View the properties for a file

Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.
Which edition of Windows Vista am I using?

Properties are descriptive pieces of information that help you to find and organize files. Properties are not included within the actual contents of a file. Rather, they provide information about files. In addition to tags, which are custom properties that can contain any text you choose, your files include many other properties, including Date Modified, Author, and Rating.

Show all

To view the most common properties

You can see the most common properties that are associated with a file in the Details pane.

Open the folder that contains the file whose properties you want to see.

Click the file to see its properties in the Details pane at the bottom of the folder window.

Picture of tags in the Details pane
An example of tags in the Details pane

To view all the properties

The Details pane is convenient, but it doesn't show all of the properties that are associated with a file. If you need to see all the properties that are associated with a file, follow these steps:
1.	Open the folder that contains the file whose properties you want to see.
2.	Right-click the file whose properties you want to see, and then click Properties.
3.	Click the Details tab to see all the properties associated with this file.

To remove properties from a file

If you plan to share a file with another person, you might want to remove some or all of the file's properties, especially if some of the properties might be considered personal information. For example, the Author property can reveal the name of people who collaborated on a file, and tags might have words or phrases that you don't want other people to see.

Right-click the file, and then click Properties.

In the Properties dialog box, click the Details tab.

Click Remove Properties and Personal Information.

In the Remove Properties dialog box, click Create a copy with all possible properties removed, and then click OK. This allows you to keep the original version of the file with all of its properties, and make a copy that is suitable for sharing with all of the properties removed.
– or –
In the Remove Properties dialog box, click Remove the following properties from the file, choose which properties to remove, and then click OK.

NoteIf you added properties using a program other than Windows, you should remove those properties using that program. The Remove Properties dialog box removes properties that were added using Windows, but it might not be able to remove all properties added by some programs.

View the properties for a file

To view the most common properties

To view all the properties

To remove properties from a file

See also