【Delete Metadata】Step by Step Guide ▷ 2022

Often We think that the documents we create are only made up of the content they display. For example, a file of Microsoft Word it’s just text. The same goes for images and other extensions.

But actually they carry much more with them than meets the eye. We are talking about the . They are information about the context in which it was created or edited a file.

Although they are intended to make it easier to retrieve, identify and authenticate documents have a drawback. They are created automatically and many times may include data that we consider to be private. If you want to learn more about metadata and keep your documents more secure, this text is for you.

How can they use metadata to attack my security?

That an image file’s metadata contains the camera that was used to capture it may seem like harmless information. Neverthelessthe huge number of documents and the information hidden and attached to them can offer too much personal data to whoever is hunting for them. Details of calls and usage patterns of them can provide malicious actors at what time of day we are awake, as well as hints of our religion according to year-end greetings or festivities.

In the same way our work habitsthe places which we usually visit. Also emails including data that can be used to be victims of bank fraud. But surely you will ask yourself, how is it possible for someone to arrive at specific data from a specific file? The truth is There are Big Data processing programs. So it’s as simple as collect metadata and the software will purge the valuable information.

Nevertheless, It is possible to prevent our privacy from being violated through these attachments. The best way to do it is removing them of the documents we handle. Below, we offer you the best way to achieve this regardless of your operating system.

Learn step by step how to remove metadata from your operating system like an expert

Regardless of the extension of your files, whether they are photographs, texts or any other, following these steps, you can remove unwanted metadata.

Let’s see the steps in the different Systems:

on windows

perform this process on Windows it’s pretty easy. For example, before attaching a file to an email, locate it in your browser.

Then follow these steps:

• Press the secondary button mouse over it.
• Within the context menu, choose “Properties”.
• In this new window, press the tab “Details”.
• At the lower end you can see in blue “Remove properties and personal information”. Click there.
• A new window will appear. In it, mark the option “Remove the following properties from this file.”
• Then press the button “Select all”. (The latter may vary according to the recipient’s requirements, but if it is not specified, we recommend removing them entirely.)
• To finish press “To accept”. Then the document will be free of personal data and you can send it by mail without fear of violating your security and privacy.

on macOS

in operating systems removing the metadata is a bit more cumbersome, since does not offer a native tool as simple as Windows. Therefore, we will use two methods different. one for pictures and videos and another for Office documents. As you will notice, both are third-party applications.

Mac devices are one of the favorites editors Y photographers. To protect your image data you can use programs like ImageOptim. That will get the job done very fast.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Opens the software.
• press the gear Of configuration.
• in the tab “General” brand “Remove EXIF ​​markers”.
• Drag the files to the window or press the button “+” in the interface and select them.

In the case of text documents or spreadsheets or slideshows, it is best to perform this procedure from the same Office applications.

In all of them the steps and menus are the same:

• open the document with the application of Microsoft corresponding.
• Press the tab “File, Archive”.
• Within this menu, in the side panel choose “Information”.
• click on “Check for problems”.
• In this new window choose “Inspect Document”.
• A list of inspection results will be displayed. Inside of section “Document properties and personal information” Press the button “Remove all”.
• press “To close” and then save the document normally.

on linux

For perform metadata removal on linux The first thing we need to do is use a package called “imagemagick”.

After follow these steps:

• To do this, run the following command “apt-get install imagemagickpacman -S imagemagickyum install imagemagickdnf install imagemagickxbps-install imagemagick”.
• Installation finished you can check the metadata of the file by right-clicking on it and choosing “Properties”.
• to remove them enter the following command from the selected file “mogrify -strip ‘/directories/DocumentName.extension’”.

That is all. you can corroborate that have been erased by repeating the second step.