Work with properties

Use the Properties page to view or update properties associated with an object.

About properties

Properties define the information about an object. All the objects you can access in an object store belong to a class. The class determines the properties and behavior of the object. For example, all folders belong to the Folder class and all documents belong to the Document class. The behavior and properties for a folder are different from the behavior and properties for a document. For example, you can check out documents, but you cannot check out folders.

Your site administrator defines the properties for a particular class, and can create new subclasses of a class. For example, if your site needs a project account code for all documents, the administrator could add the property "Project code" to the base Document class. If your site needs to apply some properties to some types of documents but not to others, your administrator could define one or more new subclasses to handle the additional properties. For example, your expense report documents might need properties for account codes, but your marketing documents might need properties for project codes, project release dates, and management approvals. When you add or check in a document, you select the appropriate class for the document, and then fill in the property values.

You can modify properties for multiple documents at the same time. When those documents reside in a folder with one or more entry templates associated with it, Workplace XT allows you to work with your selected documents before you modify the properties. For example, you can remove specific documents before you modify the properties.

System properties

Some property values are created by the system and cannot be modified directly. The properties that are displayed on the property page are determined by the System properties view site preference. System properties, such as the creator of the object and the date it was created, are set at the time the object is added to an object store. Other properties, such as the date an object is modified and the person who modified it, are updated by the system when the object, its properties, or its security are modified.

Updating properties

You access property information for a document when you click Properties on the toolbar or select Properties from a pop-up menu. You can also select one or more documents and update the associated properties for those documents at the same time. For example, when you change a date property, the new date is assigned to all documents. However, if you do not enter information for a specific property, the information originally assigned to that property is used. You can also click Reset to remove any changes you just made to the property. You cannot clear property values when you are updating properties for multiple documents.

Use Set Properties to modify specific properties. As you modify the properties for documents assigned to a specific document class, that document class is unavailable until you finish updating the properties. There might be some instances where the updated property information you entered is not assigned to some of the documents you processed. This instance occurs when a document in a version series, such as a minor version, is included with the multiple documents you are managing. Properties assigned to a minor version of a document are not modified when you are updating properties for multiple documents. You can manually change the property values for a document version through its information page.

Properties have various types and restrictions. The property type determines the method you use to specify the value. In general, you can simply follow the instructions on the page. Some of the following specific requirements and tips are listed.

Dates

When you specify a date, you can type the date or select it from a calendar. If the date format is set to display years in a two-digit format, the following restrictions apply:

TIP If you need to specify years outside of this range, you can edit your user preferences to set the date format to use a four-digit year. See General settings for user preferences for more information.

Filtered choice lists

Some property choice lists allow you to filter the choices based on your input. The choice list displays all choices that start with the text you type. In addition, you can use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard character. For example, typing *Cla could find classes called Auto Claims and Claim Processing. (There is always an implied asterisk at the end of the text you type.)

TIP Type "*" to display the entire list.

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