10 Proven Tips to Minimize Document Metadata in Microsoft Word Esquire Innovations, Inc., a leading provider of Microsoft Office integrated practice management software services and applications for the legal market, counts more than 550 law firm and in‐house council clients utilizing its applications. Esquire Innovations has been developing, supporting, and selling document creation, formatting, re‐purposing, comparing, and metadata management software applications in the legal industry since 1999.Innovative Software + Astonishing Services = Extraordinary Client Success
i | P a g e Randall Farrar Esquire Innovations, Inc. June 2008
Table of Contents Introduction 1 What is Document Metadata? ...........................................................................1 Tip 1. Control Author Information .............................................................. 1 User Name and User Initials Control it All .........................................................1 Document Author and Manager Properties .......................................................2 Tip 2. Know your Document's Dates and Times........................................ 4 Tip 3. Beware of Document Properties...................................................... 5 Built­in Document Properties.............................................................................5 Custom Properties.............................................................................................6 Tip 4. When was it Printed?....................................................................... 7 Tip 5. Safe Guard Tracked Changes still there?........................................ 8 Track Changes Safe Guard Rules.....................................................................8 Tip 6. Check your Security Settings ........................................................ 10 Tip 7. Watch for External Document Links .............................................. 12 Field Codes That Provide External Document Links .......................................12 Removing Links from Field Codes...................................................................12 Tip 8. Minimize Custom Identifiers .......................................................... 12 Custom Identifiers ...........................................................................................13 Tip 9. Hidden Text ................................................................................... 13 Removing Hidden Text....................................................................................13 Tip 10. Prevent Outlook from adding Metadata to your Microsoft Office Documents .................................................................................... 13 Turning Auto Properties Off in Microsoft Outlook ............................................14 Summary 15 iScrub ­ Enterprise Metadata Management .....................................................15
ii | P a g e Introduction What is Document Metadata? Microsoft Word is the most powerful document production application on the market today. With this much power, firms must take responsibility to understand and manage document metadata risks and potential "adverse disclosure." 1 Word documents contain information other than the actual content that is intended for the reviewer to view and edit. This information is called document metadata. In some cases the disclosure of this document metadata may have potential for harm or embarrassment. The document metadata contained in a Word document other than the intended text doesn't necessarily create risk of adverse disclosure, because some document metadata is necessary for formatting or macro automation of the document. Some document metadata, such as Track Changes, may be used to share among Cooperators, but not with Adversaries 2 . Here are 10 Proven Tips to help Minimize Document Metadata in Microsoft Word. 1 "ADVERSE DISCLOSURE" means public disclosure of material non­public information relating to a Significant Transaction. 2 Cooperators would be clients, co­counsel, or collaborators. Adversaries would be a party who represents an Adversary role in the deal or case
1 | P a g e Tip 1. Control Author Information For the most part, you can control Author information in Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word has four areas that collect Author information: User Name User Initials Document Author Manager Last Author User Name and User Initials Control it All The User Name and User Initials control what ends up in the others author properties of a Microsoft Word document. User Name and User Initials are found in Tools…Options…User Information tab (see Figure 1). Figure 1 User Information tab Unless you need your actual author name in this property for collaborative purposes, I'd advise changing user information to something more generic (see Figure 2).
1 | P a g e Figure 2 User Information tab – generic Document Author and Manager Properties Microsoft Word's document author manager properties are contained in the built­in document properties of a document (see Figure 3). The document author is pulled from the User Information settings (see Figure 1), and is inserted when the document is created and stays with the document until changed or deleted. Note: Dupe and revise (File…Save As) doesn't change this.
2 | P a g e Figure 3 Document Author and Manager properties View (or Change) the Built­In Document Properties for the Current Document Word 2003 1. On the File menu, click Properties. 2. Click the General tab to view file information Auto Update built­in document properties. 3. Click the Summary tab to view Standard Built­in document properties. Note: These properties can be changed or deleted. 4. Click the Statistics tab to view statistical Auto Update Built­in document properties. The Manager Document Property The Manager Property is a user input property. That means one has to manually place text here. I have found though, that some template and macro applications use this field for automation purposes and place author information in this property. Be aware of this property in any case!
