What DOCX metadata reveals
A .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file is a ZIP archive of XML files, and several of them describe the document rather than its content. The DOCX metadata in docProps/core.xml names the author and the person who last saved the file. docProps/app.xml records the application, company, template and total editing time, and the comments and revision marks keep the name of every reviewer. This viewer opens the archive in your browser and lists all of it in one place.
The properties it reads
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Document properties | Title, Author, Last modified by, Revision number, Created, Modified, Last printed |
| Application and statistics | Application, Company, Manager, Template, Total editing time, pages, words, slides |
| Custom properties | Fields added by document management systems, such as a client or matter ID |
Dates are shown as stored, usually in UTC (2024-01-15 10:30:00 UTC). Total editing time is the number of minutes the file was open for editing, as counted by Office.
Names and hidden content
Office fills the author and last-modified fields from the user name in its options or from the signed-in account, so they often show a full name even if you never typed it into the document.
The highlighted box lists every person named in the file and why: author, last modified by, comment author or tracked change author. Below it the viewer reports content that is easy to forget before sending a file:
- Tracked changes: deleted text is still in the file until changes are accepted.
- Comments, including resolved ones.
- Hidden sheets and slides, including Excel's "very hidden" sheets that the normal Unhide menu does not show.
- Macros in .docm, .xlsm and .pptm files.
- Template path, which can include a user name and folder names.
- Embedded files and a stored thumbnail of the first page.
Supported formats
Word (.docx, .docm, .dotx), Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx) and PowerPoint (.pptx, .pptm, .potx), plus OpenDocument files from LibreOffice (.odt, .ods, .odp). Old binary .doc, .xls and .ppt files, and password-protected documents, use a different format. Open them and save them as .docx, .xlsx or .pptx first.
For PDFs, use the PDF metadata viewer; for photos, the EXIF viewer. To read the content of a Word file as HTML, try Word to HTML.