How to Edit Document Properties in Excel | Three Editing Levels

Edit Excel document properties from File > Info. Update title, author, and tags, or open Advanced Properties for custom fields.

When you save a workbook, hidden fields travel with it—title, author, tags, and comments that help File Explorer and document management systems sort and find your files later. Learning how to edit document properties in Excel takes about ten seconds once you know where the controls live. The File > Info pane handles the most common fields, while a secondary dialog unlocks everything else.

Where Do Document Properties Live in Excel?

All editable document properties sit behind the File tab in Excel’s backstage view. The Info pane is the main control center for workbook metadata, with basic fields visible on the right side of the screen. Open any workbook, click File in the top-left corner, then click Info. The right panel shows the current document properties below a thumbnail preview. Fields like Title, Tags, Author, and Comments appear with current values or a prompt such as Add a title or Add a tag. Not every field shows up here by default—clicking Show all properties at the bottom of the panel expands the view to reveal additional fields including Category, Status, and Subject.

Editing Document Properties in the Info Pane

The Info pane lets you edit the most commonly used document properties by clicking directly into each field and typing. Click inside any property field—Add a title, Add a tag, or Add an author—and type your value. Click outside the field or press Tab to save automatically. Microsoft Office saves property edits immediately after editing the field; no separate save step is required. Repeat the process for each property you want to change. For fields that don’t appear in the initial view, click Show all properties to expose the full set, then edit the ones you need.

When Should You Use the Advanced Properties Dialog?

The Advanced Properties dialog gives you access to metadata fields the Info pane doesn’t show, including the Summary, Statistics, and Custom tabs. Click File > Info, then click Properties near the top of the right panel and select Advanced Properties from the dropdown. A dialog box opens with several tabs: General shows file type, location, size, and dates (read-only); Summary contains Title, Subject, Author, Manager, Company, Category, Keywords, and Comments; Statistics displays created, modified, accessed, and printed dates (read-only); Contents lists worksheet names and structure; and Custom lets you define user-created properties. Make your changes and click OK. These edits are saved automatically into the workbook.

Adding Custom Properties

Custom properties let you define metadata fields that standard property lists don’t include, using names and data types you choose. Open the Advanced Properties dialog and click the Custom tab. Type a property name in the Name field or select one from the dropdown list. Choose a data type from Type—Text, Date, Number, or Yes/No—then enter the value in the Value field and click Add. The new property appears in the list below. Click OK to save. If the value you enter doesn’t match the selected type, Excel stores the value as text instead of applying the chosen type.

Document Properties You Can Edit

Common Mistakes When Editing Properties

Two pitfalls trip up most users: editing only the visible Info-pane fields and missing the metadata stored in Advanced Properties, and assuming every field is manually editable. The Info pane shows a subset of available properties. Fields like Company, Manager, and Custom properties only appear in the Advanced Properties dialog or after clicking Show all properties. If you edit only the first few fields, the workbook’s metadata stays incomplete.

Some properties are automatic and update themselves—Last Save Time, Total Editing Time, and File Size are maintained by Excel and cannot be changed manually. The Info pane marks editable fields with a text box or a prompt like Add a title; read-only fields show grayed-out values. If the workbook is stored in SharePoint or synced through OneDrive, a community report notes that metadata can revert when a file is auto-saved, though this is not standard behavior in desktop Excel. Microsoft’s official Office file properties page confirms that property changes are saved automatically in supported Office files.

Edit Methods Compared

A Complete Property Check Before You Share

Run through these three stops to make sure every useful metadata field is filled before you save and share the workbook.

1. Open File > Info and fill in Title, Tags, and Author in the visible fields.
2. Click Show all properties and complete Category and Comments if they apply.
3. Open Properties > Advanced Properties to set Company, Manager, and any Custom properties you need.

These three stops cover every metadata field Excel exposes, making the workbook findable by search, sortable in File Explorer, and properly labeled for document management systems.