How to Change the Author of a Word Document

When you create a Word document, Microsoft automatically tags it with the name associated with your Office account or installation. That name appears as the document author in the file's metadata — and it follows the document everywhere: email attachments, shared drives, printed headers, and version histories. Knowing how to update or remove that author information is a practical skill, whether you're cleaning up a template, correcting an old name, or preparing a file for external distribution.

What "Author" Actually Means in a Word Document

Word stores author information in two distinct places, and confusing them is the most common reason people think the change didn't work.

Document Properties (the file metadata): This is the primary author field — visible when you right-click the file in Windows Explorer and check Properties, or when you open File > Info inside Word. It's also what appears in many document management systems.

Tracked Changes and Comments: Every comment or revision is stamped with the name of whoever made it. This is a separate record from the document's main author field, and it requires its own fix.

Understanding which one you're trying to change determines exactly which steps you need to follow.

How to Change the Author Name in Document Properties

Method 1: Edit Via File > Info (Word for Windows and Mac)

This is the most direct route for changing the listed author on an existing document.

1. Open the document in Word.
2. Click File > Info.
3. Look for the Properties panel on the right side. You'll see fields including Author.
4. Click on the author name listed there. On Windows, you may need to click "Add an author" or right-click the existing name to see a Remove Person or edit option.
5. Type the new author name and press Enter.
6. Save the document.

On Mac, the same panel is accessible via File > Properties > Summary tab, where the Author field is directly editable.

Method 2: Change Your Default Office Account Name

If you want all future documents to carry a different author name, the fix happens at the account level — not the document level.

Windows:

1. Go to File > Options > General.
2. Under Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office, update the User name field.
3. Click OK.

Mac:

1. Go to Word > Preferences > User Information.
2. Update the name field.

This change affects new documents going forward. It does not retroactively update the author field on existing files.

How to Change or Remove the Author in Tracked Changes and Comments 🔍

If someone opens the document and sees a name attached to a comment or revision, that name lives inside the tracked change record itself — not in the document properties. These records are more persistent.

To remove all tracked changes and comment authorship at once:

1. Accept or reject all tracked changes (Review tab > Accept All or Reject All).
2. Delete all comments (Review > Delete > Delete All Comments in Document).

This clears the authorship stamps on all revisions. It also means those tracked changes are gone permanently, so only do this when the editing process is complete.

To change the name attached to future comments and tracked changes without clearing existing ones, update your Office username as described in Method 2 above. New edits will carry the updated name.

Using the Document Inspector to Scrub Author Metadata

Word includes a built-in tool called the Document Inspector that can find and remove personal information across the entire file in one step — including author names, reviewer names, comments, and other hidden metadata.

1. Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document.
2. Select the categories you want to inspect (Document Properties and Personal Information is the relevant one here).
3. Click Inspect, then Remove All next to any category you want to clear.

This is the method most commonly used before sharing documents externally, submitting to publishers, or distributing templates — situations where author metadata needs to be neutral or anonymous.

⚠️ One important note: The Document Inspector's removal is thorough but not always reversible. Running it on a document can strip information you may later want to recover. Saving a backup before inspecting is a reasonable precaution.

Variables That Affect Which Method Works for You

Not every approach works the same across all environments:

When the Author Field Keeps Reverting

Some users find that even after editing the author field, it resets when the document is closed and reopened. This usually happens when:

• The document is syncing with OneDrive or SharePoint, which may overwrite local metadata with the account profile on record.
• The file is set to auto-save, refreshing metadata from the signed-in Microsoft account.
• A template attached to the document is injecting author information on open.

In connected environments especially, the account name associated with the active Microsoft 365 login often takes precedence over any manual edits made inside the document. 🖥️

The right approach in those cases depends on whether you're working in a personal, organizational, or shared cloud environment — and what level of access or admin control you have over the account settings involved.