Synchronizing properties

Microsoft Office property data can be synchronized between a document and its property pages in the vault. This is useful for several purposes:

• Filling in some or all properties when new documents are created
• Adding data to the Meridian properties when text is typed in empty properties in Office
• Keeping the properties properly synchronized when changes are made in either application

Note    If you insert a Word field and link it to a Word property that is itself linked to a Meridian property, the field will also show the value of the Meridian property. This requires that the properties are mapped to one another in the vault configuration by a system administrator. However, this synchronization is only in one direction from the Word property to the Word field. Changes to the field will not be synchronized to the Meridian property.

Synchronization occurs automatically when a file is opened in Office. This synchronization is from Meridian to the file. This ensures that any changes made to Meridian properties are reflected in the file properties. Synchronization also occurs automatically when a file is saved in Office. This synchronization is from the file to Meridian. This ensures that any changes made to the file properties are reflected in the Meridian properties.

In addition, synchronization can occur when significant events happen in the life cycle of a file:

Meridian properties can be updated from file properties when:

• Files are imported into a vault
• Files are uploaded with Web Access

File properties can be updated when files are:

• Created new from a template or by using the Meridian Copy, Derive, or Replace commands
• Routed to a different state in a document workflow
• Assigned to a work area that is routed to a different workflow state
• Released from a work area
• Checked out with Web Access

The events upon which synchronization occurs automatically are configured by a system administrator.

Synchronization can also occur as necessary, for example, when the file’s title has changed, by executing Meridian commands.

To manually update a file’s Meridian property pages from its file properties:

• On the BlueCielo toolbar in Office, click Synchronize Properties From File.

Or

• On the Document menu in Meridian, select Synchronize Properties From File.

To manually update a file’s title property from its Meridian property pages, such as when the file’s revision number has changed:

• On the BlueCielo toolbar in Office, click Synchronize Properties to File.

Or

• On the Document menu in Meridian, select Synchronize Properties to File.

Note    A system administrator may configure some Meridian properties as read-only or write-only so that data exchange only occurs in one direction. For example, the revision number in a title block may only be able to be updated from Meridian, but not to Meridian.

Note    Microsoft Office 2007 and higher allows you to save files to older version (97 - 2003) formats that use different file extensions (.doc, .xls, and so on) than the newer format (.docx, .xlsx, and so on). When files are saved in the old format, the Office link does not work as expected because it is registered with the default file extensions that are created by the new applications. The workaround to this problem is to add the old file extensions to the Windows registry in the following key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{6D61257C-66B5-4210-B963-2C15F9BC44DE}\SupportedDocTypes