Custom form for specified Document Properties

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Powell
  • Start date Start date
D

David Powell

Under Word 2007, by default, there's a huge number of keystrokes required to
get to Custom Document Properties.
I'd like to make this simple.
Two ways forward have thwarted me, esp. since Word Help is no longer working
properly for me (I'm getting empty Office 2010 stuff - subject of a separate
post.)

i) build a form (I've forgotten how to do this.)
ii) explore the opportunities suggested by the ribbon under
Developer|Templates|Document Panel. The dialog box that opens looks like it
might supply what I want.

Normally, the Help system would send me where I want to go. But it seems to
be broken for me.

Thanks
 
You could add the Properties command from the all commands group to the QAT
(Quick Access Toolbar) and that would reduce the 'massive number' of
keystrokes to three. One to display the properties window - two more to
display the advanced properties.
--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
A couple of possible approaches:

a. create a macro like this:

Sub showdocprops()
CommandBars.FindControl(ID:=750, Visible:=False).Execute
End Sub

then use Office Button->Word Options->Customize, select Macros under
"Choose commands from," locate th eMacro and Add it to the QAT list on
the right. Then select it and click Modify to select an icon.

Then it's "click the icon in the QAT, and click the Custom propertie tab
(if it is not already displayed).

I expect someone here knows how to put that sort of stuff elsewhere on
the Word 2007 ribbon in other ways. Nor do I know whether there is a way
to select the tab you want programmatically.

b. in the Customize dialog, click Customize keyboard shortcuts, select
the All Commands category. This shows a rather different list from the
dialog in (a). Locate FileProperties and assign a keystroke.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
 
Good one! I was looking but failed to find that reference. To get it to open
at the Custom properties tab, I believe Sendkeys may be the only way
forward, thus

Sub showdocprops()
SendKeys "{Right 4}"
CommandBars.FindControl(ID:=750, Visible:=False).Execute
End Sub

As for the ribbon - http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
I added the Advanced Document Properties button to the QAT, which gets you
there in one click, two to get to Custom (and the next time you open it, it
will open at Custom).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
Doh! I don't know why I didn't find that :(

Anyway I have used the macro Peter suggested, c/w the modification I added
and it always opens at Custom :)

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
Once you've been through the thousand-click dance to get there through the
UI, then you already know that it's "Advanced Document Properties." <g>

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
These days, by the time I get to the end of the thousand-click dance,
I'm very likely to have forgotten the names of every single one of the
steps :-) A great deal of my memory of where things are in Word is now
positional, especially when I find myself having to switch the UI language.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
 
Yes, except do you know how long it took me to find a keyboard contortion
just to get to the Document Properties dropdown? (2 X [Shift]-[Tab]). Then
it's [down][down][Enter] to get the "Advanced Properties"! So that's 5 (or 6
if you count the uncomfortable [Shift]!).
 
Thanks; that's useful. That will get me there with [Alt] <digit> <digit>
[Control-Shift-Tab] (given that my QAT is now 10 icons long!).

I'm still interested in whether my second line of enquiry was a viable one.
As others have mentioned, "Custom Properties" includes a lot of
Microsoft-suggested prompts and it's not a very inviting way to encourage
updating of relevant document metadata in a shared environment.
 
Good to know about! But how *did* you find that reference? Does Microsoft
commit to keeping it stable over versions?

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sorry about the delay. Despite
'checking the box', I'm not getting notification of replies (it *is* via
e-mail, not RSS, isn't it?).

David
 
It is via email when it works, which it hasn't been doing for months. We've
pleaded with Microsoft to put up a notice to this effect (or remove the
option), but so far there's been no response.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
But how *did* you find that reference?
Click to expand...

If you mean the CommandBars ID one, I googled.
Does Microsoft
commit to keeping it stable over versions?
Click to expand...

I doubt it. But it does work in the version of Word 2010 I have here (
not the release version) and unless Microsoft is working on a much more
radical revamp of Word than I have ever seen I suspect that both the Doc
Properties dialog and custom document properties will be with us for
some time.

That said, personally I would be more concerned with where Microsoft is
going with Custom Document Properties. They are obviously catered for in
the "Word 2007" OOXML file formats, but since Word 2007 I would consider
them to be "deprecated" in favour of "Custom XML" and Content Controls.
Unfortunately, even in Word 2010 where MS has tried to find a more
convenient place to show Document Property info., their overall "story"
on this front does not appear to have improved since 2007, i.e. the new
stuff is easy to use for a number of predefined properties associated
with their cover pages etc, and works reasonably well if you are a
SharePoint user, but is otherwise quite inaccessible without additional
code etc.


Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk
 
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