Stop Leaking Your Data: How to Really Remove Metadata from Excel on Mac OS

Updated

Excel spreadsheets are a ubiquitous tool in many industries and professions, providing a versatile platform for data analysis and organization. However, what many users may not be aware of is that these spreadsheets contain metadata that can reveal sensitive information about the file’s creator or organization. Despite the abundance of articles, tutorials, and search results claiming to provide solutions for removing this metadata, they are almost all incorrect when it comes to Excel for Mac OS. In this article, we will explain how to truly remove personally identifying metadata from an Excel spreadsheet on Mac OS, ensuring that your sensitive information stays private.

What all the Windows-focused articles get wrong

Virtually every tutorial about stripping Excel metadata will suggest you do one of two things:

  1. Run the Document Inspector via the file info dialog.
  2. Remove Document Properties and Personal Information via the file properties dialog.

None of that will work on a Mac! There’s no Info option in the File menu, and Document Inspector doesn’t even exist in Excel for Mac (as of 2023).

The real solution for Mac

Click Excel > Preferences (or press CMD+,).

Screenshot of the File Preferences menu option

Under Sharing and Privacy click Security.

Screenshot of 'Security' among all the other Excel preferences

Tick the box next to Remove personal information from this file on save.

Screenshot of the Document Specific Security Settings

Close the Preferences window and save your spreadsheet.

Repeat this for every file you want to cleanse. The setting is off by default for every new spreadsheet.

To verify the metadata is gone, do this:

  • Click File > Properties.
  • Go to Summary and make sure Author is empty.
  • Go to Statistics and make sure your name is gone from Last saved by.

Before

Excel summary window containing the name of the author
Excel statistics window containing the name of the user who last saved the spreadsheet

After

Excel summary window with a blank author name
Excel statistics window with blank 'Last Saved by' value

Bonus steps for Windows :)

Just in case you end up on a PC, here are the detailed steps for deleting metadata from a spreadsheet on Windows.

Windows-only method 1

  • Click File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document.
  • Check all the boxes in the Document Inspector window.
  • Press the Inspect button.
  • Click Remove All button next to Document Properties and Personal Information.

Windows-only method 2

  • Click File > Properties > Details.
  • Click Remove Properties and Personal Information at the bottom of the dialog.
  • Check off Document Properties and Personal Information.
  • Click OK.