> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.draftable.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Draftable Clean Metadata cleaning profiles

> Learn how to create, configure, and manage cleaning profiles in Draftable Clean to control exactly which metadata is removed from your documents.

<Info>
  Screenshots labelled **26.10 and later** show Draftable Clean 26.10.0. Use the earlier-version tab if your settings look different. Your desktop version appears at the bottom right of the main application window.
</Info>

Cleaning profiles give you control over which metadata types are removed, preserved, or replaced when you clean your documents. Different documents may need different levels of cleaning: a contract going to a client needs thorough cleaning, while an internal draft may only need light cleaning.

## Built-in profiles

Draftable Clean ships with three built-in profiles:

| Profile | Purpose |
| - | - |
| **Standard Clean** | Designed for files being sent externally — cleans all metadata except OLE objects, structured document tags, obfuscated text, and bookmarks |
| **Clean Share** | Preserves the same metadata as Standard Clean, and additionally preserves tracked changes |
| **Clean Draft** | Intended for internal or trusted recipients — preserves the same metadata as Standard Clean, plus tracked changes and comments |

## Using profiles in the main view

### Setting the global profile

The global **Profile** dropdown is located in the header bar at the top of the file list. Changing this applies the selected profile to all files.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Click the **Profile** dropdown in the header bar.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select the profile you want to apply — for example, **Clean Draft**.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe/images/Draftable-clean-images/14.%20Set%20all%20to%20one%20profile%20using%20toolbar%20profile%20selector.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe&q=85&s=787bc8245a5d940d5de2a304e8b9f871" width="2014" height="1102" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/14. Set all to one profile using toolbar profile selector.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>

  <Step>
    All files in the list are updated to use the selected profile.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Overriding the profile for a single file

Each file row has its own **Profile** dropdown. You can set a different profile for individual files without affecting the rest.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Find the file you want to change in the file list.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Click the **Profile** dropdown on that file's row and select a different profile.

    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe/images/Draftable-clean-images/15.%20set%20one%20file%20to%20different%20cleaning%20profile%20using%20fie-level%20selector.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe&q=85&s=7eb5038fce115ac3e6cd62060c9a7ea8" width="2019" height="1104" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/15. set one file to different cleaning profile using fie-level selector.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Per-file profile overrides are useful when preparing a batch of documents where some are going externally (use Standard Clean) and others are staying internal (use Clean Draft). You can clean them all in one pass.
</Tip>

When you click **Clean**, each file is cleaned according to its assigned profile.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe/images/Draftable-clean-images/10.%20Files%20cleaned.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UWnWsz4Ki4oPJdoe&q=85&s=fd88eaab47d665a2dcce9cdaa949b514" width="2024" height="1109" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/10. Files cleaned.png" />
</Frame>

## Managing profiles in Settings

Cleaning profiles may be managed centrally by your administrator — see [Configuring preferences for your organization](/hc/en-us/Draftable-Clean-articles/Configuring-preferences-for-your-organisation-Draftable-Clean). If your organization has not deployed administrator-managed profiles, you can create, edit, or delete profiles by opening the **Settings** panel via the gear icon and navigating to the **Profile** section.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/n0yaiS_CjslIfV3x/images/Draftable-clean-images/0.%20Profile%20settings.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=n0yaiS_CjslIfV3x&q=85&s=545a199e0df52f040b588fe0e74dd192" width="1024" height="578" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/0. Profile settings.png" />
</Frame>

### Profile settings overview

The Profile settings page shows:

* **Profile dropdown** — Select the profile you want to view or edit
* **Actions** — Set as default, Delete, Rename
* **New** — Create a new profile from scratch
* **Search metadata** — Search for specific metadata types within the profile
* **File type categories** — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and Image files, each with their own metadata configuration

### Metadata categories per file type

Each file type (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, and Image) can be expanded to show its metadata categories. For each category, you can choose to **Preserve all** or **Remove all**, or configure individual metadata types. The available metadata types differ by format — for example, Excel exposes formula and worksheet metadata, while image files expose EXIF, GPS location, and other embedded image metadata. See [Supported Metadata Types](/hc/en-us/Draftable-Clean-articles/Supported-Metadata-Types) for the full per-format reference.