3 | P a g e Last Saved By Author Microsoft Word automatically pulls the author from the User Information property for the Last saved by author. This property CANNOT be controlled unless you change the User Information Author. My recommendation is to change the User Information Author to a generic name. Tip 2. Know your Document's Dates and Times Microsoft Word Statistics tab displays the Creation, Modified, Last Accessed, and Printed dates (see Figure 4). These fields cannot be changed unless you use Files Save As to create a new document or use a commercial metadata management tool. Figure 4 Document's Dates and Times Windows System Dates Whenever you copy or move a file from your local drive to the network, your system dates will change and will be off from Microsoft Word's document dates. Beware of this.
4 | P a g e Recommendation: To minimize date discrepancies all new documents should be created from templates and duped and revised from existing documents. Tip 3. Beware of Document Properties Related to Document Author Properties, but on a broader scale are document Properties. Document Properties consist of two types ­ Built­in and Custom document properties. Built­in Document Properties Microsoft Word built­in document properties contain information about a document that describes or identifies it in some way. Built­in document properties are stored in the document and are not apart of the author’s content. They include information such as title, author name (mentioned above), subject, and dates that identify the document's subject matter or contents. Unlike custom document properties, Built­in document properties cannot be deleted and in some cases (i.e., Print date) cannot be changed. Built­in document properties can be valuable for document identification for later use. For instance, built­in document properties can be used to search for specific documents based on their properties. Built­in Document Properties Behavior Matrix Property Type Property Name Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Application name Creation date Format Hyperlink base Last author Last print date Last save time Number of bytes Number of characters Number of characters (with spaces) Number of hidden slides Number of lines Number of multimedia clips Number of notes Number of pages Number of paragraphs Number of slides Number of words Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update 5 | P a g e Value Can Be Changed No No No No No No No No No No Can Be Viewed Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes
Auto Update Auto Update Auto Update Standard Standard Standard Standard Standard Standard Standard Standard Standard Revision number Security Total editing time Author Category: Comments Company Keywords Manager Subject Template Title No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Recommendation: Manage those properties you can change to prevent the risk of adverse disclosure. Custom Properties With Microsoft Word you can create custom document properties to help you manage and track all kinds of information. If you link a property to a bookmark in the document, the property will be updated as the item is changed. Custom document properties can be details about a file that helps identify it, such as client­matter information, date completed, the author or operator name, the subject, or a keyword that identifies topics or other important information in the file (see Figure 5).
6 | P a g e Figure 5 Custom Document Properties Deleting Custom Document Properties – Word 2003 1. On the File menu, click Properties, and then click the Custom tab. 2. In the Properties list box, select the name you want to delete. 3. Click the Delete button. Tip 4. When was it Printed? The Print Date never changes (see Figure 6). This displays the last time this document was printed and does not change (unless you print it again) and cannot be changed. Duping and revising only perpetuates this property. Notice in Figure 6 that the Print date is six years older than the created date.
7 | P a g e Figure 6 Statistics Document Properties Tip 5. Safe Guard Tracked Changes still there? There are times when you may not be aware that changes are tracked in your Word document. To be certain they are not, I recommend a two­pronged approach – Accept All Changes and use Word's Warning System. Track Changes Safe Guard Rules v Accept All Changes If you want to make sure there are no tracked changes in your document, Accept All Changes just in case. This will give you peace of mind
· From the Reviewing toolbar, you can select Accept All Changes in Document (see Figure 7). Whether you see the tracked changes or not, this will accept any stragglers.
8 | P a g e Figure 7 Reviewing Toolbar ­ Accept All Changes in Document v Turn on Word's Track Changes Warning System A nice security aspect, but a little "in your face", is Word's feature that warns you when you have tracked changes in your document whenever you print, save or email a document (see Figure 8). To turn Word's Track Changes warning system on, follow these steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. On the main menu bar, select Tools. In the Tools drop­down menu, select Options. In the Options dialog box, select the Security tab. Click the check box Warn before printing, saving or sending a file that contains tracked changes or comments (see Figure 8). For added security, click the check box Make hidden markup visible when opening or saving. This will ensure that tracked changes are always visible.
