Forcing the Properties Dialog Box to Appear

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 18, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Word automatically saves quite a bit of information about your document, and it allows you to specify and save even more. You normally can see the information saved with a document by choosing Properties from the File menu, which displays the Properties dialog box. The various tabs in the dialog box help organize the range of information kept about any particular document.

Word will, if you so direct it, display the Properties dialog box the first time you save a new document. You can control this feature by following these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Save tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Save tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. If you want to force word to display the Properties dialog box when first saving a document, make sure the Prompt for Document Properties check box is selected.
  5. Click on OK to close the Options dialog box.

Remember that this configuration of Word only displays the Properties dialog box the first time you save your document. (In this respect, the wording of the Prompt for Document Properties check box is a bit misleading.) If you later want to change properties, you must choose Properties from the File menu to display the dialog box. There is no way to force the Properties dialog box to appear every time you save your document, unless you write a macro that is invoked every time a document is saved.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1819) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Selecting a Language

Need to format a paragraph (or some selected text) so that it is a language other than English? You can do so easily by ...

Discover More

Maintaining Formatting when Inserting Documents

Word allows you to easily insert the contents of one document into another. Doing so, however, may result in unintended ...

Discover More

Referencing the Last Cell in a Column

When developing formulas, you may need to reference the very last value in a particular column. This can seem perplexing, ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Hiding and Displaying Hidden Text

You can easily hide text by simply changing the attributes associated with the text. Once that is done, you can turn the ...

Discover More

Changing How Word Presents Your Document

Tired of the old black-on-white text displayed by Word? Depending on your program version, you can configure Word to show ...

Discover More

Missing Top and Bottom Margins

You get your document set up just the way you want it, and then notice that all of a sudden Word doesn't show any top or ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.