How to Remove Hidden Text in a Word Document

1. Start Word and open the document with the hidden text you want to view. Click on the 'Microsoft Office' button, and then click 'Save As.' Type a 'New Filename' in the field to save a copy of your original document. According to Microsoft, you cannot use the 'Undo' function to return hidden information to a document once it is removed, so it is best to create a copy of the final version of the document and remove the hidden data from the copy in case you need the hidden data later to make changes to the file.
2. Click the 'Microsoft Office' button in the document copy. Select 'Prepare' and click 'Inspect Document' from the menu. There are five main categories of data to check in the 'Document Inspector' dialog box such as 'Comments and Revisions,' 'Document Properties and Personal Information,' and 'Headers, Footers and Watermarks.' By default, all categories are checked.
3. Click 'Inspect' to check for all hidden data. To leave groups of hidden data out of the inspection, clear the check box in front of the category name. It takes a few seconds for Document Inspector to run before the results appear.
4. Go over the inspection results. When Document Inspector finds hidden data, it displays an exclamation mark icon in front of the category and lists the data it finds. A blue check mark in a category indicates no hidden data. To remove the data, click the 'Remove All' button in the category. If you want to leave all hidden data, click the 'Close' button. When you are done removing hidden data, click 'Close.'
5. Save the file by clicking on the 'Microsoft Office' button and clicking 'Save.'