Sending Documents Through Email? Dont Get Burned by Metadata!

During a recent seminar I gave located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I discussed something called, "metadata". When I asked whether anyone ever heard of metadata, I was confronted with blank stares. This is exactly why I decided to write here about what it is and how it can impact your company.

Metadata is information that exists in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Metadata is simply "data about data", and your electronic documents probably contain lots of it. Metadata describes document attributes such as the title, author, content, location, and date of creation.

Knowing this information can be helpful when cataloging electronic information. But metadata can also share confidential and potentially embarrassing information with an unintended audience. Would you want a potential customer of yours finding out historical data regarding the original author of the document you sent them? How many times it was edited? Who was editing the document? It's possible?.especially if you are a user of the Track Changes feature in Microsoft Word.

So I'm sure all of you are thinking, "How do I keep this information from leaving the company?" One option for you is to pdf documents with a pdf creator program before sending it. A good free pdf creator is PDF995. You can download it for free at http://www.pdf995.com.

There are enterprise level programs on the market that will clean this information from documents too if you'd prefer to just clean the document before you send it to someone. A good program to use is called Metadata Protect, by a company called Workshare. Metadata Protect allows corporations to set global policies on their computer network to lower the risk of dangerous metadata leaving the company.

Anthony Licate is the President of Spidernet Technical Consulting, LLC (http://www.spidernetconsulting.com). Spidernet Technical Consulting helps companies operate more effectively by means of reducing their computer support issues and streamlining how they work. He has worked with multiple types of businesses to strategize, re-align and implement technology. Anthony can be reached at aj@spidernetconsulting.com

---

Hows Your HUB?

Marketing gurus are always coming up with new lingo but oftentimes they are restating the old tried and true concepts in new terms. Marketing students from the... Read More

Avoid Outsourcing Pitfalls in the Injection Molds and Stamping Dies Markets

When looking to outsource overseas for Plastic Injection Molds or Stamping Dies there are many things to consider. Usually price is the first thing to be looked... Read More

Innovation Management ? Six Crucial Steps

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this... Read More

Innovation Management - idea selection and valuation issues

Innovation is different and distinct from creativity in that it is idea selection, development and commercialisation as opposed to creativity, which is problem identification and idea generation.... Read More

Test Your Hiring IQ

The purpose of any selection process is to discriminate (albeit fairly) among job candidates. Your goal is to select the right people, with the right skills, at... Read More

Business Knowledge Management

In the last few years a lot has been written about Business Process Management, and about technologies supporting it such as BPMS, SOAP and Web Services. Most... Read More

Can What Someone Does Off-hours Affect Your Business?

Q: How much do I have to worry about what people who are part of my far-flung "virtual" corporation do when they're not working directly for me?... Read More

Are You in Control of Your Practice or Does it Control You?

One of the most common complaints that business owners have today is that they feel their practice is running them and that they're being pulled in every... Read More

Culture Management and Creativity

Many concepts in the fields of managing creativity are very much applicable to culture management in general. The same concepts that foster creativity and innovation also maximise... Read More

Assertiveness Helps Accomplish Everything

When trying to get something accomplished, assertive behavior is the most effective. Although other methods may accomplish the intended ends, the alternatives imperil our own rights or... Read More

Cultural Differences: Making it Work Virtually

Working virtually adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "cultural differences". It immediately becomes apparent how different people around the world work, live and network.The barriers... Read More

Conference Calling Can Save Your Sales OrganizationTime and Money!

Conference calling can save you money. There is no doubt that in the sales business, every second counts. Whether it be training, sales meetings, or other needs,... Read More

Hiring Great People And How to Be One Yourself: Five Secrets

Bad news.Your senior vice-president, your marketing director or your accounting department head has decided to retire, move to Okinawa or start his own business??and you're left staring,... Read More

Middle-Aged Managers, the Forgotten Digital Divide

The digital divide is defined by the role computers play within widening social gaps in our society, as the condition of one group having an advantage over... Read More

How To Delegate for Fun and Profit

Ah, the wretched pain of delegation. It comes easy to some people. But others ? you know who you are ? would rather undergo a double root... Read More

Getting Information From Prospects

You're at a networking function and you've made that all-important contact. You want to get help from this individual but you know that you need to start... Read More

Working with Hearing Impaired Employees - Giving Them a Fair Go

Hearing impaired people often encounter difficulty at work because their disability isn't visible. I'd like to relate to you, briefly, the sorry saga of a young man... Read More

Coaching Employees in the Workplace

After a full week of training, you are still a little nervous about your new job. All of the information you need to digest, the new environment... Read More

Productivity Through Positive Reinforcement

Most people just want to be appreciated. If you're a manager, that's something to seriously think about as you set the tone for maximum productivity.Ever work for... Read More

A Man and His Razor

It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. William of Ockham This is Ockham's famed Razor. A shorthand version of the... Read More

Reprimanding Marginal Employees

THE MARGINAL PERFORMER: Every manager must, from time to time, deal with a marginal performer - an employee whose work, for the most part, is satisfactory, but... Read More

Managing Client Relationships

Managing Client Relationships: Even the best run organizations occasionally run into difficult situations with clients, consultants, and vendors. Often times it is not just a business process... Read More

Thoughts on Empowerment

People are empowered when they are given the authority and responsibility to make decisions affecting their work with a minimum of interference and second guessing by others.Empowerment... Read More

Morale Boosters: Feed the Troops First

When economic conditions turn tough or when the heavy work load seems never-ending, leaders tend to forget the "basics"?building commitment beyond the paycheck. It's the small things... Read More

Project Management - I Want It ALL

The knee-jerk response to prioritizing requirements is to mark everything as a must-have . "I need everything before the product becomes generally available. I want it ALL!"... Read More

Innovation Management ? forced into it!

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem... Read More