There are a couple of steps you might consider doing depending on your requirements.
Remove Meta Data
Some of the basic meta data tells you who created the document, who last edited it, as well as the dates it was created, edited, and even when it was last printed.
If you go to File > Info you will see the option to Inspect Document. It gives you a short list of the types of data you should be aware of before you publish it.
- Document properties, document server properties, content type information, template name, author’s name and related dates
- Headers and footers
- Custom XML data
- Content that people with disabilities are unable to read
Click the button Check for Issues and then choose Inspect.
You can choose which areas you want to inspect. Check all that you want to check for (the default settings should be adequate and checks most of the options)
Click Remove All next to the relevant fields (scroll down for other data). You’ll see that data has been removed.
Save As to remove Versions
Removing the data from the inspector does not remove the version history, so you may need to remove this as well. The version history will still include data about who edited each version.
Removing this is as simple as saving it as a new document, under File > Save As. Since it’s new, previous versions will not be available.
Mark As Final
Another step you might take is to mark the document as Final. This is a bit like making it Read Only, but with a different message at the top.
This doesn’t prevent people from editing it, but does ‘discourage editing’.
To mark as final go to File > Info > Protect Document > Mark As Final
Check out some of our other How To documents for Microsoft Office
