How to remove author metadata from a Word document

Clean a DOCX copy on your phone

1. Keep the original and save the DOCX file locally. If the file is a legacy DOC, it is outside MetaQuiet’s supported formats.
2. Open MetaQuiet and choose Browse Files to select the document.
3. Inspect readable properties such as Author, Last edited by and Company when they are present.
4. Choose Create clean copy. MetaQuiet clears supported document properties and ZIP container metadata, then checks the output.
5. Save the result and open it in a compatible document viewer or editor. Review the text, comments and revisions before sharing.

Select the newly created copy when sending the document. The source DOCX is not overwritten, so its original properties remain available in the original file.

Which author information is removed?

A DOCX file stores standard document properties separately from the main document text. These property parts can contain a creator, last editor, title, company, manager, dates or the application used to write the file.

MetaQuiet clears supported standard core, application and custom property parts. It also removes supported timestamps, extras and comments from the ZIP container underlying the DOCX. The action is broader than deleting one visible Author field.

This is removal rather than tag editing. MetaQuiet does not let you replace an author name, choose a new company or selectively keep individual supported properties. If you need to publish a particular author credit, manage that deliberately in your document workflow.

Names can remain outside properties

A name on a cover page, in a header or inside a signature image is document content. It stays after metadata cleaning. Searching the document text can help you find names, but also inspect images and other content that a text search may not cover.

Comments and tracked changes are not removed. They can expose review discussions or earlier wording independently of the standard author property. Open the document in an editor that shows these features and decide what to keep before preparing the final version.

Thumbnails and embedded files remain too, including metadata inside those files. A photo or spreadsheet embedded in the document does not receive a separate cleaning pass. Check embedded material when it could carry information you do not intend to distribute.

DOCX support has package limits

The general file limit is 25 MB. Because DOCX is an archive-based format, it also falls under the limits of 2,000 entries and 50 MiB of total unpacked data. Supported property parts must fit additional bounds: at most 1 MiB unpacked and 64 KiB of stored entry data.

Encrypted archives, ZIP64, signed Office packages and packages containing VBA projects are rejected. Legacy DOC files are unsupported. Renaming DOC to DOCX does not convert it, and MetaQuiet does not provide a document conversion feature.

XLSX and PPTX also support standard document-property removal. Their retained content needs its own review. Hidden spreadsheet sheets, for example, are not removed simply because workbook properties were cleared.

Check after the last edit

If you edit the clean copy in Word or another editor, inspect the newly saved version again. Saving can introduce fresh document properties. The useful checkpoint is the actual file you plan to send, after the last content change.

MetaQuiet’s output rescan checks supported metadata, not the meaning of the document. Confirm that the copy opens correctly and that its remaining content is appropriate. Save it before deleting temporary app copies through Settings > Storage.

Common questions