Accessing document properties

Note: This operation is not available in the Lotus Quickr edition of Document Collaboration for Rational Jazz.
Right-click a folder or a document and select Properties to open the Properties window.

The Properties window, where the document properties can be viewed and edited. Use the Properties window to view and edit the item metadata, directly on the document server.

The first property in the Properties dialog is Content Type. A content type is a collection of properties available to a certain document. A document library can include documents of more than one content type. The properties in the Properties window are categorized by the content type or the document library where they are defined. Selecting a new content type for a document changes the available properties and categories. The grouping of properties is turned on with the Categorized button and turned off with the Alphabetical button, both available in the Properties window’s toolbar.

Required document properties are indicated with a red dot (see image above). If the value of a required property is not set, you will not be able to check in the document.

You can directly edit the value of simple properties within the Properties window. For more advanced property types, such as Date and Time, Person or Group, or Hyperlink, a Browse (“…”) button is shown next to the property value, when the property is selected. Clicking it opens a customized dialog that lets you edit the property value. Changes made in the Properties window are made directly to the Document Site. In the properties pane you are also able to edit the document type, and the state of document workflows and approval processes.
Note: Values added using the Person or Group type dialog are displayed in the Properties dialog as defined in the referenced list. For example, you can configure the values to be displayed as e-mail addresses, instead of names.
Document properties that you cannot edit are dimmed. This is either because you do not have the privileges to change the property’s value, or that the property is set as read-only in the content type definition. If the document is checked out to another user, all properties are dimmed.

If the settings of the current document library require checking out the document before editing the metadata, you are required to check out your document upon the first editing attempt. If you modified any properties, you will be asked to check-in the document to make the changes available to all users. You can also use the Check In / Check Out button in the Properties window’s toolbar to check in or check out the document.