Document properties, also known as metadata, are details about a file that describe or identify it. They include details such as title, author name, subject, and keywords that identify the document's topic or contents.
If you include the document properties for your files, you can easily organize and identify them later. You can also search for documents based on their properties or insert them into your documents.
Newer versionsOffice 2013 - Office 2010
Learn more about document properties
There are four types of document properties:
-
Standard properties - By default, Microsoft 365documents are associated with a set of standard properties, such as author, title, and subject. You can specify your own text values for these properties to make it easier to organize and identify your documents. For example, in Word, you can use the Keywords property (also called Tags) to add the keyword "customers" to your sales documents. You can then search for all sales documents with that keyword.
-
Automatically updated properties - These properties include both file system properties (for example, file size or the dates when a file was created or last changed) and statistics that are maintained for you by Microsoft 365programs (for example, the number of words or characters in a document). You cannot specify or change the automatically updated properties.
You can use the automatically updated properties to identify or find files. For example, you can search for all files created after August 3, 2015, or for all files that were last changed yesterday.
-
Custom properties - You can define additional custom properties for your Microsoft 365documents. You can assign a text, time, or numeric value to custom properties, and you can also assign them the values yes or no. You can choose from a list of suggested names or define your own.
For more information see View or create custom properties for a file
-
Document library properties - These are properties that are associated with documents in a document library on a website or in a public folder. When you create a new document library, you can define one or more document library properties and set rules on their values. When you add documents to the document library, you are prompted to include the values for any properties that are required, or to update any properties that are incorrect. For example, a document library that collects product ideas can prompt the person for properties such as Submitted By, Date, Category, and Description. When you open a document from a document library in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you can edit and update these document library properties by clicking File > Info. All required properties from the document library are outlined with red borders on the Info tab in Word, Excel, andPowerPoint,.
If you want to insert any of these properties into your Worddocument see Add the file name, date, author, or other document properties to a header or footer.
View and change the standard properties for the current file
- Which Office program are you using?
- Access
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Project
- Publisher
- Visio
- Word
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click the View and edit database properties link at the top of the page.
-
In the Properties dialog box, click the tabs to select the properties that you want to view or update.
-
Click OK. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your database.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the workbook properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your workbook. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the presentation properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your presentation. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the project properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your project. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
To see more properties or statistics, click Project Information at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties or Project Statistics.
On the Summary tab in the Properties dialog box, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the properties.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your publication. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Publication Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your publication. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit properties such as the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
To add a link to related documents, click Related Documents at the bottom of the Info page, and select Add a Link to a Related Document.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the document properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information. Note that for some metadata, such as Author, you'll have to right-click on the property and choose Remove or Edit.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your document. Any changes you made are saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
-
View or create custom properties for the current file
Custom properties are properties that you define for an Microsoft 365 document. You can assign a text, time, or numeric value to custom properties, and you can also assign them the values yes or no. You can choose from a list of suggested names or define your own.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Properties at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
Notes:
-
In Access you'd select View and edit database properties
-
In Project you'd select Project Information
-
In Publisher you'd select Publication Properties
-
Currently, you can't view or create custom properties forVisio files
-
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click OK.
Learn more about the document properties
There are five types of document properties:
-
Standard properties By default, Microsoft 365 documents are associated with a set of standard properties, such as author, title, and subject. You can specify your own text values for these properties to make it easier to organize and identify your documents. For example, in Word, you can use the Keywords property (also called Tags) to add the keyword "customers" to your sales files. You can then search for all sales files with that keyword.
-
Automatically updated properties These properties include both file system properties (for example, file size or the dates when a file was created or last changed) and statistics that are maintained for you by Microsoft 365 programs (for example, the number of words or characters in a document). You cannot specify or change the automatically updated properties.
You can use the automatically updated properties to identify or find documents. For example, you can search for all files created after August 3, 2005, or for all files that were last changed yesterday.
-
Custom properties You can define additional custom properties for your Microsoft 365 documents. You can assign a text, time, or numeric value to custom properties, and you can also assign them the values yes or no. You can choose from a list of suggested names or define your own.
-
Properties for your organization If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, the document properties that are associated with your document may be specific to your organization.
-
Document library properties These are properties that are associated with documents in a document library on a website or in a public folder. When you create a new document library, you can define one or more document library properties and set rules on their values. When you add documents to the document library, you are prompted to include the values for any properties that are required, or to update any properties that are incorrect. For example, a document library that collects product ideas can prompt the person for properties such as Submitted By, Date, Category, and Description. When you open a document from a document library in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you can edit and update these document library properties in the Document Information Panel.
View and change the properties for the current file
- Which Office program are you using?
- Access
- Excel
- InfoPath
- PowerPoint
- Project
- Publisher
- Visio
- Word
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click the View and edit database properties link at the top of the page.
