSX or PPTX file.
3. Read the supported properties and the explanation of what remains. Create a clean copy if the file is supported.
4. Open the output in a suitable document viewer. Check the pages and any comments, annotations or embedded content relevant to the file.
5. If further editing is needed, make those changes in a document editor. Inspect the resulting file again before sharing it.

A useful review starts with the intended recipient. A visible author credit may be appropriate in a published report, while a reviewer’s internal comment may not be. Clearing properties does not make that decision for you.

PDF properties are separate from page text

A PDF can store an author, title, subject, creation date and the software used to make it in an Info dictionary. It may also hold XMP metadata. These are separate from a name printed on the first page or an address appearing in a scanned letter.

MetaQuiet removes supported Info and XMP metadata. It does not redact page text or image content. Annotations and attachments can remain, including information associated with them. An attached document needs its own review rather than being treated as cleaned because its containing PDF was processed.

Office properties are only part of the document

DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files have standard property parts that can contain an author, company, last editor or dates. MetaQuiet clears supported document properties and metadata in the ZIP container used by these formats.

Comments, tracked changes and hidden sheets remain outside that removal scope. Thumbnails, embedded files and their metadata also remain. For example, removing the author property from a Word document does not remove a name attached to a comment or written in a header.

Open the document in an editor that can show the relevant features. Review tracked changes deliberately, inspect comments and examine embedded objects. For spreadsheets, check hidden sheets as well as the visible workbook. Saving after that review can create fresh properties, so check the final version.

Putting documents in a ZIP does not clean them

ZIP cleaning removes supported archive timestamps, extras and comments. File names, permissions and the contents of archive members remain. MetaQuiet does not recursively clean the PDFs, photos or Office documents inside a ZIP.

If you intend to send an archive, review the individual files before packaging them. Archive member names deserve attention too. A name containing a client, project or address remains meaningful even if the archive’s own comments have been removed.

Limits and final checks

PDFs have a 5 MB limit. Encrypted, signed, interactive and object-stream PDFs are rejected. Office and ZIP files have a 25 MB file limit, with archive limits of 2,000 entries and 50 MiB of total unpacked data. Office property parts have additional size limits.

Legacy Office formats such as DOC are unsupported. ZIP64, encrypted archives and signed Office packages are also rejected. A refusal means the file cannot be handled within the supported scope; changing its extension does not resolve that limitation.

MetaQuiet rescans a clean copy for supported metadata before making it available. That check does not replace reading the document. Use the PDF or Word guide below for the specific removal workflow, then share the reviewed output.

Common questions