When you type a Word document, you are usually only thinking about the final outcome. If you have a change or correction that needs to be made, you make it and probably think that the change has disappeared. However, this is not always the case.
Microsoft Office (along with many other programs) does not just save your document, it also tracks the changes you make along the way. This enables use of features such as Undo and Redo, but it can also lead to embarrassment if your file contained confidential information. If you send the file to anyone else, they can also see the changes that were made.
I recently had a contract emailed to me by a company. When I opened the file, I was able to go through it and see other people who had received the same contract (just with their information instead of mine). While I did not pay attention to the details, I contacted the company to inform them of this problem so they could prevent it in the future.
The ability to see text that has been deleted has made national and international headlines before. When the UN released its report on the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the final report contained much less information than the original draft. In fact, the UN removed much of the information regarding who it suspected was responsible for the murder.
If you want to secure your document, go to the "Info" page of the File menu, and select "Manage Versions". From here, you can see if there are changes that can be viewed, and you can eliminate the ability of anyone to go back through previous versions.
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