cloakfold.

SHARING POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

Remove PowerPoint metadata, keep your notes

Sharing an editable deck should not mean sharing its author details or review discussion. Remove supported properties and comments from a separate copy, while keeping speaker notes unless you deliberately choose otherwise.

Preparing a different Office attachment? Choose what the recipient needs.

Author details and speaker notes are different choices

A name in “Last saved by” is a file property. Comments hold review discussion and reviewer identities. Speaker notes are presentation content and may be useful to your recipient. Removing properties does not erase names on slides or in retained notes.

  • Remove properties and comments: removes supported outer file properties, legacy comments and authors, and the preview association. Speaker notes stay by default. A preview picture used by slide or notes content stays.
  • Remove speaker notes: removes whole notes pages, notes-master content and notes-only pictures. Properties, comments and previews stay by default.
  • Remove both: on either tool, deliberately check the optional “Also remove…” box before selecting files. It starts unchecked. This produces one copy with both supported scopes removed, including whole notes pages.

These links open the separate tools with their usual defaults. Check the displayed scope before choosing or dropping files. Keep your original so you can recover anything you later need.

01 · IN YOUR BROWSER

Clean properties and comments with notes retained

Cloakfold is free, needs no account and processes files locally on your device. Files are never uploaded. The tool needs JavaScript; this guide does not.

  1. Open PowerPoint properties cleanup. Leave “Also remove speaker notes” unchecked to keep notes. Read the scope, then choose 1–5 .pptx files, up to 20 MB combined.
  2. Read each status and exact removal report. Modern comments and other unsupported features cause whole-file refusal, with no partial output. A failed file does not stop later files. Read the supported scope and limits.
  3. Match each original to its neutral output name in the local results. One file uses cloakfold-cleaned.pptx; a set uses positional names such as document-01-cleaned.pptx. Download completed copies individually or explicitly prepare the ZIP. It contains successes only, excluding failed or cancelled files. If ZIP preparation fails, individual downloads remain available.
  4. Open the intended output in your editor and review it before sharing. Keep the local original-to-copy mapping before leaving or reloading cleanup, which discards results. Original filenames are not used in the ZIP.

Need a copy without hidden slides? The separate hidden-slide job also removes supported properties, comments and preview. Notes on remaining slides stay. All templates, including unused layouts and their content, remain; copies of removed content may remain elsewhere. Review the copy before sharing.

Properties cleanup includes supported outer core, app and custom properties, including stored statistics and custom values. It does not clean inside embedded chart workbooks: their data and nested properties remain. Retained notes, slide and master content, hidden or off-slide content, image metadata, printer data, field text and links can still identify people. A report of zero removals does not mean the file contains no identifying information. This is not body-content redaction or guaranteed anonymity.

02 · IN POWERPOINT

Use Document Inspector on Windows desktop

Work on a saved copy: removal may be irreversible.

  1. Choose File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document.
  2. Select inspection categories, then inspect and review the results.
  3. Use Remove All only beside intended categories. Reinspect and save the copy.

Steps paraphrased from Microsoft: remove personal information from your presentation, checked 20 October 2026.

Choose Document Properties and Personal Information for properties; Comments and Annotations also covers ink. To keep notes, do not remove Presentation Notes. That category removes notes text, not notes pictures. Inspector also misses covered objects and animated off-slide objects; embedded objects require manual review.

Categories and limits: Microsoft: inspect presentations for hidden data, checked 20 October 2026.

Using Mac or the web?

The steps above describe Windows desktop. Consult the linked Microsoft guidance for its supported products; do not assume the same menus on Mac or the web. These are documented instructions, not installed-version tests. Inspector and Cloakfold have different scopes.

Review the copy you will actually send

  • Confirm that you chose the intended scope. If keeping notes, check that the recipient should receive their text and pictures.
  • Review visible slides, hidden slides, off-slide objects, masters, pictures, links and field text for names or confidential content.
  • Check remaining properties, comments and notes in your editor, along with content and formatting. Editing and saving a Cloakfold copy can recreate properties or previews; review the final saved file.
  • Use the local mapping to select the correct output. Account for files excluded from a ZIP, choose a suitable filename and attach the reviewed copy, keeping the original separately.