An illustration of a typical result. No real file, name or location is used.
Before — what you would be sending
client-quote.xlsxXLSX
Hidden sheets1 sheet is hidden from view
Original authora.whitfield
CompanyNorthgate Partners LLP
After cleaning
client-quote-clean.xlsxXLSX
Hidden sheetsreported, left for you
Original authorremoved
Companyremoved
Properties blanked. Hidden sheets are reported and left alone — that call is yours.
Spreadsheets leak differently
The document properties are the same as any Office file: author, last modified by, company, timestamps. What is specific to spreadsheets is everything that is present but not visible — hidden sheets, hidden rows and columns, and cached values from external connections.
Hidden sheets are reported, not removed
A hidden sheet frequently holds the working that produced the numbers on the visible ones: cost bases, margins, the model behind a quoted price. This page flags them clearly, but does not delete them, because removing a sheet destroys data and that decision has to be yours.
Before sending a model to a client
The safest habit is to produce a fresh workbook with only what the recipient should see, rather than hiding parts of your working copy. Hiding is a display setting, and it takes two clicks to undo.
In practice
Why hidden sheets are left alone deliberately
Removing a sheet from a workbook is not a metadata operation, it is a content operation, and it can break the file in ways that are not obvious. Formulas on visible sheets frequently reference hidden ones. Delete the hidden sheet and those formulas resolve to reference errors, and the numbers your recipient sees are wrong rather than merely incomplete. That is a worse outcome than the disclosure, so the tool reports and leaves.
Building a clean copy for sending
The reliable approach is to construct a new workbook containing only what the recipient should have. Copy the visible sheets, then paste values rather than formulas so nothing points back at working you did not include. Check for named ranges and conditional formatting rules that still reference the missing sheets. It takes a few minutes and produces a file with nothing to find.
The other places numbers hide
Beyond hidden sheets: rows and columns hidden individually, which do not appear in any sheet list; cells formatted with a white font on a white background, an old trick that still turns up; comments and notes attached to cells; and cached results from external data connections, which can hold values from a database you no longer have access to.
Common questions
Can someone unhide my hidden sheets?
Yes, trivially, by right-clicking any sheet tab. Hiding is not a security measure.
Does cleaning delete my hidden sheets?
No. It reports them and leaves them alone, because deleting a sheet destroys data.