Old Question Still Unanswered - Document Inspector

[ed9213]

When I save a file in Excel, I get the old warning, "Be careful! Parts of your document may include personal information that can't be removed by the Document Inspector".

Every time someone gets to ask about this warning, they are shown how to turn the warning, and the Inspector, off, so the personal information is still in the document, one just doesn't get the warning.

What information is saved in the file that the Document Inspector cannot remove? Can I remove it manually? Is there another utility that will scrub that personal data from an Excel, or any other Microsoft Office, file?

Thanks for a clear and concise answer.

Ed

 

[Kerryx]

Fairly comprehensive answer on the support page at
Document Inspector

Haven't come across anything i could recommend or would recommend, i am sure there are some applications a quick google search could recommend but at your own risk

Information the Document Inspector finds but can't remove​

The Document Inspector detects the following items that might have data that isn't visible in your workbook. It can't remove these items for you because it might cause the workbook to not work properly. You can examine each item that's found and determine if you want to remove it manually or replace it with an item that doesn't have hidden data, such as a static picture.

For these items:	The Document Inspector finds:
External links	Links to data in other workbooks. The names of the worksheets that contain the data are saved with your workbook but it isn't visible there. External links include external references that are used in: Worksheet cells Names Objects, such as text boxes or shapes Chart titles Chart data series
Embedded files or objects	Embedded files (such as an Office or Text document) or embedded objects (such as a chart or an equation) that may have data that isn't visible in your workbook. Here are examples of some object types: Bitmap image objects Microsoft Equation 3.0 objects Microsoft Graph Chart objects PowerPoint Presentation objects Visio Drawing objects Word Document objects OpenDocument Text objects
Macros of VBA code	Macro or VBA items that may have hidden data in your workbook. This includes: Macros, including Excel 4.0 Macro sheets (XLM) VBA modules COM or ActiveX controls User Forms, including Excel 5.0 Forms User-Defined Functions (UDFs)
BI features with cached data	BI features that may have cached data that's saved with the workbook, possibly containing data that's not visible. The Document Inspector checks for following items that may have PivotCache, SlicerCache, or Cube formula cache: PivotTables and PivotCharts Slicers and timelines Cube formulas
Excel Surveys	Excel Survey questions that were created in Excel for the web and saved with the workbook without being visible there.
Scenario Manager scenarios	Scenarios that are defined with Scenario Manager and may cause cached or hidden data to be saved with the workbook.
Filters	Filters that can be the cause of cached or hidden data in your workbook. The Document Inspector checks for AutoFilters and table filters that are applied to your data.
Hidden names	Hidden names that might store hidden data in the workbook.