Word Processing Confidentiality

Every word processing document that is created, modified, viewed and forwarded is replete with metadata (background information such as your name, initials, name of your computer, name of the network server or hard disk where you saved the document, and more) that may be more than you want others to know. There are some tools provided by Microsoft to decrease this hidden data (see http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010776461033.aspx and http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010777371033.aspx).

Here is another option to remove metadata when converting a Word document to PDF format, posted by Cindy L. Chick to the LawLibTech blog. The National Security Agency has provided instructions to further reduce metadata: Document on Redaction.