About editing a document class

Something that is technically feasible but should be avoided if possible is to edit a document class after the class has been put into production. For example, you might have created and made available a document class that users have assigned to potentially thousands of documents, only to find that a change to the class is needed.

Adding properties to an existing document class

An added property means, among other things, an additional column to the database table that contains that document class description. The documents already assigned to that class remain as rows in that table, but there is no value in the new column. The Content Engine property sheets display the new property for the old versions of the document. Thereafter, you can use the Enterprise Manager search and bulk operations to find and populate those empty columns. Documents that are checked in under that class after the new property is added have values for the new column in the database table, provided a value was assigned either by the system or by the user.