Writer Guide

Using document properties to hold
information that changes
Use the Properties dialog box for any document to enter information
that you might want to reference in your document. This is particularly
useful if it is information that might change during the course of the
project. Choose File > Properties and enter the desired data in the
Description page and the Custom Properties page.
Later in this chapter, we will see how to use this information in fields.
You can return to this dialog box at any time and change the
information you entered. When you do so, all of the references to that
information will change wherever they appear in the document. For
example, on the Description page (Figure 376) you might need to
change the contents of the Title field from the draft title to the
production title.
Figure 376: The Description page of the document’s
Properties dialog box
The Custom Properties page (Figure 377) is particularly useful in a
template, where the field names can serve as reminders of information
that writers need to include, which will then be used within the
document itself. This page can be customized in several ways:
• You can change the default names of the fields to more
meaningful names. If the choices in the drop-down list in the
Name column do not meet your needs, you can type a new name
into the box. The example in Figure 377 shows that three of the
defaults have been changed: Info 1 to Chapter subtitle, Info 2 to
Chapter number, and Info 3 to Name of Guide.
• In the Type column, you can choose from text, number, date, or
yes/no for each field.
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