File Properties in Word 2007

Tags: Office

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 9:13:00 AM

A client asked me the other day what happened to File->Properties in Word 2007. They simply couldn't find it.
In the Beta1 TR, I remember it was confusingly located on the Status Bar (!) – right-click, pick View and View Properties. Very annoying.
In Beta 2 it took me a minute to find it, and I have to say the new location isn't much better – it's under File/Office/Orb -> Finish:   

This, I feel is hardly obvious. I don't necessarily want to input this data only when I'm finishing off the document. It contains other data, even if we ignore the statistics that can be seen elsewhere (again, on the status bar). 

Clicking Properties in the Finish menu, however, doesn't actually open the familiar dialog at all, but a strange new beast – the horizontal pane:   

This pane is, I feel, a mistake. There is some justification, perhaps, for the sudden appearance of a Mail Header pane when we send an email from Word. It sticks out a bit, but it brings the familiar Outlook UI, which makes sense when we're sending an email.
Here, however, it's just unexpected. There's no other use of this sort of UI in Word, so consistency is shot. It eats up a huge amount of screen real-estate that doesn't go away until you explicitly close it – wasn't the whole point of the ribbon to avoid all those messy toolbars that users bring up and don't know how to remove? 
And all this for 7 text fields which also appear on the Summary tab of the Properties dialog, which can much more intuitively closed by pressing Ok on the dialog.  I really feel this is a bad UI choice for Office 2007. I hope they change it in the final release.


Enough of the rant. Now for proposed solutions. I went over this with a friend, and our opinions differed. I suggested sticking with the old familiar dialog for adding/seeing metadata, while he proposed a new solution: Add the metadata as a Cover sheet or End sheet, built into the document itself.
That means we'll add another virtual page to the beginning/end of the document that isn't, by default, shown or printed. The user will add the metadata fields (Creator, Title, etc) the same way he writes the document itself. 
I feel this isn't a good idea. To my mind, the metadata is separate from the document text itself. Not only will most users not want to see it (which isn't really a problem if it's disabled by default) but I think that adding metadata is a separate thinking process. Putting it under the Finish submenu shows that Microsoft seem to feel the way I do. 

Enough of the rant. Now for proposed solutions. I went over this with a friend, and our opinions differed. I suggested sticking with the old familiar dialog for adding/seeing metadata, while he proposed a new solution: Add the metadata as a Cover sheet or End sheet, built into the document itself.
That means we'll add another virtual page to the beginning/end of the document that isn't, by default, shown or printed. The user will add the metadata fields (Creator, Title, etc) the same way he writes the document itself. 
I feel this isn't a good idea. To my mind, the metadata is separate from the document text itself. Not only will most users not want to see it (which isn't really a problem if it's disabled by default) but I think that adding metadata is a separate thinking process. Putting it under the Finish submenu shows that Microsoft seem to feel the way I do. 

Any opinions or ideas?

25 Comments

  • ittays said

    I think this sort of properties pane is tended to allow you copying and pasting to the fields. Although the command seems to be in a weird position, I don't see it bad: I can hardly remember when I really used it. (But I must note that I don't use this beta version.)

  • Fernando Felman said

    This is due the fact that the Properties Pane is rendered using InfoPath (the properties pane is hosting the InfoPath). You can do whatever InfoPath lets you do: change layout, add views, add custom functionality, etc. It might not make sense with "single" docs, but this is a great feature when using SharePoint 2007 since the user starts writing the doc from the properties, which if I try to explain in coding terms, is very similar to start a method from writing the documentation...

