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What you see

Dijji edited this page Nov 3, 2017 · 1 revision

This is what you will see in Windows Explorer.

When you select a file with one of the extensions for which you have added the File Meta Property Handler (using the File Association Manager), metadata properties for the file will be shown in the Details Pane. In Windows 7 and before, this appears at the bottom of the Explorer window:

what you see_simple

In Windows 8 and 10, the Details Pane appears at the right of the Explorer window:

what you see_edit10

However, in Windows 8 and 10, it is not shown by default. It must be turned on in the File (or View) tab:

what you see_dp10

In all versions of Windows, you can edit metadata fields by clicking on them and updating them in place. To edit fields that have multiple values, separate the values using semicolons.

The set of fields shown depend on the profile that you selected in the File Association Manager. Above are the fields you will see having selected the Simple profile. Choosing the Office profile instead will show additional fields:

what you see_office

The metadata properties specified by the profiles are also available as columns in the main pane of Windows Explorer. You can choose them by right clicking on the column headers:

what you see_choose

Then the chosen properties will be shown as columns, with read-only values:

what you see_columns

Metadata can be exported to XML, imported from XML, or deleted using the Metadata context menu accessed by right clicking on the file in the main pane:

what you see_context

If the folder containing your files is indexed, then you can use the Search text box in Explorer to find your files using any of the metadata properties:

what you see_search

You can also look for your files using search from the Start Menu (or Search charm in Windows 8).

Note that everything shown above is a standard, built-in capability of Windows Explorer, with the exception of the Metadata context menu, which is an Explorer extension installed by File Metadata.