Document properties

Each document we create in Excel contains information about the name of the author as well as other properties that are automatically generated, and they say: when the document was made, when the last time it was changed and who changed it, what size was it, where it was finds, etc. After saving a document, if we want to share it with other users, it’s useful to check compatibility, accessibility and whether it has hidden information…

By clicking the File tab, we enter the Backstage View, where we select an Info group. On the right side of the window there is a group of fields labeled Properties. In these fields, the attributes of a document are already or to be assigned. The basic characteristic of each document is the author. The name of the author is automatically taken from the settings, and we can add the author both manually or by taking it from the address book. We can change the name of the author in the settings by clicking on Options, to start Excel options, where in the General tab we can change it in a very easy way. In properties, we can fill in the title of the document (Title), tags (Tags) and categories (Categories). If a document is stored on a SharePoint portal these three properties can be used to improve document searching. Clicking on the Show All Properties list of displayed properties is expanding and then it is possible to add some other properties of the document.

Clicking the name of the Properties group opens a menu with two options. The first option, the Show Document Panel, displays a group of basic properties in the document header as a reminder that properties should be filled. The second option, Advanced Properties, displays the Properties window that we would get if we launched the same name option from Windows Explorer over this document.

Before completing the document it is good to check its correctness. We do this by entering the Backstage View, by clicking on the File tab, and then choosing the Info group. Then click on Check for Issues, and from the menu select one of the options offered. The first option, Inspect Document, checks if the document contains some hidden content. Last option, Check Accessibility, is used to check if the document is suitable for viewing by people with special needs. The last option, Check Compatibility, is to check if the document is compatible with previous versions of Excel. This latter is important to check if there are multiple versions of the Office package installed in the company. After checking, it is necessary to make some corrections on the document, to be recorded afterwards and possibly marked as the final version.