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I am using LibreOffice on Linux. One way I know of viewing and removing metadata from a LibreOffice file is going to File -> Properties -> General, unchecking “apply user data” and click reset. Then go to “Description” and “Custom” Properties and remove information from there, if exists.

Does it truly remove all the metadata or something is left and what is it and what other methods can I use to remove it?

Also, if I unzip a LibreOffice file, is contents.xml the only place where metadata may be found?

If I forgot to remove any metadata, is it possible that the username is transmitted?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I figured it out. The method in my question is not enough, because it doesn't remove all metadata! It doesn't delete metadata such as editing-duration, editing-cycles and generator. generator contains your LibreOffice version and operating system, I don't know why the developers didn't mention that anywhere.

To remove metadata from a LibreOffice file:

  1. If your file is document.odt, rename it to document.zip

  2. Open the zip and remove the meta.xml file

  3. Rename from document.zip back to document.odt. If you open the file after that, edit it and save it, metadata will get written into it again so don't edit the file after removing the metadata.

Tip: use exiftool to check the metadata before and after.

If there is any other identifying information or information that make fingerprinting possible inside the document please comment or edit the question or add your own answer.

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Also make sure to remove the PrinterName and PrinterSetup config items in settings.xml since they also contain potentially identifying information.

Steps:

  1. If your file is document.odt, rename it to document.zip
  2. Open the zip and edit the settings.xml file
  3. Remove the <config:config-item config:name="PrinterSetup" [...] </config:config-item> and <config:config-item config:name="PrinterName" [...] </config:config-item> XML elements.

Apart from that I found no other problematic content.

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    Feb 23 at 22:16

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