9 | P a g e Figure 8 Tools Options Security Tab Tip 6. Check your Security Settings Preventing All Author Information To prevent all author metadata from being recorded, select Remove Personal Information under the Security tab (see Figure 9). When selected, all author names are changed to a single name, Author.
10 | P a g e Figure 9 Tools Options Security Tab Date and Time Change Was Made As Word tracks changes made to the document, the date and time are tracked as well (see Figure 10). To prevent date and time from being recorded with your tracked changes, select Remove Personal Information in the Security tab (see Figure 9). This setting will also remove author names from each track change. Figure 10 Track Change showing the date and time
11 | P a g e Tip 7. Watch for External Document Links Microsoft Word provides field codes that can be linked to other documents or through which data from one document can be inserted to and updated in another document. These links show path information and could lead to Information Disclosure. Field Codes That Provide External Document Links The following are Microsoft Word field codes that can reference an external document:
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Hyperlink
IncludePicture
IncludeText
Link
Database Removing Links from Field Codes You can remove linking information from your document by editing the field codes. To display field codes 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. On the Tools menu Click Options Click the View tab. Click to select the Field codes check box. Click OK. Or Press Alt + F9 Once the field codes are visible, you can check to see if any of them contain identifying information. To remove the linking information from a linked image or other object, follow these steps: 1. 2. Click on the field code Press CTRL+SHIFT+F9. The field code is now unlinked and is not longer linked to the external document. Tip 8. Minimize Custom Identifiers Custom Identifiers are those objects in Microsoft Word that can have a custom name. It is recommended that you restrict all custom names to generic names, instead of using firm names, firm acronyms, personal names or personal initials,
12 | P a g e Custom Identifiers The following is a list of Microsoft Word Objects that can have custom names:
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Tip 9. Styles
Bookmarks
Custom Document Properties
Autotext Hidden Text In Microsoft Word documents, you can format text as hidden. This is often done for comments that you do not want to print or for instructions for the reviewer. Hidden text can contain information that you may not want to disclose, and it’s a good idea to not use hidden text or delete it out completely. Removing Hidden Text To remove text in a Microsoft Word document that is formatted as hidden, follow these steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. On the Tools menu, click Options Click the View tab Click to select the Hidden text check box Click OK On the Edit menu, click Replace Click "More" to expand the dialog box Click in the text box next to Find what Click the Format button Click Font Click to select the Hidden check box Click OK Click Replace All. All the hidden text will be removed from the document. Tip 10. Prevent Outlook from adding Metadata to your Microsoft Office Documents Microsoft Outlook adds two custom properties to your Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint Documents (see Figure 11). This is an automatic feature unless you turn it off. Unless you want these custom properties added to your attachments, I recommend that you turn this feature off in Microsoft Outlook,
13 | P a g e Figure 11 Custom Properties added to attachments Turning Auto Properties Off in Microsoft Outlook 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. In Microsoft Outlook, select Tools Click Options Click on the Preferences tab Click the E­mail Options button Click the Advanced E­mail Options button Click off the Add properties to attachments to enable Reply with Changes check box (see Figure 12) Click OK Click OK Click OK Microsoft Outlook will no longer add custom properties to your attachments.
14 | P a g e Figure 12 Outlook adds properties to Attachments Summary Following these 10 tips will significantly help minimize document metadata in Microsoft Word documents. Most of the metadata in a Microsoft Word document can be controlled manually, but the onus is on individual users to "inspect" their documents and then decide what to remove…plus know how to remove it. iScrub ­ Enterprise Metadata Management To prevent accidental disclosure of document metadata it is important to implement an enterprise metadata management application, such as iScrub. iScrub enables a company to set up fixed standards for metadata removal and enforce those standards. There are unlimited levels of metadata management in iScrub. Users simply have to select one of the levels available to them ­ there is no guess work or manual metadata removal and little training needed.
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