Metadata View

Inspect & clean files

C2PA ViewerBlog

XLSX Metadata Remover

Delete author, company, comments, and custom properties from XLSX while keeping formulas, sheets, and formatting intact.

Looking to view metadata instead? Go to the Metadata Viewer.


Why remove XLSX metadata?

XLSX files can leak authors, companies, and comment history. Cleaning removes that information while keeping calculations intact.

Protect sensitive workflows

Remove author and company fields before sharing financial models.

Strip comments and revision traces

Clear comments and hidden properties tied to edits.

Deliver client-ready spreadsheets

Send workbooks without embedded metadata or template identifiers.

Secure XLSX cleaning

We scrub spreadsheet properties and comments while leaving data unchanged, then delete the temporary file after your download.

Upload your XLSX

Select an XLSX workbook. Uploads are encrypted and not stored after processing.

Strip metadata & comments

We clear author/company fields, comments, revision data, and custom properties.

Preserve data and formulas

Sheets, formulas, pivots, and formatting remain unchanged—metadata only is removed.

Download & purge

Download the cleaned XLSX instantly; the temporary copy is wiped immediately.

What XLSX metadata do we remove?

We clear Excel properties that expose authors or workflow while keeping the workbook intact.

  • Author, company, manager, and last modified by fields
  • Creation/modification timestamps and revision numbers
  • Comments and sheet-level notes metadata
  • Subject, keywords, category, and description fields
  • Custom properties stored in docProps/custom.xml
  • Application/version identifiers and template references
  • Hidden workbook/worksheet part properties with editor details
  • Embedded document IDs or relationships that reveal provenance

What XLSX workbooks carry beyond formulas

XLSX files are OPC ZIP packages with the same docProps tree as DOCX, but the metadata attack surface is wider because Excel adds per-workbook and per-sheet extensions that accumulate over time. workbook.xml carries a fileVersion element that fingerprints every version of Excel that has touched the file; each sheet can have its own comments part with the author name attached to every note; external data connections in connections.xml often encode server names, database names, and sometimes credentials as plain-text connection strings; and Power Query definitions in customXml parts include the full M-language query source, which is an excellent record of where the data came from (internal URLs, file-share paths, API endpoints).

Finance and HR workbooks in particular carry heavy trails: scenario manager entries include the author of every scenario, data validation error messages often contain internal reference IDs, and hidden worksheets (tagged state='hidden' or 'veryHidden') keep draft calculations that the visible sheets do not show. Cleaning sanitizes docProps, strips comments, rewrites connections.xml to remove server/path identifiers, clears Power Query source strings, removes people.xml and threadedComments, and leaves the sheet data, formulas, and formatting intact.


FAQs

Will cleaning change formulas or data?

No. Values, formulas, pivot tables, and formatting stay intact.

Do you remove comments and hidden properties?

Yes. Comments and hidden workbook properties are cleared.

Are company and author fields removed?

Yes. Author, company, manager, and custom properties are removed.

Is the file stored?

No. Files are processed over HTTPS and deleted immediately after processing.

More tools for XLSX files

View XLSX metadata