Hidden Change Log in MS Word

[BillD]

I have repeatedly read that Word has a way of keeping a log of changes that are made in documents, which can recovered, that makes it dangerous to publish Word documents and that one should always save in .rtf format. Fred Langa has commented on this more than once, as have other writers.My question is, how does one access these hidden changes or log of them?Thanks,BillEdit: I should have mentioned that this is Word 2000; I have found info on Word 2002 and 2003, but that is not really applicable to Word 2000 apparently.

Edited January 13, 2007 by BillD

[striker]

My question is, how does one access these hidden changes or log of them?

What's the use of that Bill ? Want to look at it and then erase those things you don't want to be in there? I used the below on Word 2000 (from JavaCool Software):Doc ScrubberFrom the site above:

The Hidden Data...Word Documents can contain all sorts of extra data, commonly referred to as "metadata". This data can include: * Hidden Revision Logs * A Unique, Identifying GUID * Comments, Keywords, Subjects, and other properties * Recent Hyperlinks * Last Saved Date * Last Edited By Information * Last Printed Date * Revision Count * Total Editing Time * and more...Doc Scrubber can remove much of this metadata from Word documents, and can also produce an analysis of any Word document to show what metadata it contains.

[BillD]

Thank you Striker. It appears that the changes only seem to be there if you have "allow fast save" enabled, according to this link which I just got this morning:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1356719,00.asp

This whole thing came up because I was looking for something else last night and came across this link here:

http://www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/blair.htm

And since I have heard warnings for years about this, I decided to try to find changes in a document that had gone thru repeated changes just to see if it worked . . . and there was nothing significant there; it only found one change. So, in accordance with the first link above, I looked in the Word setup, and "allow fast save" was not checked by default. Never knew about it before. Needless to say, my MS Word book (published by MS) says nothing about it. Wonder what the purpose of allowing it is, unless you want to save this stuff?Incidently, what are you doing with Word; thought you just deleted all MS stuff from your computer . . . ?? Thanks,BillEdit: Thank you for "doc scrubber"; I just downloaded it and tried it on Win98SE document mentioned above, and it gave more info than I had been able to get out of it before, but still did not show the changes . . . Edited January 13, 2007 by BillD

[striker]

I used the below on ...

I think you fist have to save the document, after that let Doc Scrubber analyze it. That's how I did it way back then and it always showed me what was changed aka added behind my back.

[goretsky]

Hello,Perhaps this guide to using the Track Changes feature in Microsoft word will be of use.RegardsAryeh Goretsky

[teacher]

Wonder what the purpose of allowing it is, unless you want to save this stuff?Bill

You can find a lot of the info by simply right clicking on the doc in your directory and then looking at the properties. Why would you want to save this stuff?I frequently look at things like this on student work. If a student has created a five page document in five minutes I look to see where things came from and know that it is not their work. It also shows me who was logged onto the computer when a document was created (the originator of the doc). Why use fast save? Ever have a power disruption kill your computer when in a long document? Or do something important and have it saved on a server drive and lose your connection? Fast save is my friend. Now if you are typing something you don't want to get back to you then perhaps it would be best to not type it at all. On the other hand, you could simply eliminate track changes and fast saves. Then again, perhaps with an education mind set I think a bit differently.

[RandomBox]

I don't know if this is what you are referring to: Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data

Brief DescriptionWith this add-in you can permanently remove hidden data and collaboration data, such as change tracking and comments, from Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint files.

Unfortunately, you must FIRST allow Microsoft site to verify that Genuine Validation of your Office installation. Then you can continue with downloading the utility.Else, you can manually remove personal information from document/file properties on save.In Office/Word® Options, under the Security tab, there is a check box for Privacy options that reads:

Remove personal information from from file properties on save.

Additionally, some of the private data that is stored with each Word® document can be viewed/modified via the File pulldown menu and then clicking on the Properties of the document!Is this the direction that you wanted to go to with your original question??

[RandomBox]

Temmu,Those are the revisioning information.Each document also {ALSO} carries a set of information (name of owner, and many other vital stats) as a part of the generated document unless one goes thru the trouble of expunging them out!This is something to be careful about when generating resumes and such. Such information is an integral part of any Word® document.