您所做的一切都会在某处生成数据。这些数据在收集和分析后就变成了信息。这些信息可以告诉别人更多关于你的信息，而不是你可能希望他们知道的。
随着时间的推移收集的信息可以告诉别人(someone everything)关于你的一切，可以用来帮助或伤害你。此数据称为元数据。
什么是元数据？
元数据(Metadata)是关于数据的数据。你不讨厌(Don)人们用一个词来定义那个词吗？数据(Data)是完全客观的事实。它不能被合理地争论。一是一，零是零。温度就是这样。今天的日期就是今天的日期。你明白了。
元数据(Metadata)是关于单个数据的事实。让我们以在Microsoft Word(Microsoft Word)中写一封信为例来说明这一点。
您键入一封信，向当局发送有关工作中发生的不道德，甚至可能是非法的事情。是的，我们马上就戏剧化了。
字母是由您按特定顺序键入的字符组成的信息。您键入的字符是由一堆 1 和 0 生成的。1 和 0 是构成信中信息的数据。
当 1 和 0 变成字母时，还会创建有关该字母的其他数据。其中一些元数据包括您输入字母的时间、输入字母的人、上次保存的时间、创建的Word版本，所有这些都是有关数据或元数据的数据。
元数据有什么作用？
在Microsoft Office中，大部分元数据只是为了您的利益。它可以帮助您找到文档的最新版本或查看文档的创建者，以便您可以向他们提问。它有助于跟踪文档的编辑或评论。
Office 程序(Office program)和其他程序也使用它来处理文档。例如， Windows资源管理器(Explorer)使用这些信息对文档进行分类和排序。
为什么我要删除元数据(Metadata)？
让我们回到你寄给当局的关于工作中发生的粗略事情的信。您之所以匿名这样做是因为您害怕受到报复，或者您只是不想被卷入而只是引起当局的注意(’ attention)。这是告密。
你全力以赴，得到一个临时的电子邮件地址，然后从图书馆的公共计算机上发送它来掩盖你的踪迹。由于元数据，文档可能包含可用于将其链接回您的信息。它甚至可能还附有你的名字。
更糟糕的是，您对文档所做的更改虽然不再对您可见，但可能仍然在文档中。如果您写了一段关于您特定内容的段落，但由于它可以用来识别您的身份而将其删除，那么它仍然可能是元数据形式的文件的一部分。
如何查看 Office 元数据？
以下是查看哪些元数据附加到Word、Excel或PowerPoint文件的方法列表。从Outlook(Outlook)发送的电子邮件的元数据(Metadata)要复杂得多，超出了本文的范围。
(View Metadata)在Word、Excel或 PowerPoint中查看元数据
打开要检查的文档、工作簿或演示文稿：
单击左上角的文件。(File )
在Info屏幕上，您会看到大量信息，例如Size、Pages、Words、Total Editing Time、 Last Modified、Created和 Related People 等数据。
在该数据下，单击显示所有属性(Show All Properties)以查看更多数据。
注意：(NOTE:) 注意模板(Pay attention)数据(Template)。如果您使用的模板包含您的姓名或文件名中包含公司名称(company name)，则可能会跟踪到您。
在 Windows 资源管理器中查看元数据
打开Windows 资源管理器(Windows Explorer)并导航到您保存文件的位置。
右键单击(Right-click)该文件，然后(file and click)单击Properties。
在“属性”窗口(Properties window)中，单击“详细信息(Details)”选项卡。您将在简洁明了的列表中看到所有元数据。
(View All Metadata)查看Word、Excel或PowerPoint文件的所有元数据
可扩展标记语言(Markup Language)( XML ) 是用于存储计算中的元数据的事实文档。它伴随着各种文件，
Microsoft Office文件也不例外。
查看这些 XML 文档非常容易。让我们用一个Word 文件(Word file)来做这件事。
- 打开Windows 资源管理器(Windows
Explorer)并导航到您保存文件的位置。
- 制作文件副本，以免意外损坏原始文件。
- 选择复制文件(copy file)，然后点击键盘上的F2按钮或右键单击文件并选择(file and select) 重命名(Rename)。
将文件的扩展名从.docx更改为.zip。是的，每个以x结尾的Office 文件类型(Office filetype)都是一个包含 XML 文档的压缩文件。您将收到有关执行此操作的警告。单击是(Yes)。
右键单击文件并选择全部提取...(Extract All…)
在打开的窗口中，它会询问您要将提取的文件保存在哪里，以及是否要在完成后显示提取的文件。默认值很好。单击提取(Extract)。
提取完成后，您将看到三个文件夹和一个XML 文件(XML file)。浏览这些文件以查看其中存储了哪些信息。如果您双击一个XML 文件(XML file)，它很可能会在Internet Explorer中打开。
它看起来很奇怪，但您应该能够弄清楚大部分信息的含义。有两个 XML 文件可能包含您的姓名：docProps文件夹中的core.xml，以及word文件夹中的document.xml和people.xml。
如何从Microsoft Word、Excel或 PowerPoint中删除元数据(Delete Metadata)
到这里花了很长时间，但如果你要做这样的事情，你应该知道确切的原因。让我们继续吧。
删除(Delete Metadata)Word、Excel或 PowerPoint中的元数据
单击左上角的文件。(File )
在信息(Info )页面上，单击页面中间附近左侧的检查问题。(Check for Issues)
单击检查文档(Inspect Document)。文档检查器(Document Inspector )窗口将打开。
确保选中(Make)文档检查器(Document Inspector)中的所有复选框，然后点按“检查(Inspect)”按钮。
文档检查器(Document Inspector)完成后，您将看到(see information)有关它找到的数据类型的信息。圆圈中的绿色复选标记表示它没有找到该类型的数据。红色感叹号(exclamation mark)表示它找到了该类型的数据。在该数据类型的描述旁边，您会看到“全部删除”(Remove All)按钮。
单击(Click)以删除该类型的所有数据。这些按钮可能有几个，因此请向下滚动以确保获得所有这些按钮。
删除元数据后，您可能需要单击“重新检查”(Reinspect )按钮，以确保它没有遗漏任何内容(t miss anything)。
立即保存您的文档，以确保不会重新输入数据。
如何确定(Certain)元数据(Metadata)已删除
完成上述步骤以查看 Word、Excel 或 PowerPoint 中的所有元数据(View All Metadata in Word,
Excel, or PowerPoint)。检查 core.xml、document.xml 和 people.xml 文件后，您应该会看到文档中不再有个人数据。
如果您将扩展名从 .zip 更改回 .docx，您将能够再次在Word中正常打开该文件。
如何在Windows 资源管理器中(Windows Explorer)删除元数据(Delete Metadata)
如果您想快速从多个文件中删除元数据，这是一个很好的方法。对 2 个或更多文件执行此操作可以在几秒钟内完成。
打开Windows 资源管理器并导航(Windows Explorer and navigate)到要从中删除元数据的文件。右键单击(Right-click)该文件，然后(file and click)单击Properties。
在“属性”窗口(Properties window)中，单击“详细信息(Details)”选项卡，然后单击“删除属性和个人信息(Remove Properties and Personal Information)” 。
您可以通过两种方式删除信息。您可以从原始文件中删除元数据或制作不带任何元数据的文件副本。
从原始文件中删除元数据
选择从此文件中删除以下属性：(Remove the following properties
from this file:)然后仅选中所需的框或单击全选(Select
All )按钮。然后单击确定(OK)。
制作没有元数据的副本
这将制作文件的副本并将复制一词添加到(Copy)
文件名的末尾。该副本将没有任何与之关联的元数据。
在“删除属性(Remove Properties)”窗口中，选择“创建一个已删除所有可能属性的副本”，(Create a
copy with all possible properties removed)然后单击“确定(OK)”按钮。
比较原件和副本的属性以查看差异。
在清除？
这是否意味着你很清楚？你现在不能从文件中识别出来吗？这很难说。您接下来对文档所做的操作将决定这一点。
对文档进行任何进一步的数字处理，例如通过电子邮件发送，都可以将元数据添加回链中。一个可行的选择是打印文档并邮寄(document and mail)。从纸上获取元数据很困难。
How to Completely Delete Personal Metadata from Microsoft Office Documents
Everything you do generates data somewhere. That data, when collected and analyzed, becomes information. That information can tell someone more about yoυ than yoυ probably want them to know.
The information collected over time can tell someone everything about you and can be used to help or harm you. This data is known as metadata.
What is Metadata?
Metadata is data about data. Don’t you hate it when people
use a word to define that word? Data is facts that are completely objective. It
cannot be reasonably disputed. One is one and zero is zero. The temperature is
what it is. Today’s date is today’s date. You get the point.
Metadata is facts about a single piece of data. Let’s
illustrate this with the example of writing a letter in Microsoft Word.
You type a letter to send to authorities about something
going on at work that is unethical, possibly even illegal. Yes, we got dramatic
right away.
The letter is information made from the characters you typed
in a certain order. The characters you typed are generated by a bunch of ones
and zeroes. The ones and zeroes are the data that makes up the information in
the letter.
When the ones and zeroes are turned into the letter, there
is other data about the letter that gets created. Some of that metadata
includes when you typed the letter, who typed the letter, when it was last
saved, what version of Word was it created in, all these are data about the
data or metadata.
What Does Metadata Do?
In Microsoft Office, most of the metadata is there just for
your benefit. It can help you find the newest version of a document or see who
created the document so you could ask them questions about it. It helps to keep
track of edits or comments on documents.
It is also used by the Office program and other programs to
work with the document. Windows Explorer uses the information to categorize and
sort documents, for example.
Why Would I Want to Remove Metadata?
Let’s go back to the letter you’re sending to the
authorities about something sketchy going on at work. You’re doing this
anonymously because you fear retribution, or you just don’t want to be involved
beyond bringing it to the authorities’ attention. It’s whistleblowing.
You go all out and get a temporary e-mail address and send
it from a public computer at a library to cover your tracks. Because of
metadata, the document may have information that can be used to link it back to
you. It even may still have your name attached to it.
Even worse, changes you made to the document, although no
longer visible to you, may still be in the document. If you wrote a paragraph
about something specific to you but then removed it because it could be used to
identify you, it still could be a part of the file in the form of metadata.
How Can I View Office Metadata?
Following is a list of methods to see what metadata is
attached to your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. Metadata surrounding e-mail
sent from Outlook is far more complex and beyond the scope of this article.
View Metadata in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
With the document, workbook, or presentation open that you
want to check:
Click on File in the top-left corner.
On the Info screen, you’ll see plenty of information such as Size, Pages, Words, Total Editing Time, Last Modified, Created, and Related People among other data.
Under that data, click on Show All Properties to see more data.
NOTE: Pay attention to the Template data. If you used a template that has your name, or a company name in its filename, that could be tracked to you.
View Metadata in Windows Explorer
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to where you have saved the file.
Right-click on the file and click on Properties.
In the Properties window, click on the Details tab. You’ll see all the metadata in compact and concise list.
View All Metadata for Word, Excel, or PowerPoint Files
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the defacto document for
the storage of metadata in computing. It accompanies all kinds of files and
Microsoft Office files are no exception.
Viewing these XML documents is surprisingly easy. Let’s do
this with a Word file.
- Open Windows
Explorer and navigate to where you have saved the file.
- Make a copy of the file, so you don’t
accidentally corrupt the original file.
- Select the copy file and either tap the F2 button on your keyboard or
right-click on the file and select Rename.
Change the extension of the file from .docx to .zip. Yes, each Office filetype that ends in x is a compressed file containing XML documents. You’ll get a warning about doing this. Click Yes.
Right-click on the file and select Extract All…
In the window that opens, it will ask you where you want to save the extracted files and if you want to show the extracted files when finished. The default values are good. Click Extract.
Once the extraction is done, you’ll see three folders and an XML file. Explore in these files to see what information is stored there. If you double-click on an XML file, it will likely open in Internet Explorer.
It will look odd, but you should be able to make out what most of the information means. There are two XML files that may contain your name: core.xml in the docProps folder, and document.xml and people.xml, both in the word folder.
How to Delete Metadata from Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
It took a long time to get here, but if you’re going to do
something like this you should know exactly why. Let’s get on with it.
Delete Metadata in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
Click on File in the top-left corner.
On the Info page, click on Check for Issues on the left, near the middle of the page.
Click on Inspect Document. The Document Inspector window will open.
Make sure all the checkboxes in the Document Inspector are checked, then click the Inspect button.
Once the Document Inspector is done, you’ll see information about what kind of data it found. A green checkmark in a circle means it found no data of that type. A red exclamation mark means it found data of that type. Next to that data type’s description you’ll see the Remove All button.
Click on that to remove all data of that type. There may be several of these buttons, so scroll down to ensure you get all of them.
After you’ve removed the metadata, you may want to click the Reinspect button, just to make sure it didn’t miss anything.
Save your document now to ensure the data doesn’t get re-entered.
How to be Certain the Metadata was Deleted
Go through the steps above for View All Metadata in Word,
Excel, or PowerPoint. Upon inspecting the core.xml, document.xml and
people.xml files, you should see that there is no personal data in the document
anymore.
If you change the extension back from .zip to .docx, you’ll
be able to open the file normally in Word again.
How to Delete Metadata in Windows Explorer
This is a good method if you want to strip metadata from
several files quickly. Doing this for 2 or more files can be done in a matter
of seconds.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the file you want to remove metadata from. Right-click on the file and click on Properties.
In the Properties window, click on the Details tab then click on Remove Properties and Personal Information.
You
can remove information in two ways. You can remove metadata from the original
file or make a copy of the file without any metadata.
Remove Metadata from Original File
Select Remove the following properties
from this file: then either check only the boxes you want or click on the Select
All button. Then click OK.
Make a Copy with No Metadata
This will make a copy of the file and add the word Copy
to the end of the filename. That copy will not have any metadata associated
with it.
In the Remove Properties window, select Create a
copy with all possible properties removed then click the OK button.
Compare the properties of the original and the copy to see
the difference.
In the Clear?
Does this mean you’re in the clear? You cannot be identified now from the document? That’s difficult to say. What you do with the document next will determine that.
Any further digital processing of the document, like emailing it, could add metadata back into the chain. A viable option is to print the document and mail it. It’s difficult to get metadata from paper.
