How to: Create and Modify Custom Document Properties
The Microsoft Office applications listed above provide built-in properties that are stored with documents. In addition, you can create and modify custom document properties if there is additional information you want to store with the document.
Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for the following applications: Excel 2013 and Excel 2010; PowerPoint 2013 and PowerPoint 2010; Project 2013 and Project 2010; Word 2013 and Word 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.
Use the CustomDocumentProperties property of a document to work with custom properties. For example, in a document-level project for Microsoft Office Excel, use the CustomDocumentProperties property of the ThisWorkbook class. In an application-level project for Excel, use the CustomDocumentProperties property of a Workbook object. These properties return a DocumentProperties object, which is a collection of DocumentProperty objects. You can use the Item property of the collection to retrieve a particular property, either by name or by index within the collection.
The following example demonstrates how to add a custom property in a document-level customization for Excel and assign it a value.
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For a related video demonstration, see How Do I: Access and Manipulate Custom Document Properties in Microsoft Word?.
Example
Sub TestProperties()
Dim properties As Microsoft.Office.Core.DocumentProperties
properties = CType(Me.CustomDocumentProperties, Office.DocumentProperties)
If ReadDocumentProperty("Project Name") <> Nothing Then
properties("Project Name").Delete()
End If
properties.Add("Project Name", False, _
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeString, _
"White Papers")
End Sub
Private Function ReadDocumentProperty(ByVal propertyName As String) As String
Dim properties As Office.DocumentProperties
properties = CType(Me.CustomDocumentProperties, Office.DocumentProperties)
Dim prop As Office.DocumentProperty
For Each prop In properties
If prop.Name = propertyName Then
Return prop.Value.ToString()
End If
Next
Return Nothing
End Function
void TestProperties()
{
Microsoft.Office.Core.DocumentProperties properties;
properties = (Office.DocumentProperties)this.CustomDocumentProperties;
if (ReadDocumentProperty("Project Name") != null)
{
properties["Project Name"].Delete();
}
properties.Add("Project Name", false,
Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoDocProperties.msoPropertyTypeString,
"White Papers");
}
private string ReadDocumentProperty(string propertyName)
{
Office.DocumentProperties properties;
properties = (Office.DocumentProperties)this.CustomDocumentProperties;
foreach (Office.DocumentProperty prop in properties)
{
if (prop.Name == propertyName)
{
return prop.Value.ToString();
}
}
return null;
}
Robust Programming
Attempting to access the Value property for undefined properties raises an exception.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Read from and Write to Document Properties