See what else is in the file before you send it
ScrubDrop opens a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file in your browser, lists the hidden data in it, removes what you choose, and then reads the result again with different software before it lets you download it. Nothing is uploaded.
Or try a made-up file first: offer-letter.docx event-budget.xlsx proposal.pptx
What it looks for
- Author, last editor, company and the folder the file was saved in
- Comments, with their authors
- Tracked changes — insertions, deletions, moves, formatting
- Hidden and very hidden sheets, hidden rows and columns
- Pivot-table caches that still hold the source data
- Links to other files, with their paths
- Defined names
- Speaker notes, hidden slides, objects parked off the slide
- Embedded files (a workbook inside a slide)
- In presentations, also ink annotations, replies to comments, hidden and off-slide shapes on layouts no slide uses, PowerPoint’s record of who edited which slide, slide and shape tags, and add-in panes
- Custom XML, document variables, content-control tags
- Editing-session ids (rsid) that can link documents together
- Camera, GPS and software details in pictures
- White or tiny text, and cells outside the print area — shown for you to check
By file type
What is looked for in each format, and which version removes it. “Always” is removed in both versions; “Not removed” is only pointed out.
| Kind | Word | Excel | PowerPoint | Removed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document properties | author, editor, company, template, saved-in path, custom properties | the same, and the name a workbook is reserved under, web publishing paths and custom views | the same | Free |
| Comments | comments, with their authors | notes and threaded comments, with their authors | comments and replies, with their authors | Free |
| Tracked changes | insertions, deletions, moves, formatting | the change history of a shared workbook | — | Free |
| Editing-session ids | rsid, paragraph and document ids | revision ids | object creation ids | Pro |
| Hidden content | hidden text, hidden pictures and shapes | hidden and very hidden sheets, hidden rows, columns and objects | hidden slides, hidden shapes (on layouts too) | Pro |
| Pivot tables and caches | — | pivot tables, caches, slicers, timelines | — | Pro |
| Links to other files | links to files, the attached template, a mail merge source | links to other workbooks, data connections | links to files, pictures linked to a file | Pro |
| Defined names | — | defined names | — | Pro |
| Speaker notes | — | — | notes | Pro |
| Objects outside the slide | — | — | objects off the slide (on layouts too) | Pro |
| Embedded objects | embedded files | embedded files, chart data, controls | embedded files | Pro |
| Custom XML, tags and ink | custom XML, document variables, content-control bindings, ink | custom XML, XML maps, ink | tags, Designer tags, ink | Pro |
| Image metadata | camera, GPS and software details | the same | the same | Pro |
| Parts ScrubDrop does not keep | unrecognised markup (a file with building blocks is refused) | printer settings, unrecognised markup | the record of who edited which slide, add-ins, unrecognised markup | Always |
| White or tiny text | shown for you to check | shown for you to check | shown for you to check | Not removed |
| Cells outside the print area | — | shown for you to check | — | Not removed |
Free and Pro
The free version checks one file at a time, lists everything above, and removes document properties and comments and accepts tracked changes. ScrubDrop Pro takes several files at once, removes the other kinds above, within the limits: pictures in formats it does not clean keep their metadata, some files are refused, and white or tiny text, text hidden only in Web Layout and cells outside the print area are only pointed out, lets you reject tracked changes or choose by author, and writes an audit report of what was found, removed and re-checked. The re-check runs on every file in both.
ScrubDrop Pro: One-time $29 for Personal use or $49 for Commercial use. No subscription, no account, nothing uploaded. Includes all future updates to ScrubDrop Pro while the service is offered.
Use for work — for a business, an organisation or your employer — is Commercial; Personal is for your own documents outside work. Both have the same features and the same key.
If ScrubDrop Pro does not do what you needed, ask for a refund within 30 days (see the terms).
Questions
Is my file uploaded?
No. The file is read and rebuilt by code running in your browser tab, and the page's Content Security Policy blocks its fetch, XHR and beacon requests to this site. The privacy page lists every other address the page may contact and explains how to check it yourself.
Does it work offline?
Once the scrub page has loaded, yes: you can disconnect from the network and check, clean and download a file, because the code that reads, cleans and re-checks the file is already in the page and fetches nothing to do it. The page itself, and each later visit, is loaded from this site, so you need a connection to open it. We have checked this in Chromium (Chrome, Edge) and Firefox; in our WebKit test browser, reading a file failed while the network was switched off, so we do not say it for Safari.
How is this different from Document Inspector?
Document Inspector in Office removes hidden data by kind, inside Office. ScrubDrop rebuilds the file from the parts it knows are needed, so a part of a kind it does not recognise is left out, and markup it does not recognise inside the parts it keeps is dropped or makes it refuse the file. Data hidden inside what it keeps, in a form it does not recognise, can still remain (see what may still remain). It reads the result again with different software before offering it. It runs in a browser, without Office installed.
Will the visible document change?
Only as you chose. The re-check compares the visible text of Word files (with the tracked changes you accept or reject applied, so rejecting a change does change the text), the cell values of Excel files and the slide text of PowerPoint files before and after, and refuses to offer a file where they differ otherwise. Besides tracked changes, two things do change on purpose: removing hidden sheets, rows or columns, defined names or links to other workbooks turns every formula on the sheets that stay into its last calculated value, and removing an embedded object leaves its picture in place. Fields that showed a removed property keep the text they showed.
What does it not do?
It does not read text inside pictures, and it does not decide whether visible text is sensitive. White or tiny text is pointed out, not removed. Macro-enabled files, .xlsb workbooks, files that need a password to open and rights-protected files are refused. Open the cleaned file and look at it before you send it.
What does the re-check actually check?
That the file holds together as a package, that none of the items ScrubDrop recognises in the kinds you chose to remove is left, and that the visible text, values and positions it compares are unchanged. It uses different parsers from the ones that wrote the file, so a mistake in one reading is less likely to be repeated in the other. Passing does not show that nothing hidden remains in a form ScrubDrop does not recognise: see what may still remain.