Viewing and maintaining chart summary properties

Summary and custom properties contain user-defined and automatically generated information about the content and use of the chart. Some of these properties are used in the chart Cover Sheet, which can be set to display on opening a chart.

Use the Description and Origin pages in the Summary folder of the Chart Properties window to:

  • View the chart summary and custom properties
  • Edit the chart summary properties
  • Create new chart custom properties
  • Edit an existing chart custom property
  • Delete an existing chart custom property

Chart summary properties on the Description page

Use the Description page to view and edit file information about the chart file, such as its title and subject. You can amend all the following fields.

Field Description
Title Enter a title for this chart. On saving your chart for the first time, the Title is used as the standard file name, however you can change the title as required.
Subject Enter the subject of the chart. You can use the subject field to group similar types of chart together, for example, all those charts that pertain to a particular investigation.
Keywords Use keywords to help readers identify the purpose of your chart.
Category A broad term, for example Surveillance, to allow your chart to be grouped with other similar charts.
Comments Use comments to record useful information about the chart.

For every new chart that you create from the Standard template, two custom properties are displayed, to which you can add or delete values.

Field Description
Case The name of the operation or case or criminal investigation to which the chart relates.
Classification The sensitivity level of the information that is contained in the chart, for example, Restricted.

Chart summary properties on the Origin page

Use the Origin page to view the history details of the chart, such as when it was last saved or printed. You can amend only the Author field; all other fields display read-only information.

Fields Description
Author The name of the person who created the chart.
Template The template on which this chart was based.

You can select the full path of the template. Click anywhere in the box and drag to the right to see the full path.

You can then copy the path to the clipboard.

Note: The Template property is not available for printing in the headers and footers of your chart.
Editing Time The total amount of time this chart is open for editing.
Created The date and time that this chart was created.
Last Saved The date and time that the chart was last saved.
Last Printed The date and time that the chart was last printed.
Revision Number The number of times the chart is modified and saved.

Editing chart summary properties

You can change the summary properties on the Description page and the Author box on the Origin page by selecting all of the text in the field, and typing over the selection with your new text entry.

After you make your changes on either the Description or Origin pages, click OK to close the Chart Properties window.

Note: Changes to custom properties are not saved until you confirm your changes on the Chart Properties window, and save your chart.

Creating and editing a chart custom property

Create a custom property if you want to add information to the Cover Sheet that is not covered by the summary properties. To create a custom property:

  1. Click New in the Custom area of the Description page. The New Custom Property window is shown.
  2. In the New Custom Property window, enter a name for the custom property in the Name box and custom property information in the Value box.
    Note: You must enter both a Name and Value to create a custom property. The new custom property Name must be unique in the list. Values that are entered in the Value box are interpreted as plain text.
  3. Click OK to close the window.

To edit a custom property Name or Value, you can:

  • Select the custom property row in the list, click Edit, and change the Name, Value, or both, displayed in the Edit Property window.
  • Double-click either the Name or Value cell of the custom property that you want to edit and enter your new Name or Value, and either click away from the table or press the Enter key.

When you create new custom properties or edit existing custom properties, you can sort the properties in alphabetical order by their name or value. To do this, click either the Name or Value column header. Sorting is not case-sensitive and numbers come before letters.

Note: Changes to custom properties are not saved until you confirm your changes on the Chart Properties window, and save your chart.

Deleting a chart custom property

To delete an existing custom property from the Cover Sheet:

  1. In the Custom area of the Description page, select an existing custom property from the custom properties list.
  2. Click Delete or press the Delete key.
Note: Changes to custom properties are not saved until you confirm your changes on the Chart Properties window, and save your chart.