Document Properties

[Andrea]

Hello.

I am trying to create an Access database that is populated by the information contained in the document properties of both Word and WordPerfect documents. Does anyone have any idea if this is even possible, and if so, how?

TIA.

Andrea

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Andrea,

It's certainly possible for Word and I believe it is for WordPerfect. Is
the idea to have Word and WordPerfect send the document properties to
Access when the document is saved, or to have Access trawl the hard
drive reading the properties of the documents it finds?

Either way you'll need to use VBA and Automation and you'll need some
knowledge of programming and database design.

See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=224351 for information about
DSOFILE.DLL, a component that lets you access the properties of Word
documents (and other OLE Structured Storage files) without actually
opening Word. I don't know whether there's a WordPerfect equivalent, but
recent versions of WP include VBA so should be capable of being
controlled by code running in Access.

Here are some links to help you get started with Automation:

Q147816 ACC: Using Microsoft Access as an Automation Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=147816
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=210111 (Access 2000)

Q123859 ACC: Sample OLE Automation for MS Word and MS Excel
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=123859

http://www.mvps.org/access/modules/mdl0043.htm
Opening a new Word document based on a template through Automation

There's a white paper and code samples including tutorials available
from Microsoft at
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=253235

 

[TC]

Excellent answer.

TC

Hi Andrea,

It's certainly possible for Word and I believe it is for WordPerfect. Is
the idea to have Word and WordPerfect send the document properties to
Access when the document is saved, or to have Access trawl the hard
drive reading the properties of the documents it finds?

Either way you'll need to use VBA and Automation and you'll need some
knowledge of programming and database design.

See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=224351 for information about
DSOFILE.DLL, a component that lets you access the properties of Word
documents (and other OLE Structured Storage files) without actually
opening Word. I don't know whether there's a WordPerfect equivalent, but
recent versions of WP include VBA so should be capable of being
controlled by code running in Access.

Here are some links to help you get started with Automation:

Q147816 ACC: Using Microsoft Access as an Automation Server
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=147816
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=210111 (Access 2000)

Q123859 ACC: Sample OLE Automation for MS Word and MS Excel
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=123859

http://www.mvps.org/access/modules/mdl0043.htm
Opening a new Word document based on a template through Automation

There's a white paper and code samples including tutorials available
from Microsoft at
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=253235