-
In the Properties dialog box, click the tabs to select the properties that you want to view or update.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
Click OK. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your file.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the workbook properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your workbook. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
To view custom properties, click the Custom tab.
-
To see the properties in a panel within your workbook, click Properties at the top of the page and select Show Document Panel.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the form statistics.
-
To change the Name, ID or Description of the form, click Form Template Properties, and make changes to those fields as needed.
-
To show this form in a custom category in InfoPath Filler, select the Enable custom category check box and enter a name for the custom category.
-
Click OK.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your workbook. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the presentation properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your presentation. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
To view custom properties, click the Custom tab.
-
To see the properties in a panel within your workbook, click Properties at the top of the page and select Show Document Panel.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the project properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your project. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
To see more properties or statistics, click Project Information at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties or Project Statistics.
On the Summary tab in the Properties dialog box, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
To view custom properties, click the Custom tab in the Properties dialog box.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the properties.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your publication. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Publication Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
To view custom properties, click the Custom tab.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your publication. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit properties such as the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
Notes:
-
To add a link to related documents, click Related Documents at the bottom of the Info page, and select Add a Link to a Related Document.
-
If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info to view the document properties.
-
To add or change properties, hover your pointer over the property you want to update and enter the information.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your document. Any changes you made will be saved automatically.
Optional steps:
-
To see more properties, click the Show All Properties link at the bottom of the page.
-
To open a properties dialog box where you can add or edit all the properties at once and view document information and statistics, click Properties at the top of the page, and then click Advanced Properties.
On the Summary tab, you can add or edit the Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords (also called Tags), and Comments.
To view custom properties, click the Custom tab.
-
To see the properties in a panel within your workbook, click Properties at the top of the page and select Show Document Panel.
Note:If your organization customized the Document Information Panel, or if the document for which you want to view properties is saved to a document library or a document management server, additional document property views may be available.
-
View or create custom properties for a file
Custom properties are properties that you define for an Microsoft 365 document. You can assign a text, time, or numeric value to custom properties, and you can also assign them the values yes or no. You can choose from a list of suggested names or define your own.
- Which Office program are you using?
- Access
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Project
- Publisher
- Word
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click the View and edit database properties link at the top of the page.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click Add, and then click OK.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your workbook.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Properties at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click Add, and then click OK.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your workbook.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Properties at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click Add, and then click OK.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your presentation.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Project Information at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click Add, then click OK.
-
Click the File tab again to return to your project.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Publication Properties at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click the File tab again to return to your publication.
-
Click the File tab.
-
Click Info.
-
Click Properties at the top of the page, and then select Advanced Properties.
-
Click the Custom tab.
-
In the Name box, type a name for the custom property, or select a name from the list.
-
In the Type list, select the data type for the property that you want to add.
-
In the Value box, type a value for the property. The value that you type must match the selection in the Type list. For example, if you select Number in the Type list, you must type a number in the Value box. Values that don't match the property type are stored as text.
-
-
Click the File tab again to return to your document.
As an expert in document properties and metadata within the Microsoft 365 suite, I can confidently guide you through the intricacies of managing and utilizing various types of document properties. Document properties, also known as metadata, play a crucial role in describing and identifying files. They include details such as title, author name, subject, and keywords, enabling easy organization and identification of documents.
Let's delve into the concepts outlined in the provided article:
-
Standard Properties:
- By default, Microsoft 365 documents have standard properties like author, title, and subject.
- You can specify custom text values for these properties to enhance organization.
- Example: In Word, use the Keywords property (Tags) to add keywords like "customers" for easier searching.
-
Automatically Updated Properties:
- Include file system properties (e.g., file size, creation or last change dates) and statistics maintained by Microsoft 365 programs.
- These properties are not user-specified but can be used for identification and searching.
- Example: Search for files created after a specific date or changed yesterday.
-
Custom Properties:
- Users can define additional custom properties for Microsoft 365 documents.
- Custom properties can have text, time, numeric values, or yes/no values.
- Users can choose from suggested names or define their own for customization.
-
Document Library Properties:
- Associated with documents in a document library on a website or public folder.
- Defined when creating a new document library, prompting users for required or incorrect properties.
- Editable in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint through the Document Information Panel.
-
View and Change Properties in Different Office Programs:
- Detailed instructions are provided for Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, and Word.
- Users can view, add, or change properties for their respective files in each program.
-
Creating Custom Properties:
- Users can create custom properties for Microsoft 365 documents.
- Steps are outlined for Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Publisher, and Word.
- Custom properties can have a name, data type, and value, allowing for user-defined details.
By following the provided steps, users can effectively manage document properties, making it easier to organize, search, and identify files within the Microsoft 365 suite. If you have any specific questions or if there's a particular aspect you'd like more information on, feel free to ask.
