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Overview

DMeta is an open source Python package that removes metadata of Microsoft Office files.

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Installation

PyPI

• Check Python Packaging User Guide
• Run pip install dmeta==0.4

Source code

• Download Version 0.4 or Latest Source
• Run pip install .

Usage

In Python

⚠️ Use in_place to apply the changes directly to the original file.

⚠️in_place flag is False by default.

Clear metadata for a .docx file in place

import os
from dmeta.functions import clear

DOCX_FILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "sample.docx")
clear(DOCX_FILE_PATH, in_place=True)

Clear metadata for all existing microsoft files (.docx|.pptx|.xlsx) in the current directory

from dmeta.functions import clear_all
clear_all()

Update metadata for a .pptx file in place

import os
from dmeta.functions import update

CONFIG_FILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "config.json") 
DOCX_FILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "sample.pptx")
update(CONFIG_FILE_PATH, DOCX_FILE_PATH, in_place=True)

Update metadata for all existing microsoft files (.docx|.pptx|.xlsx) in the current directory

import os
from dmeta.functions import update_all

CONFIG_FILE_PATH = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "config.json") 
update_all(CONFIG_FILE_PATH)

CLI

⚠️ You can use dmeta or python -m dmeta to run this program

⚠️ Use --inplace to apply the changes directly to the original file.

Clear metadata for a .docx file in place

dmeta --clear "./test_a.docx" --inplace

Clear metadata for all existing microsoft files (.docx|.pptx|.xlsx) in the current directory

dmeta --clear-all

Update metadata for a .xlsx file in place

dmeta --update "./test_a.xlsx" --config "./config.json" --inplace

Update metadata for all existing microsoft files (.docx|.pptx|.xlsx) files in the current directory

dmeta --update-all --config "./config.json"

Version

dmeta -v
dmeta --version

Info

dmeta --info

Dmeta as pre-commit hook

To ensure that no Microsoft Office files ever enter your repo with embedded metadata, you can use Dmeta’s built-in pre-commit hooks.

1. Install the pre-commit framework

If you don’t already have it:

pip install pre-commit

2. Add Dmeta to your project’s .pre-commit-config.yaml

In your project root, create or update .pre-commit-config.yaml:

repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/openscilab/dmeta.git
    rev: v0.4 # minimum v0.4 or commit SHA
    hooks:
      - id: clear-metadata

• rev: must exactly match the minimum tag supporting pre-commit hooks or the commit SHA where the targetted .pre-commit-hooks.yaml exists.

3. Install the hook

pre-commit install # or pre_commit install (in windows)

Now, every time you git commit, Dmeta will automatically clear metadata from any Microsoft files in-place.

⚠️ Important: Clean Before You Commit

Do not stage or add Microsoft Office files before removing their metadata.

If you run git add on Office files that still contain embedded metadata, the pre-commit hook will attempt to clean them in-place, which modifies the files after they’ve been staged. As a result, Git will block the commit because the content has changed mid-process.

✅ Suggested Correct Workflow

1. Let the hook run automatically on earlier commits that didn’t add Office files, or run it manually. To do manually you can run pre-commit run clear-metadata --all-files

2. Then:

   git add <cleaned-files>
   git commit -m "Your message"

Supported files

File format	support
Microsoft Word (.docx)	✅
Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx)	✅
Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)	✅

Issues & bug reports

Just fill an issue and describe it. We'll check it ASAP! or send an email to [email protected].

• Please complete the issue template

You can also join our discord server

Acknowledgments

Python Software Foundation (PSF) granted DMeta library partially for version(s) 0.4. PSF is the organization behind Python. Their mission is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers.

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If you do like our project and we hope that you do, can you please support us? Our project is not and is never going to be working for profit. We need the money just so we can continue doing what we do ;-) .