  • I M Katz said

    I am inundated with calls from good, but non-porfesional, ms-word users asking where have all the old features disappered to (ie been hidden). I personally have wated hours searching for them and cant say that I am any better off. I feel that those that designed the new interface are misguided and out of touch with 80-90% of the people who use WORD. Another fateful mistake by micro$oft

  • Shareen said

    I never before found myself online searching for basic stuff. The help in office 2007 is rubbish. Faster to just go online in a browser window and find useful info. In short my take on Office 2007 is this - I HATE IT! The solution is called openoffice! But on this file properties thing. Cool for the guy putting it up on how to find it. Thanks, frankly I spent 10 minutes more than once and eventually gave up. I did not think to click on finish. How microsoft justify's changing a program we have been all using for so very many years that I feel like I need training I don't know. There is a serious opportunity for a new vendor to come out with a similar product to word and excel to take over the market. If I did not know so many shortcuts I would have thrown the pc out the window. Although I'm pretty close to it. I want to run screaming aaaaah down the street because I HATE MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007!!!! None of my 2003 templates work anymore. Random weird stuff keeps happening. It has generated so much work for me, for no reason. I'm just over it. Good luck if you are thinking of upgrading!

  • Colin the Barbarian said

    I never thought I would here myself say this but I think I will be installing OpenOffice. Office 2007 is change for changes sake and I cannot find a single new feture that I want or need. As it came with a new laptop I am stuck with it unless I swap to the alternative.

  • Vinoth said

    Thanks for the info. I wanted to locate the "File Properties" in Word 2007. After trying to "intuitively" figure it out (for about 10 mins), I gave up. This article was spot on. Thanks!!

  • Marvin Africa said

    It is certainly not any easy transition after using 2003 for such a long time. I've spent a long time trying to find the elusive File Properties option. So thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I've found using Word 2007 quite frustrating at times and been very tempted to venture into the help files! Marvin Africa

  • Jay Le Rant said

    OFFICE 2007 ribbons are such a waste of time foe the existing established user base to re-train to. MS should be very careful they include a patch or something to allow older menus to also be seen so older users can still by pass the ribbons and use what they know and love. If you dont you will lose any good will left and I will be the first to migrate to OpenOffice to get back to productivity. I love my 2003 accelerator keys its amazing how ribbons include a completely illogical set of 2007 accelerator keys side by side with the 2003. Keep the 2003 !!

  • MS Word User said

    Thanks for taking the time to post this up. It's obnoxiously non-intuitive and the worst part is that to determine the solution requires a google search rather than using the own program's help menu.

  • Warren Evans said

    Thanks for this. It's amazing that Google has this listed with 38,000,000 plus hits. It goes to show that it is an issue that underpins a wider malaise with MS - listen up Microsoft. And I see that Office 2010 is about to be launched! Lordy, lordy....

  • Brian Harris said

    Like many others, I had to go online to find this information. I was quite gobsmacked when I read where this information now lives. Basic design fail. Totally unintuitive, badly named, bizarrely located option. It was fine where it was. If MS had any sense, they'd fix this. How it survived UX testing amazes me. Or maybe they don't do any, and that's the problem...

  • BQLTR said

    Don't know about Word 2007; but in Word 2010 Beta, the shortcut for "Advanced Properties" is Alt+E+Q+S+DownArrow+Enter Of course one who has to put values in properties frequenty, can remember this shortcut quite easily and can do the job much quicker than the mouse.

  • Van said

    This should be a simple menu but I couldn't find it either! Thanks for this guide, I'm thinking it will be good for Microsoft to link the help system to Google!

  • Au Fauzi said

    So much thanks for your post. It is a real releave. You know the feeling when you happen to occassionlay look for something less important but don't know how, then eneding up in desperation .. looking for this property thing is one of that desperating .. your post is a releave ...

  • Tom Stickland said

    I had to google this. Thanks for the info. The online office help was useless. I typed in "word file properties" and the first result was "my animated gif won't play."

  • Jason said

    Thanks for this- very helpful. Every time I open Office 2007, part of me thinks that it must have been designed by malicious Apple Mac techies, because IT SUCKS SO BAD.

  • Bonnie said

    Agree with every one...this sucks. What were they thinking? Maybe this is actually the work of very resourceful terrorists who went to work for ole Billy Boy and are trying (successfully) to either drive us all nuts or to hari-kari!

Comments have been disabled for this content.