About document profile properties in the backward-compatible document library

Properties are specific fields on the document profile in which authors enter descriptive information (metadata) about their documents. Examples of profile properties are author, keywords, and title.

As a coordinator at the backward-compatible document library level, you can create customized properties to best fit the needs of your organization. To create or modify a property on a document profile, use the Profiles tab on the Properties page of the specific profile to access the profile form.

Note  The properties you create are available to all document profiles. If you change the attributes of a property, the changes you make affect how the property appears on all document profiles. However, documents published with the original property are not automatically updated until they are republished.

Property Types

The following system property types are available for use when you create properties:

• Text   This property type provides a single-line text box where users can enter a limited quantity of text. Single-line text boxes have a 255-character limit. Examples of this property type are Author, Title, Link, and Subject, all of which are included with Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 as default properties.
• Comment Box   This property type provides a multiple-line text box where users can enter a greater quantity of text than in the Text property type. Multiple-line text boxes have a 4096-character limit. An example of the Comment Box property type is the Description property, which is a default property included with SharePoint Portal Server.
• Number   This property type provides a field where users can enter numbers only. There are no default properties of this type included with SharePoint Portal Server, but an example of this property type could be a field named "Project Number."
• Date   This property type provides a field where users can enter dates only.

  Note  Since date information is included as information for searches on the portal site, it is important to note that users can search for dates in only the Gregorian calendar, formatted mm/dd/yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy, on the portal site. Users cannot search for non-Gregorian calendar dates on the portal site.

• List   This property type provides a menu where users can select values from a list or where they can enter new values to include in the list. An example of this property type is the Keywords property, a default property included with SharePoint Portal Server.

  The following options are available for this property type:

  Single selection drop-down list with restrictive list of terms    Allows users to make a single selection from a drop-down list.

  Single selection drop-down list with a list of suggested terms   Allows users to make a single selection from a drop-down list or to make a single selection by typing new text.

  Multi-selection drop-down list with a restrictive list of terms   Allows users to make multiple selections from a drop-down list.

  Multi-selection drop-down list with a list of suggested terms   Allows users to make multiple selections from a drop-down list or to make multiple selections by typing new text.

Preconfigured Properties

SharePoint Portal Server includes the following preconfigured system properties:

• Author   A text box in which users can enter the name of the document's author.
• Title   A text box in which users can enter the title of the document.
• Subject   A text box in which users can enter the subject of the document.
• Link   A text box in which users can enter an address, in URL format, to associate with the document.

  Important  SharePoint Portal Server provides this property for use with the default Web Link document profile, rather than for documents stored in the Documents folder in the backward-compatible document library. When you add a link to a document, the link you enter overrides the default URL for the item. This could prevent the server from accessing the default URL. Therefore, it is not recommended that you use the Link property on the document profile of a regular document.

• Description    A comment box in which users can enter descriptive text or comments about the document.
• Keywords   A list from which users can choose keywords to associate with the document. Users can also use this field to enter new keywords to associate with the document. Keywords that users add to the list appear only in the list on the document profile of the specific document for which they are added. Other users are not able to see or select the new keywords from other documents. A coordinator at the workspace level is the only user who can add keywords to the main list for all users.

Related Topics

About document profiles in the backward-compatible document library

View and edit document properties and profiles in the backward-compatible document library

About document management and publishing