Project 4: Report
File Properties

Step-by-Step: File Properties

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What you will learn:

to access a document's file properties to reduce a document's file size

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Start with:  , report-WorldTravel8.doc

Open File Properties

1. Write down the FileSize numbers in all of the headers. Since the fields were inserted at different times, it is possible that they are different from each other.
     
   
2. From the menu select  File  |  Properties . The Properties dialog opens. The tabs show some useful information.

   You can view this dialog also from an Open or Save As dialog by right clicking on a file and choosing Properties from the popup menu. This can help you pick the right file before opening it or saving over it.
    

3. General tab: Shows lots of information about the file. You already put the file size in the report header.

   Write down the file size. It is probably different from the number in the illustration.

   This tab shows the basic file properties:
   

   • file path
   • file size
   • MS-DOS name
   • date created
   • date modified
   • date last accessed
   • file attributes
      
   
   
4. Summary tab: This information can help you pick the right file without having to open it.
   
   Enter  the info as shown at right.
   
   Title:  World Travel Inc. report 
    
   Subject:  Our 10th Anniversary 
    
   Author: Use your own name
    
   Keywords: :  special offer, 10th anniversary, goals 
   
   Comments:  main document for Word Project 4, CompLit 101 

5. Statistics tab: Shows for the number of pages, words, paragraphs, etc.
    
   This is where you look to see if you've gotten enough words yet for that school paper that has to have 500 words.
    
6. Contents tab:  Shows an outline created from your Heading styles. Those heading styles are just SO useful. 
   
   The next time you open File Properties the Title here will be the one you typed on the Summary page.
    
7. Customs tab: You can set values for some standard properties or create your own properties.
    
   Select the property Purpose in the upper list. 
    
   In the Value box type   class exercise . 
    
   
   Click the Add button. Your new property is listed in the bottom list.
    
8. Click on OK to close the File Properties dialog.

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Update All Fields

The three different headers contain a FileSize field. As you added headers, you changed the file size, but the fields may not update automatically! You can update each field separately or all fields at once. All at once is an attractive thought, if you can remember the keys!

1. Compare the File Size shown on each page of your report. Are they all the same? Possibly not! You created them at different times.
    
2. Compare the FileSize field showing in the header of the Cover Page to the file size you wrote down from the File Properties dialog. Are they exactly the same? Possibly not! The difference may be small for this file.

   The header number has not been updated yet. Even a little bit of editing, such as changing the file properties, makes a difference in the file size.
    

3. Select the FileSize field in the header of the first page.
    
4. Press the F9 key. The field is updated.
    
5. Repeat for the other headers.
    
6. Scroll through the document and check that all headers now show the same number. Is this the number you saw in File Properties?

To update all the fields in a document at once, select the whole document (CTRL + A) and then press the F9 key.

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Save to Reduce Size

As you work with a document, the file size has a tendency to grow. It can become several times larger than necessary! You can often reduce the size substantially by saving the document under a different name. You have been saving your report with a different name at the various stages of work to avoid this very thing.

When working with the print version of this web site, my files that started with a file size of about 2 MB grew to over 20 MB each! I had not added that much material!!! Saving under a different name from time to time kept the file size under control.

1. Save this document on your Class disk with a new name:   report-World Travel-9.doc .
   How to handle a full disk
    
2. Open  File  |  Properties  |  General  again to see the new file size. 
    
   
3. Open the header for the Cover Page. Update the File size field by right clicking the field and choosing Update Fields.
    

   

   
    
4. Scroll through the document and look at the FileSize shown on other pages. Did any others update?
    
5. From the menu select  Tools  |  Options...  |  Print  and in the Print Options section check the box for Update fields . Now when you print, you will be prompted to update fields first.
    
6. Print page 1 only of  report-World Travel-9.doc. 
   
    To save space on your disk, once you have printed your documents and see that all is well, you may delete the larger, original file and then rename the smaller file to the original name. This technique seems to help with documents that have been worked with a lot. Keep it in mind as your disk gets full.
    
7. Close the document.