<Note>
  For some images, metadata cannot be preserved selectively according to your profile settings. When this happens, Draftable Clean displays a warning that all metadata had to be removed.
</Note>

The categories available for configuration are:

| Category | What it includes |
| - | - |
| **Personal Information** | Author, company, creator, extended property, last saved by, location, manager, producer, user address, user initials, user name |
| **Document Properties** | Category, content status, created date, description, document version, identifier, keywords, language, modified date, printed date, revision number, security, shared document, subject, title, total editing time, annotation, characters, characters with spaces, document variable, ink annotation, lines, pages, paragraphs, smart tag, structured document tag, thumbnail, words |
| **Tracked Changes & Comments** | Comments, comments author, comments date, tracked changes, tracked changes author, tracked changes date |
| **Document Content** | Attached files, bookmarks, form fields, hidden text, highlighted text, alternative text, animations, audio files, charts, EXIF, footer, formula, header, hidden column, hidden object, hidden rows, hidden sheet, hidden slide, hyperlinks, ICC profile, IPTC, links, maker note, notes, obfuscated text, off-slide content, OLE objects, picture, small text, video files, XML comments, XMP |
| **Other Metadata** | Custom property, custom UI, custom views, custom XML, data connections, defined name, defined name comment, digital signature, JavaScript, presentation tag, printer settings, scenario comment, scenarios, slide tag, unclassified, unused master, VBA code, worksheet property |

<Note>
  For a full list of every individual metadata type that Draftable Clean can detect and clean, see [Supported Metadata Types](/hc/en-us/Draftable-Clean-articles/Supported-Metadata-Types).
</Note>

### Creating a new profile

<Steps>
  <Step>
    In the Profile settings page, click **New** in the top-right corner.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Enter a name for the new profile.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Configure the metadata types you want to remove, preserve, or replace for each file type category.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    The new profile will appear in the Profile dropdown in both the Settings page and the main application view.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Setting a default profile

Click **Set as default** next to the profile name to make it the default profile for all new cleaning sessions. New files uploaded into Draftable Clean will automatically use the default profile.

### Enforced must-clean metadata (administrators)

Administrators can require specific metadata types to be removed whenever cleaning runs, regardless of which profile is applied, including new custom profiles. These enforced "must-clean" rules are set centrally via Group Policy and cannot be overridden by a profile's settings. **Skip Cleaning** leaves files unchanged, so do not assign it where metadata removal is required. See [Configuring preferences with Group Policy](/hc/en-us/Draftable-Clean-articles/Configuring-preferences-with-Group-Policy-Draftable-Clean) for setup details.

## Profiles in the Outlook add-in

In the Outlook add-in, recipient email domains normally determine the cleaning profile. Configure this in **Settings > Add-In**, or use the rules supplied by your administrator. Per-attachment overrides may also be available if your administrator allows them.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="26.10 and later">
    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/3A8RQ0_UZjddxzZd/images/Draftable-clean-images/clean-addin-settings-2610.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=3A8RQ0_UZjddxzZd&q=85&s=7eea61ed54307b1f67c5f4bb5ae192a9" alt="No-recipient profile selection and domain rules in Draftable Clean 26.10" width="1120" height="510" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/clean-addin-settings-2610.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Before 26.10">
    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/4GZnr6__Fw-bKm5E/images/Draftable-clean-images/0.%20Add-in%20settings%201.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=4GZnr6__Fw-bKm5E&q=85&s=a845c5cb94ff2cbb006f56840dcadc34" alt="Profile selection and domain rules in an earlier Draftable Clean release" width="1259" height="797" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/0. Add-in settings 1.png" />
    </Frame>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### How domain-based profile selection works

When you compose an email with attachments, Draftable Clean evaluates recipient domains against your **Domain Rules**. Before recipients are entered, choose **App default**, a named cleaning profile, or **Skip Cleaning (do not clean)** in **Settings > Add-In**.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/draftable/3A8RQ0_UZjddxzZd/images/Draftable-clean-images/clean-skip-no-recipients-2610.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=3A8RQ0_UZjddxzZd&q=85&s=752536fb46a6812a0585be026764354c" alt="No-recipient profile menu with Skip Cleaning available" width="1120" height="510" data-path="images/Draftable-clean-images/clean-skip-no-recipients-2610.png" />
</Frame>

**Skip Cleaning** is a special Outlook option, not a fourth built-in desktop cleaning profile. Attachments are labelled **Skipped** and remain unchanged. Use **Draftable Clean 26.10.0 or later** with **Outlook add-in 1.12.110.0 or later** for this feature.

If **"Allow users to override the cleaning profile per attachment"** is enabled, users can also change the profile for individual files using the per-file **Profile** dropdown in the add-in panel.

### Domain Rules

The Domain Rules table in **Settings > Add-In** controls the mapping between recipient domains and cleaning profiles:

| Name | Domains | Profile |
| - | - | - |
| **Internal** | `yourfirm.com` | Clean Draft |
| **Default** | All other domains | Standard Clean |

* Click **+ Add Rule** to create additional domain-to-profile mappings
* Domain rules also match subdomains — a rule for `acme.com` will match `mail.acme.com`
* The most specific domain match takes precedence for each recipient
* You can assign **Skip Cleaning (do not clean)** to a rule. Skipping applies only when **every recipient** resolves to a skip rule. If any recipient matches a cleaning rule or no rule, a cleaning profile or the default profile takes precedence
* Keep the **Default** rule assigned to a cleaning profile such as **Standard Clean** for other recipients

<Note>
  All profile creation and editing is done in the desktop application — the add-in uses profiles but does not provide an interface to modify them.
</Note>


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