ID: Q190732
The information in this article applies to:
If you open a Word for Windows document in a text editor such as Windows Notepad, the file may contain text that was previously deleted.
This behavior is by design in Microsoft Word when you save a document with the Allow Fast Saves option selected. Word records only the changes to the document and appends them to the end of the file. This means that your document still contains the deleted text, even though it does not appear on the screen. Word removes deleted text from your document only when you perform a full save. (To display the Allow Fast Saves option, click Options on the Tools menu and click the Save tab.)
Use either of the following methods if you do not want a document to contain any deleted text.
To prevent a document from ever containing deleted text that someone could view with a text editor, disable the Allow Fast Saves option and perform a full save. To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and click the Save tab.
2. Click to clear the Allow Fast Saves check box.
3. Save your document.
When you do this, Word incorporates all the changes and permanently removes the deleted text.
This method allows you to continue to use the Fast Save feature. To use this method, follow these steps:
1. When all final revisions are completed, select the entire document and
click Copy on the Edit menu.
original document into a new document.
Word always performs a full save when the Allow Fast Saves option is turned off. In addition, even with the Allow Fast Saves option turned on, Word periodically performs a full save of your document.
The Allow Fast Saves option provides greater operating speed while working in Word. It requires less time to append changes (fast save) than to incorporate them into your document (full save).
Additional query words: fastsave safety confidential
Keywords : kbdta word7 word95
Version : WINDOWS:7.0,7.0a
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprbLast Reviewed: May 19, 1999