Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Controlling Document Properties.

Controlling Document Properties

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 11, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

You may be aware that Word allows you to track and control quite a few properties relating to your document. Whenever you save a document to disk, Word appends the property information that is used to identify the file and its contents. These properties are also used by the file management utilities in Word and can be accessed by special Word fields. If you want to change the document properties, you can do so by loading the document and then choosing Properties from the File menu. This displays the Properties dialog box for the document. You can use the different tabs and fields within the dialog box to change the information Word stores about the document. If you want Word to prompt you for document property information whenever you first save a file, you can set this feature by following these steps:

Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
Click on the Save tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Save tab of the Options dialog box.

Make sure the Prompt for Document Properties check box is selected.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (985) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Controlling Document Properties.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding a Report

The Report Manager allows you to create specialized reports that can be easily printed from your worksheet data. This tip ...

Discover More

Fonts Unavailable in Word

If you have some fonts that don't show up as available in Word, their exclusion can be confusing. Here's a discussion of ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of All Hyperlinks

Need to get rid of all the hyperlinks in a worksheet? It's easy when you use this single-line macro.

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Saving Documents as Read-Only by Default

When you save your documents, you can specify that they be saved in a "read-only" format so that they cannot be changed ...

Discover More

An Automatic File Name

Do you have a set "standard" for how you name new documents? If so, you may be interested in implementing the technique ...

Discover More

Controlling Names of Backup Files

Want to control the name and location of your document backup? Here are some ideas that may help.

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five less than 6?

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.