Download: Clean up Risky Documents with TRACE!

If you use Microsoft Office at work or at home, you'll be interested in a free download that scans for unintended or inappropriate content in Microsoft Office documents.

WorkShare is a company that specializes in software that helps organizations make sure their documents are secure and are compliant with company policy and any legal requirements. The offer a free tool called TRACE! that scans Office documents and reports back to you the level (High, Medium, Low) of each risk as well as an overall document score on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being highest risk.

For companies this is invaluable, but it can also help individuals or even students avoid embarassing problems. Not many people check their document properties, or use the reviewing toolbar when making changes. For businesses, TRACE! checks against some US legislation such as the Data Protection Act.

I wrote up a quick invoice as a MS Word example document. TRACE! discovered every one of the items I hid in various areas of the document. These items are there but aren't always visible unless you are looking for it:

• In the document properties, I had a profanity in the comments section.
• I hilighted the invoice total of $400 and placed a hidden comment that said "Was $300 but I don't like this customer."
• There was a mild profanity in the document body.
• It revealed all of the document properties, including who worked on the document and when.
• My private unlisted home telephone number was in the document properties.

In each of these cases, TRACE! discovered the risk and reported them to me. My sample invoice was a medium-high risk with a score of 4/5. If you are the only user on your computer, this tool might not be that handy but if you share your computer with others or create business documents, TRACE! may one day help save you some embarrassment.

You can download TRACE! for free here.

Tags: computers, freeware, microsoft, software, t4t