Perform the following steps each time you plan to distribute a final electronic copy of a Word, PowerPoint or Excel file. Note that these instructions do not pertain to the online versions of these programs. There are some simple ways to do this, as described below. To protect any sensitive information from accidentally being made public, Information Technology Services recommends that you get into the habit of removing this information before distributing final electronic copies of your documents. Any hidden comments or revisions in these documents could then possibly be used as evidence.Įxamples of hidden or personal information that are stored in Office documents include: It could even potentially put the university at legal risk.įor example, during the discovery phase in a lawsuit, electronic copies of relevant documents could be subpoenaed. Depending on the nature of the information, this could place you in an embarrassing or compromising position.
You may not be aware that your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files often contain hidden or personal information, such as revisions or comments, that others can access.
