OL97: Office Document Custom Properties Do Not Appear

• Microsoft Outlook 97

SYMPTOMS

When you add custom properties to a Microsoft Office document and post the document to a personal Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) folder in Microsoft Outlook 97 using the "Send To Exchange Folder" command, or by dragging the document to an MAPI folder, Outlook does not display the custom property names in the Field Chooser.

RESOLUTION

There are two methods to resolve this problem depending on how you posted the document to the Outlook folder.

• If you used the "Send To Exchange Folder" command in an Office program, follow the steps in the "Send To Exchange Folder" section.
• If you dragged the document to the Outlook folder, follow the steps in the "Use the Find Fast Indexer" section. The steps in the "Send To Exchange Folder" section will also resolve the problem.

Send To Exchange Folder

Use this method for the first document that contains the custom properties. For subsequent documents containing the same custom properties, you can use the "Send To Exchange Folder" command in Office programs such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.

Save the file to a folder and drag it from the file system folder to an Outlook personal folder.

1. When your document is complete, save it to a folder in the file system, such as My Documents, close the file, and minimize the program.

2. Click the Start button, point to Programs, click Windows Explorer and then size and position the window on the right half of your monitor.

3. Start Outlook and size and position it on the left half of your monitor.

4. Locate the file in Windows Explorer; using the right mouse button, drag the file to a personal folder in the Outlook window. Release the mouse button and click Copy on the shortcut menu.

5. On the View menu in Outlook, click Field Chooser, then click to select "User-defined fields in folder" from the list box.

Use the Find Fast Indexer

Use the Find Fast Indexer to create an index of the folder containing the Office documents that you dragged to the Outlook folder. You can specify the file types to index only when you create an index. You cannot change the indexed file types for an existing index; you must delete the index and then recreate it.

Creating an Index

To create a Fast Find index, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Find Fast, and on the Index menu, click Create Index.

3. Click Browse and click to select the drive or folder containing the documents you want to index. This location is also where the index files are stored.

4. Under Of Type, click to select from the list, the file types you want to index.

5. Click OK.

Deleting an Index

To delete a Fast Find index, follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. Double-click Find Fast and on the Index menu, click Delete Index.

3. Click Browse and click to select the drive or folder containing the index you want to delete.

4. Click OK.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Outlook 97. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Problem

If the Document was Dragged to the Outlook Folder

1. In Outlook, create a new folder, and name it Test.

2. In Excel, on the File menu, click Properties.

3. On the Custom tab, add three fields, A, B, and C, and click OK. Save the file as Custom.xls in the My Documents folder and then quit Excel.

4. Click the Start button, point to Programs, and click Windows Explorer then size and position the window on the right half of your monitor.

5. Start Outlook and size and position it on the left half of your monitor.

6. Open the My Documents folder in Windows Explorer, and drag Custom.xls to the Test folder in Outlook.

7. In Outlook, open the Test folder.

8. On the View menu, click Field Chooser, and in the list, click to select "User-defined fields in folder."

If the Document was Posted Using Send To Exchange Folder

1. In Outlook, create a new folder and name it Test.

2. Open a spreadsheet in Excel and on the File menu, click Properties.

3. On the Custom tab, add three fields, A, B, and C, click OK, and then Save the file.

4. On the File menu, point to Send To, click Exchange Folder, then select the Test folder.

5. In Outlook, open the Test folder.

6. On the View menu, click Field Chooser, and in the list, click to select "User-defined fields in folder."

REFERENCES

For more information on the Find Fast Indexer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q166302
   Title     : Overview of Find Fast Indexer

Keywords          : IntpOthr
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbpending