What to strip before you send a document

A finished document usually carries a little more than you meant to send. Some of it is on the page and easy to miss. Some of it is hidden in the file. None of it takes long to clear, and a quick pass before sending saves the awkward version where a reader finds something you thought was gone.

The hidden details

Every file records a few facts about itself: who made it, with what software, and when. On its own that is harmless, but it can name you or your employer on a document you meant to keep neutral. Take a moment to check and clear those details; we go through exactly what they are in what your PDF says about you.

Comments, notes, and old drafts

If the document passed through a few hands, it may still hold comments, tracked changes, or an earlier version of a paragraph you rewrote. These are the easiest things to forget, because they do not show up when you glance at the page. Before you send, turn review marks off and delete any notes that were only ever meant for you.

Text that should be gone, not covered

This is the one people get wrong. Drawing a black box over a line does not remove it. In many files the words are still underneath, and anyone can copy or search them out. If a document holds something that must not be shared, an account number, an address, a name, black it out and fully remove the text so nothing is left behind the box.

If it has to travel

Sometimes a file has to go by email, or through a service you do not control. If it holds anything sensitive, put a password on it first so a forwarded copy cannot simply be opened by anyone. And if you want to be sure the file is not being uploaded somewhere along the way, the offline test in how to tell if a website uploads your file settles it in seconds.