File Information Summary garbled, retaining bad info, how to clear info?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lee C.
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Lee C.

Using WIN 2000 Pro; NTFS, with Office 2000 (updates up to date on both).

I have found that the system is somehow retaining obsolete summary information about obsolete (and indeed long deleted and vanished) files that had Summary pages. For instance, I have a document called ''d:\documents\home\Sophia\dog at large.doc''. In the ''Title'' Section, under Properties>Summary (tab)>Advanced (button), I find that the title shows as ''Springfield/Greene County dog catcher''. However, I also notice there are two other listings to choose from. Both are from long dead and gone files. Taking the first one as an example, it is ''Small Shell'' (an old desktop shortcut to a 16 bit, DOS 5.0 application, long deleted). Now, the ''Springfield/Greene County'' entry should have been under the ''subject'' field instead of the title, so I decided to delete it from there and put it where it ought to be. However, I find I can add stuff to the list of choices here, but I CANNOT delete stuff. I cannot for instance, make that ''Small Shell'' entry go away. Furthermore, anything I add shows up under the Properties of ALL subsequent documents that I check on.

For an example. I decided to download, fresh from Microsoft, a document from the knowledge base called ''msgina.doc'' (just picked it at random). Then in the ''Subject'' line to the previously mentioned ''dog at large.doc'' file I added ''whatever'' as the subject. Then I go to the msgina.doc, which is brand new, never been opened before, and I find on the ''subject'' line and option to choose from that says ''whatever''. I cannot get this to clear. (And as an aside I might mention that there appears to be some garbaged, garbled data being retained.)

Now, obviously, the data on the file information summaries is being kept somewhere besides in the files themselves. But, I can't find it; a registry search for anything that would turn up ''small shell'' for instance comes up blank. A text search for any file containing the words ''small shell'' comes up blank.

Quaere then: where is this data being maintained? How do I find it and clear it, or delete it?
 
New documents inherit the Title and Subject from the document or template on
which they are based. Unless you change it when you create a new file (the
easiest way to remember to do this is to check the box for "Prompt for
document properties" on the Save tab of Tools | Options).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Using WIN 2000 Pro; NTFS, with Office 2000 (updates up to date on both).

I have found that the system is somehow retaining obsolete summary
information about obsolete (and indeed long deleted and vanished) files that
had Summary pages. For instance, I have a document called
''d:\documents\home\Sophia\dog at large.doc''. In the ''Title'' Section,
under Properties>Summary (tab)>Advanced (button), I find that the title
shows as ''Springfield/Greene County dog catcher''. However, I also notice
there are two other listings to choose from. Both are from long dead and
gone files. Taking the first one as an example, it is ''Small Shell'' (an
old desktop shortcut to a 16 bit, DOS 5.0 application, long deleted). Now,
the ''Springfield/Greene County'' entry should have been under the
''subject'' field instead of the title, so I decided to delete it from there
and put it where it ought to be. However, I find I can add stuff to the
list of choices here, but I CANNOT delete stuff. I cannot for instance,
make that ''Small Shell'' entry go away. Furthermore, anything I add shows
up under the Properties of ALL subsequent documents that I check on.

For an example. I decided to download, fresh from Microsoft, a document
from the knowledge base called ''msgina.doc'' (just picked it at random).
Then in the ''Subject'' line to the previously mentioned ''dog at
large.doc'' file I added ''whatever'' as the subject. Then I go to the
msgina.doc, which is brand new, never been opened before, and I find on the
''subject'' line and option to choose from that says ''whatever''. I cannot
get this to clear. (And as an aside I might mention that there appears to
be some garbaged, garbled data being retained.)

Now, obviously, the data on the file information summaries is being kept
somewhere besides in the files themselves. But, I can't find it; a registry
search for anything that would turn up ''small shell'' for instance comes up
blank. A text search for any file containing the words ''small shell''
comes up blank.

Quaere then: where is this data being maintained? How do I find it and
clear it, or delete it?
 
Okay, that makes a certain amount of sense. Not sure how to apply that information here though.

So, how do I remove the ''Small Shell'' data from the records and prevent it from appearing in the Summary data of, for instance, things I've just downloaded from the internet like that ''msgina.doc'' that I downloaded and then found loaded up with ''Small Shell'' as an optional selection for the title? And when I add another bit of data to, for instance the ''dog at large.doc'' (right click it, select Properties>Summary> and add something) how do I keep that from showing up in, for instance, my ''resume--manual.doc''? It's doing that now, and I don't think it's supposed to.
 
File | Properties and make the changes in the file. Are you saying that
properties in a document are being saved back to a template? That definitely
*shouldn't* be happening.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

Okay, that makes a certain amount of sense. Not sure how to apply that
information here though.

So, how do I remove the ''Small Shell'' data from the records and prevent it
from appearing in the Summary data of, for instance, things I've just
downloaded from the internet like that ''msgina.doc'' that I downloaded and
then found loaded up with ''Small Shell'' as an optional selection for the
title? And when I add another bit of data to, for instance the ''dog at
large.doc'' (right click it, select Properties>Summary> and add something)
how do I keep that from showing up in, for instance, my
''resume--manual.doc''? It's doing that now, and I don't think it's
supposed to.
 
I'm saying that changes to the ''Summary'' on one document are appearing in other document summaries, and that I can add, but not delete stuff added.

I can delete the original ''summary'' data, usually by accident when marking the stuff that's not supposed to be there and trying to delete it, the right stuff then goes away, but wrong stuff never goes away and just keeps piling up.

And, no, that's not supposed to be happening I don't think. It's happening when I open the Properties>Summary> of document types that have this information from Win Explorer, and, no, that's not supposed to be happening I don't think.
 
I would suggest not editing the properties from Explorer. Do it within Word
instead, using File | Properties.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

I'm saying that changes to the ''Summary'' on one document are appearing in
other document summaries, and that I can add, but not delete stuff added.

I can delete the original ''summary'' data, usually by accident when marking
the stuff that's not supposed to be there and trying to delete it, the right
stuff then goes away, but wrong stuff never goes away and just keeps piling
up.

And, no, that's not supposed to be happening I don't think. It's happening
when I open the Properties>Summary> of document types that have this
information from Win Explorer, and, no, that's not supposed to be happening
I don't think.
 
Probably a good suggestion, but does leave me with the problem of the removal of the garbaged data that's already in there.
 
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