Inserting Custom Properties with Fields

Word maintains a number of different properties related to your documents, as a whole. You can see what these properties are by choosing Properties from the File menu. You can even use the Custom tab to create your own custom properties for your documents.

Inserting the values of properties into a document is done using different fields. Pre-defined properties have their own corresponding fields. For instance, if you want to insert a document's creation date into your text, you do so using the CreateDate field.

What you may not know is how to insert in your document values assigned to custom properties. In order to do this, let's assume you have created a custom property named MyProp. To insert the value of this property in your document, follow these steps:

1. Position the insertion point where you want to insert the value of the custom property.
2. Choose Field from the Insert menu. Word displays the Field dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

3. In the list of Categories, choose Document Information.
4. In the list of Field Names, choose DocProperty.
5. If you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, click the Options button. Word displays the Field Options dialog box. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Field Options dialog box.

6. In the Property list, choose the custom property you created (MyProp).
7. If you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, click on Add to Field.
8. Click on OK to close the Field Options dialog box.
9. Click on OK. Word inserts the value of MyProp in your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1498) 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: Inserting Custom Properties with Fields.