Last week's newsletter introduced the idea of using Microsoft Word to search for Word documents to which you've assigned certain properties, such as categories or keywords. This week we'll look at how to sort by those properties in a folder. I've learned, however, that this will not work in Windows 95 or 98. In XP, it works great, and it may work in some other versions.
Before you can sort by document properties, you'll have to assign those properties. Here's the basic procedure:
1. With a document open in Word, click File > Properties.
2. Click the Summary tab.
3. Enter the information by which you'll later want to sort. For example, you could enter a category, keywords, or a comment.
4. Save the document.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for other documents. Note that you should really do these steps whenever you create a new document. Word can help you with this by automatically opening the Properties dialog the first time you save a document. To activate this feature, click Tools > Options > Save > Prompt for document properties.
You can also assign properties outside of Word by right-clicking a file in a folder and then clicking "Properties" and the Summary tab.
After assigning the properties you want to use, you can sort by those properties in Windows Explorer or any Windows folder. To do so:
1. Open the folder you want to use.
2. Click the View menu and then "Details." You should now see a line of buttons above your list of files. The buttons will have names like "Name," "Date Modified," and "Size." To sort your files by one of these properties, click the button for that property. For example, to sort your files by the date they were modified, click the "Date Modified" button.
3. Now, the good stuff. Take your mouse and right-click that button bar. Wow, look at all the properties you can include on the button bar!
4. For the really good stuff, click "More . . ." at the bottom of the menu.
5. Put a check in the box for the items you want to use, such as "Subject" and "Category." Then click the Okay button. Wow again! Now you can see those properties in your file list. (Note that you can apply these settings to all of your folders, if you like. To do so, click Tools > Folder Options > View > Apply to All Folders.)
6. Click the button for the property by which you want to sort. Pretty slick!
How can you use this feature? Well, how about keeping track of all documents from a particular author? Or maybe you'd want to group chapters that belong to a certain section of a book. How about using the feature as a document database that allows you to group all documents (from a variety of projects) by a particular subject? There are lots of possibilities.
On a Macintosh, life isn't quite so glorious. There's no way (that I know of) to sort by Word document properties in a folder (at least in OS 9.1, which I'm using). You can, however, sort by properties that you assign to files *outside* of Word. To do so:
1. Open the folder you want to use.
2. Click View > View Options.
3. Under "Show Columns," put a check in the box for the properties you want to display and sort. "Comments" and "Label" are really the only customizable properties available here. Note that you can also set these for all folders under Edit > Preferences > Views.
4. Select a file to which you want to assign properties.
5. Press Command + I to bring up the General Information dialog.
6. In the Comments box, enter the text by which you want to sort. For example, you could type a category or keyword here.
7. If you like, click the Label button and assign a category such as "Essential," "In Progress," or "Project 1."
8. Close the dialog to save your changes.
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READERS WRITE
William T. Buckley wrote:
When I went to test your instructions in the DOCUMENT PROPERTIES portion of the Editorium for this week--06.11.2003--I found they did not work, at least not on my setup.
I am using Word 2002 (10.4524.4219) SP-2, running on Win2K professional.
After I read your discussion of the usefulness of the document properties capability, I then moved on to your detailed instructions:
* I clicked File > Open.
* I located the "Tools" button on the upper right of the dialog.
* BUT, when I went to look for "Find" under "Tools," there was no such option available in the dialog.
So I am unable to go forward with your instructions. And I'm at a loss to explain why. Is it me, my Word software, my OS, all of the above, none of the above?
I responded that before publishing these instructions, I really should have checked to see how the feature has changed in Word 2002, which now uses the term "Search" instead of "Find." Also, after clicking "Search," it's now necessary to click the "Advanced" tab, which will get you into the fancy features I described in the newsletter.
Thanks to William for his questions and comments.
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RESOURCES
Jim Cronin wrote:
Anyone who appreciates acerbic wit will love this screensaver from Deloitte Touche Consultants:
http://www.dc.com/bullfighter
The free Bullfighter program, which roots out consultant-speak, also uses the same biting comments as it diagnoses one's writing.
Thanks, Jim!
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