See the hidden details an Excel file carries (author, last modified by, company, dates, custom properties and more), then download a copy without them. Your file never leaves your browser: it isn't uploaded anywhere, and nothing else in it changes.
Nothing is uploaded. Your workbook is read and cleaned in your browser and never sent anywhere, so the metadata you're removing is never seen by anyone else, us included.
Remove Excel metadata from an .xlsx or .xlsm file in your browser: the tool lists the author, last modified by, company, custom properties and other hidden details the workbook carries, then removes them and gives you back the same workbook without them. The usual case is a pricing model or a data extract going to a client, where the file still says it was written by someone at your company, last saved by you, in C:\Users\dana\Documents\.
forecast.xlsx downloads as forecast (xlsx.com).xlsx.A file with nothing to remove shows "No hidden metadata found" and offers no download. After removal, the result names each thing it took out, for example "Removed 11 document properties, 2 custom properties, the saved-folder path, the reserved-by name, the preview picture and the names on notes and comments".
Excel keeps metadata in a handful of places inside the file, and File > Info shows only some of them. The tool clears all of these:
| Where it lives | What's removed |
|---|---|
| Document properties | Author, Last modified by, Title, Subject, Keywords (tags), Comments, Categories, Status, Created, Last modified, Last printed, Revision number, Identifier, Language, Version |
| Extended properties | Company, Manager, Template, Hyperlink base, Total editing time |
| Custom properties | Everything under File > Properties > Custom, plus properties a document-management system added, each listed by name and value first |
| Workbook settings | The folder the file was last saved in, and the "reserved by" name on a read-only recommendation |
| Preview picture | The thumbnail of the first sheet that some programs show |
The saved folder is the one people don't expect. Excel stores the full path, and on Windows that path often includes the Windows user name. The read-only recommendation keeps working after its reserved-by name goes; only the name is removed.
Two things in the extended properties stay: the application name and the list of sheet names Excel keeps there. Nothing is added to the file either. No properties, no branding inside the workbook. The download is marked as coming from xlsx.com by its file name only.
The removal was checked in Excel for Mac. After cleaning, every built-in property Excel reports (Author, Last modified by, Title, Subject, Keywords, Comments, Category, Company, Manager, and the creation and last-save dates) is empty and there are no custom properties. The test file and two real workbooks, a 45-sheet file with notes and an .xlsm, opened with no repair prompt. A test compares every other part of the file byte for byte against the original, and a second pass over a cleaned file finds nothing more to remove.
A Microsoft Purview sensitivity label is stored as metadata, either as MSIP_Label custom properties or in the part current Microsoft 365 writes for labels. When the tool finds one, it calls it out before you remove anything, because removing the metadata removes the label. The cleaned copy is no longer marked or protected by it. If your organisation labels files for a reason, check before you send an unlabelled copy outside it.
In this tool, names on notes and threaded comments are a separate, optional step, because they live in the notes and comments rather than the document properties. The tool reads them and lists them in their own box, and does nothing with them unless you tick the option.
With it ticked:
A name typed as an @mention inside a threaded comment keeps the name, because it's part of what the comment says. The page counts those mentions so you can decide whether to edit them in Excel.
One detail from building this: renaming every note author to the same name leaves two identical author entries, and Excel then asks to repair the file. The tool merges them into one entry instead.
Excel writes Last modified by and the modified date again every time someone saves the file in Excel. Clean a workbook, open it to fix one typo, press Ctrl+S, and your name is back. So remove the metadata as the last thing you do before sending the file, and send the downloaded copy as it is.
Dates cause a second kind of confusion. The Created and Last modified properties inside the workbook are removed. The dates File Explorer or Finder show next to the file belong to the file system, not the workbook, and the tool can't change them. The download is a new file, so it carries today's date on disk.
Excel for Windows has this built in. Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document, make sure Document Properties and Personal Information is ticked, click Inspect, then Remove All on that row. Save, and keep the original elsewhere, since Microsoft says the removed data can't always be restored.
Document Inspector is the better choice when you also want comments, hidden sheets, hidden rows and columns, headers and footers or invisible objects gone, because it checks for all of those in the same dialog. Read each row before clicking Remove All: removing hidden rows or sheets that hold data can change what your formulas return.
On Windows you can also skip opening the file. Right-click it in File Explorer, choose Properties > Details > Remove Properties and Personal Information, and pick "Create a copy with all possible properties removed".
The Trust Center has a third route under File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options: "Remove personal information from file properties on save". It applies to one workbook at a time, and people often find it greyed out, or get a "Be careful!" warning on every save once it's on. For a one-off clean copy, the first two routes are less trouble.
Metadata is only part of what a shared workbook can give away. Before it goes out, open it in the Excel Viewer, which shows every sheet as a tab. Hidden sheets are marked "(hidden)", and very hidden ones, which Excel's own Unhide dialog doesn't list, are marked "(very hidden)".
In Excel for Windows, use File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document, tick Document Properties and Personal Information, click Inspect and then Remove All. Without Excel, drop the .xlsx or .xlsm on this page, check the list of what it found, click Remove metadata and download the cleaned copy. Either way, keep the original, because removed properties can't be brought back.
Clear it with Document Inspector or this tool, and do it after your last edit. Excel writes your name into Last modified by, and a new modified date, every time the file is saved in Excel, so a cleaned file that someone opens and saves carries a name again. Remove the metadata as the final step before you send the file.
Drop the file on this page and click Remove metadata, or use Document Inspector in Excel for Windows. The tool clears Author along with Last modified by, Company and the other document properties in one pass. Names on notes and threaded comments are stored separately, so tick the option to replace those with Author as well.
Yes, with this tool's optional names setting, which is off by default. Note authors and threaded-comment people become Author, the bold name line Excel for Windows puts at the top of each note is removed, and the account ID behind a threaded comment is cleared. The notes and comments themselves stay, and so does any name typed as an @mention inside a comment.
No: cell values, formulas, formatting, charts and macros come back exactly as they went in. The tool changes only the property parts, the file's internal parts list and workbook.xml (for the saved folder and reserved-by name), plus the notes and people parts if you tick the names option. A test compares every other part byte for byte.
Open the file in Excel and go to File > Info, where Author and Last modified by appear under Related People. Dropping the file on this page also lists every property it carries, including Author, Created and Last modified, with dates shown like 27 Sep 2026, 17:28 UTC. An empty Author doesn't mean the file names nobody: Last modified by, the saved-folder path and the names on notes can still identify someone.