If you need to share a Word file without showing reviewer names, work on a separate copy and inspect that copy before sending it. Word’s Document Inspector can remove personal information, but it is not a promise of anonymity: comments, tracked changes, properties, cloud version history, and account-level sharing can reveal different information. Review the result yourself.
Inspect a copy in desktop Word
- Save a separate copy of the document. Keep the original for your records, because some Inspector removals cannot be undone.
- In the copy, choose File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document.
- Review the categories before clicking Remove All. Document Properties and Personal Information concerns properties and user information. Comments, Revisions, Versions, and Annotations can remove the comments or tracked changes themselves. Do not remove that category if you need the feedback to remain.
- Run Inspect, review each result, and use Remove All only for the categories you intend to clear. Save and reopen the copy.
- Check the visible comment labels, document properties, tracked changes, and any other identifying text. Reinspect the file before sharing.
Microsoft’s Document Inspector guide lists what each category can remove and recommends using a copy. It does not say that removing properties anonymizes only your own comments or guarantees every reviewer’s identity is hidden.
Understand the limits
Changing File > Options > User name can change the name used for future comments and revisions; it does not reliably rewrite earlier comments. Microsoft explains the user-name and author settings. An existing cloud file can retain version history and sharing activity outside the downloaded copy. A recipient who already has an earlier version may still have it. Comment text itself may also identify its author.
If you want to remove comments rather than preserve them, use our delete all comments guide. Deleting feedback and hiding authorship are different goals.
Word for the web does not include the Document Inspector. To use it on a file stored online, open the document in the desktop app with Editing > Open in Desktop App and run the inspection there.
After the Inspector removes personal information, desktop Word can keep stripping it each time you save that file. If you later want your name to appear on new comments in it again, go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options and clear Remove personal information from file properties on save. Comments that were already anonymized do not get their original names back.
Before you send the file
Open the exact copy you intend to share and confirm that the comments you need are still present and the identities you meant to remove are not visible. Check the file properties and any tracked-change labels. For sensitive reviews, use your organization’s approved anonymous-review process instead of relying on a document setting alone.
Matt has been writing about Microsoft Windows and other Microsoft products since the days of Windows XP. He spends much of his time writing for sites like WindowBrain.com