Be careful! Parts of your document may include personal information that can't be removed by the Document Inspector.

Anonymous
2013-09-27T08:26:34+00:00

Hi All

I have an Excel 2013 document that I've been using for over two months and have had no problems with editing or saving it. Today I edit it and than saved it and I received a strange looking error message "Be careful! Parts of your document may include personal information that can't be removed by the Document Inspector."

I have tried to find out any information on what it might be, by using Bing and Google without any success. It looks like I'm the only one who has received this error message. I hope it's not a virus!

Please help

Colin

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2013-09-28T02:05:11+00:00

I had the same problem, it's incredibly annoying and there's strangely little posted about it on the interwebs.  Anyway, here's how you fix it: Goto File in the upper left hand corner, then Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > then un-check the check box that says "Remove personal information from file properties on save", then hit OK.  Hope that helps.

Was this answer helpful?

7400+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

58 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-09-10T08:54:43+00:00

    I had the same problem, it's incredibly annoying and there's strangely little posted about it on the interwebs.  Anyway, here's how you fix it: Goto File in the upper left hand corner, then Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options > then un-check the check box that says "Remove personal information from file properties on save", then hit OK.  Hope that helps.

    This isn't a fix, it just hides the problem.

    The dialog is not an "Error", it is an "Informational" message, which is less severe than an error. It just says there "MAY" be personal information in the file.  That is pretty useless, is there is there not personal info.  Who would know better, MS has the inside info to be able to tell us.  This is another fine example of a ****effort.  MS could tell us exactly what and where this alleged personal information is, but they are too lazy to do it right.

    Disabling the informational warning does nothing to remove the personal information, if it is there.

    I had this problem too, and thanks Rohn007 for your best explanation:)

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-16T17:34:52+00:00

    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-10-11T00:32:07+00:00

    Hi, here is the way I use to stop having the message:

    Open your document.

    Go to: File>Info>Check for Issues

    On the right of the Icon box you have:

    "Inspect Workbook"

    "A setting that automatically removes....."

    Under a link: "Allow this information to be saved in your file"

    Click on it, the message doesn't appears anymore when you save your document...

    If you go to File>Options>Trust Center

    Click on Trust Center Settings, Document Inspector

    You can see that the "Remove Personal Information from file properties on save" is not anymore available .

    If you run inspector, a message said that some information are embedded in your file:

    1. Document Properties
    2. Absolute path of the workbook

    So you can remove this information by clicking on the right side button...

    Remind that if you send your document without doing it, you share some "Privacy information" at the same time that your document...

    Hope could be helpful...

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2016-11-11T00:48:19+00:00

    If this does not help, do the following:

    Go to File in the upper left hand corner, then Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Privacy Options

    Then uncheck the checkbox that says "Remove personal information from file properties on save", then hit OK.

    Source: RudiS 

     http://www.excelforum.com/showthread.php?t=1003347&p=3656629&viewfull=1#post3656629

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments