NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

October 2014

What is Metadata? “Metadata”

o Data about data. • Structural metadata indicates how compound objects are put

together, for example, how pages are ordered to form chapters.• Descriptive metadata describes a resource for purposes such as

discovery and identification. It can include elements such as title, abstract, author, and keywords.

• Administrative metadata provides information to help manage a resource, such as when and how it was created, file type and other technical information, and who can access it.

The term metadata is used differently in different communities.o In addition to the traditional definition of metadata (see

above), some define metadata more broadly to include additional information contained in files such as track changes, comments, hidden information, and embedded objects.

How is Metadata Created?

Whenever you create, open, or save a document in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, the document automatically stores information — known as metadata — that you had no intention of including or disclosing. Metadata can also be created by a user.

Metadata is also stored in PDF files, but unlike with the Microsoft Office Suite, someone has to intentionally put it there.

Examples of Metadata

Your name Your initials Your company or

organization name The name of your

computer The name of the network

server or hard disk where you saved the document

Document revisions Document versions

Template information Personalized views Non-visible portions of

embedded OLE objects (e.g. Graphs/Charts)

Track changes Hidden text or cells Hidden Rows and

Columns Hidden worksheets Comments

Microsoft Office Applications each have 80+ fields of metadata.

Why Do We Care About Metadata?

Metadata is used for a variety of legitimate purposes, and it adds functionality to the editing, viewing, filing, and retrieving capabilities of Microsoft Office.

However, if some of this information is inadvertently passed on to other parties (e.g. potential offerors, during protest litigation), that disclosure can have adverse consequences.

How Can Metadata Be Released?

Electronic Files are released to the “public” in multiple ways:o NAIS and FEDBIZOPPS (e.g. Solicitations, JOFOCs, Source

Selection Statements)o Procurement Librarieso FOIA Responseso Day-to-Day Contract Administrationo Center External/Publically Accessible Websiteso Protest Litigation

What is the Risk of Releasing Metadata?

The risk of releasing metadata ranges from embarrassing to having potentially severe implication.

Embarrassing:o You send a model contract along with a draft SOW from your COR to your

boss for review. You tell your boss you spent the past two weeks working on the model contract without help from anyone but CMM, but the metadata could reveal that you only worked on the model contract for a few minutes because you used an old contract to start from instead of generating it new from CMM, you collaborated with other people on what clause updates were needed, and the SOW was actually written by a contractor.

Potentially Severe Implications:o In preparing a PowerPoint presentation for a pre-solicitation conference, the

Resource Analyst inserts a graph from an Excel spreadsheet as an embedded object into the charts showing historical trends in spending over the life of the predecessor contract. Unbeknown to the Resource Analyst, when they inserted the graph into the charts, it also created a copy of the entire excel workbook from which the graph came from which also included historical labor rates, indirect rates, and the In House Government Estimate for the follow-on contract. Unknowing to you as the CO, you post the charts in a procurement library for all potential offerors to see.

Application Specific Topics

Word 2010 Track Changes Comments Hidden Text Non-Visible Portions of Embedded OLE Objects

(e.g. Graphs/Charts) Header/Footer Information File Properties

Track Changes (Word 2010)

1) On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click the arrow next to Show Markup.

2) Make sure a check mark appears next to each of the following items:o Commentso Ink Annotationso Insertions and Deletionso Formattingo Reviewers (Point to Reviewers and make sure that All Reviewers is selected.)

Track Changes (Word 2010) (Cont.)4) On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Next or Previous.

5) Do one of the following:o In the Changes group, click Accept.o In the Changes group, click Reject.

6) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all the tracked changes in the document have been accepted or rejected and all the comments have been deleted.

7) Save the document.

NOTES  If you know that you want to accept all the changes, click Accept, and then

click Accept All Changes in Document. If you know that you want to reject all the changes, click Reject, and then

click Reject All Changes in Document. To remove all comments, you must delete them. In the Comments group,

click the arrow next to Delete, and then click Delete All Comments in Document.

Excel 2010 Hidden Worksheets Hidden Columns/Rows Comments Headers/Footers Non-visible Portions of Embedded OLE Objects

(e.g. Graphs/Charts) Track Changes File Properties

Hidden Worksheets (Excel 2010)

1) On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format.

2) Under Visibility, click Hide & Unhide, and then click Unhide Sheet.

3) In the Unhide box, double-click the name of the hidden sheet that you want to display.

Hidden Columns/Rows (Excel 2010)

1) On the Home tab, click “Find & Select”, and then select “Go To Special...”

2) Select “Visible cells only”, then click “OK”

3) All cells on the sheet will show a “blueish/grey with the exception of where the hidden rows and/or columns are located. Those will be highlighted by a white line. (See the next for a screenshot)

NOTES  This process needs to be run on each

worksheet (i.e. each tab) within the entire workbook until all hidden rows/columns that were identified using the “Document Inspector” Tool are accounted for.

This process can also be used to find comments within a worksheet.

Hidden Columns/Rows (Excel 2010)(Cont.)

Example of hidden rows and columns highlighted by the white lines. All cells are selected, with the exception of the hidden rows and columns.

PowerPoint 2010 Presenter Notes Hidden Slides Header/Footers Master Slide Non-visible portions of embedded OLE

objects (e.g. Graphs/Charts) Comments File properties

Non-visible portions of embedded OLE objects

(PowerPoint 2010) Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is used to

make content that is created in one program available in another program. o For example, you can insert a graph created in Excel into

a PowerPoint presentation.

Non-visible portions of embedded OLE objects

(PowerPoint 2010) (cont.) When copying and pasting from Excel into

PowerPoint, it creates an OLE object. (The same thing happens in Word.)

When the OLE object is created, without warning, it also copies over the entire workbook used to create the object as well.o This means that all spreadsheets in the workbook that

was used to create the graph also gets migrated into the PowerPoint presentation.

Instead of using the regular “paste” feature use “paste picture” instead.

o This inserts the chart as a “picture” without the associated data in the rest of the workbook.

Adobe PDF Title/Subject/Author/Keyword File Attachments Annotations and Comments Form Field Information or Actions OCR Text Hidden Layers Embedded Search Index

Redacting Sensitive Information

Adobe PDF – Redacting Sensitive Information

Redacting Sensitive Informationo Using the “Highlight Text Tool”, changing the highlight color

to black and saving the document is, by itself, not sufficient for redactions in electronic versions of the document. • Note: This method is acceptable if the document is printed and

rescanned.o Acrobat Pro versions of Adobe (not standard on ACES

computers) contains a “Redaction Tool” that should be used if you desire to redact electronic versions of PDFs for distribution.

Methods for Ensuring A Clean File “Document Inspector” Tool – Microsoft Office Tool Save as a “PDF” Removing Hidden Information and Metadata –

Adobe PDF Print and Scan

“Document Inspector” Tool – Microsoft Office

You can use the Document Inspector to find and remove hidden data and personal information. 1) Click the File tab, and then click

Info.

2) Under Prepare for Sharing, click Check for Issues, and then click Inspect Document.Tip: The changes made by the Document Inspector are permanent. Considering saving an “original” copy of the document prior to running the document inspector as metadata removal can produce unexpected results.

“Document Inspector” Tool (cont.)

3) In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes to choose the types of hidden content that you want to be inspected.

4) Click Inspect.

“Document Inspector” Tool (cont.)5) Review the results of the

inspection in the Document Inspector dialog box.

6) Click Remove All next to the inspection results for the types of hidden content that you want to remove from your document.

Tip: When you hit “Remove All”, it does not give you the option to see what it is removing, it just removes it and it is permanently gone. (Reminder to see the first tip.) Suggest investigating the warning in the document itself before removing it using the tool, it might be something you want to keep.

Saving as a “PDF”1) Click the File Tab, then click Save & Send.2) Under File Types click Create PDF/XPS Document, and then

click Create a PDF/XPS.

Saving as a “PDF” (cont.)

3) In the File Name box, enter a name for the file, if you haven’t already.

4) Click Publish.

Removing Hidden Information and Metadata -Adobe PDF – Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader1) Under File, click Properties.2) Edit fields as necessary.3) Click Additional Metadata.4) Edit fields as necessary.5) Save document.

Removing Hidden Information and Metadata -

Adobe PDF – Adobe 9 Adobe 9

1) Under Document, click Examine Document.

• Once you select this option, a panel will open on the left-hand side and start to run an analysis of the document.

• If metadata is found, it is listed in the Examine Document panel with a selected check box beside each item.

• Metadata categories include author’s name, keywords, file attachments, annotations and comments, form fields, hidden text, hidden layers, bookmarks, embedded search index, deleted hidden page and image content.

2) Uncheck any boxes for items you do not want removed from the document.3) Click Remove.4) Save your document.

Removing Hidden Information and Metadata -

Adobe PDF – Adobe X Adobe X

1) Under Tools, click Protection.2) Under Hidden Information, click Remove Hidden Information

• Once you select this option, a panel will open on the left-hand side and start to run an analysis of the document.

• If metadata is found, it is listed in the Remove Hidden Information panel with a selected check box beside each item.

• Metadata categories include author’s name, keywords, file attachments, annotations and comments, form fields, hidden text, hidden layers, bookmarks, embedded search index, deleted hidden page and image content.

3) Uncheck any boxes for items you do not want removed from the document.4) Click Remove.5) Save your document.

Print and Scan1) Print out your file.2) Use copier to scan document and email to

yourself via PDF.

Questions

Backup Charts

Links How to Minimize Metadata in Office Documents Removing Hidden Data From Word Removing Hidden Data From Excel Removing Hidden Data From PowerPoint NSA -- Hidden

Data and Metadata in Adobe PDF Files: Publication Risks and Countermeasures

NSA -- Redaction of PDF Files Using Adobe Acrobat Professional X

Removing Metadata from PDFs Acrobat 9 and X – US District Courts

Removing Sensitive Content from PDFs

Document Inspector Data Fields - Word

Document Inspector Data Fields - Excel

Document Inspector Data Fields - PowerPoint

Adobe PDF – Examine Document Tool

Content type

Type of content Where to view in Acrobat

Metadata Information about the document used for searching and managing files, such as content, keywords, subject and author’s name

Choose File > Properties

File attachments

Files attached to the file before generating the PDF file from the source program, or those attached within Acrobat

Choose View > Navigation Panels > Attachments

Annotations and comments

All comments added to the document using the Comments & Markup tools, any files attached as comments

Choose View > Navigation Panels > Comments

Adobe PDF – Examine Document Tool

Content type

Type of content Where to view in Acrobat

Form field logic or actions

Form fields—including signature fields—are flattened, actions and calculations are removed

Choose Forms > Add or Edit Fields or View > Navigation Panels > Signatures

Hidden text Text in the PDF document that is covered by an image or other text, is transparent, or uses the same color as the background

Click Show Preview on the Examine PDF panel

Hidden layers The layers in a document can be specified as hidden or shown; hidden layers are deleted and remaining layers are flattened into a single layer

Choose View > Navigation Panels > Layers

Adobe PDF – Examine Document Tool

Content type

Type of content Where to view in Acrobat

Bookmarks A panel listing of text items used for linking to specific locations and magnifications in the document

Choose View > Navigation Panels > Bookmarks

Embedded search index

A text index embedded into a file to speed up search processes

Choose Advanced > Document Processing > Manage Embedded Index

Hidden page and image content

Content removed from a document such as text or images or cropped page segments are included as file elements

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