Inspection report—
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See what's hidden in a Word or PDF file
Drop in a document to see who wrote it, who edited it, and what's still inside: comments, deleted text, hidden sheets and earlier versions.
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DOCX · XLSX · PPTX · PDFor drop it here
How it works
Short answer
To see a document's metadata, drop a .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or .pdf file above. The viewer shows the author and last editor, company, dates and editing time, plus anything hidden: comments, tracked changes with the deleted text, hidden text, hidden sheets or slides, speaker notes, unapplied redactions and earlier saved versions.
What the viewer checks
| In this file | It looks for |
|---|---|
| Word (.docx) | Author, last editor, company, template, dates, editing time, comments, tracked changes and deleted text, hidden text, invisible characters, embedded files |
| Excel (.xlsx) | Author, company, dates, comments, hidden and very hidden sheets, hidden named ranges |
| PowerPoint (.pptx) | Author, company, dates, comments, speaker notes, hidden slides |
| Author, title, creating app, dates, comments and markup, unapplied redactions, earlier saved versions, attachments, layers, scripts, AI labels |
Each finding is marked by risk. Hidden means content a reader wouldn't normally see, like deleted text or a hidden sheet. Personal means names, companies and dates.
The leaks people miss most often
- Tracked deletions. A price you deleted from a proposal is still in the file if Track Changes was on.
- Comments between colleagues. Easy to forget in a long document.
- Very hidden Excel sheets. They don't appear in Excel's Unhide menu at all, but anyone who opens the file in another tool sees them.
- Speaker notes in a deck you send as a file instead of presenting.
- Fake PDF redactions. A redaction mark that was never applied leaves the text underneath readable.
- Incremental saves in PDFs. Edits are often added to the end of the file, so earlier versions remain inside it.
How it works
Office files are ZIP archives full of XML. The viewer opens the archive in your browser and reads the property, comment and document parts. For PDFs, it reads the document information, the XMP metadata and the structure of the file. Nothing is sent anywhere, and you can check this by turning off your internet connection first.
Questions
How do I find out who wrote a Word document?
Drop it in above. The viewer reads the author and last-saved-by names from the file's properties. In Word itself, look under File > Info > Related People.
Can deleted text still be in a Word file?
Yes, if Track Changes was on. Deleted text stays in the file as a tracked deletion until someone accepts or rejects the changes. The viewer shows it.
How do I see the metadata of a PDF?
Drop the PDF in above, or open File > Properties in any PDF reader. The viewer also flags things a reader won't show, like unapplied redactions and earlier versions saved inside the file.
Can I remove the metadata here?
Not yet. Cleaning Word and PDF files is coming with Pro. Until then, our guides show how to do it in Word and for PDFs.
Does it work with old .doc and .xls files?
No. It reads the modern formats: .docx, .xlsx and .pptx, plus PDF. Open older files in Office and save them in the new format first.