To use custom document properties to create views in a public folder, you need to complete three steps. First, create the custom document properties in a file. Then move that file into Outlook in order to move the custom document properties into Outlook. Third, set up the public folder view using the custom properties.

Create the custom properties

1. In an Microsoft Office program, such as Microsoft Word, open or create a file that you want to add custom document properties to.
2. On the File menu, click Properties, and then click the Custom tab.
3. In the Name box, type a property you want to use, or select one from the list.
4. Complete the Type and Value fields. For more information about how to do this, type Custom properties in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Help window of your Office program, and then click Search.
5. Click the Add button to add the property to the document.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 6 until you've added all the properties you want, and then save the file.

Move the custom properties into Outlook

1. Start Outlook, and in the Folder List, click the public folder you want to use.
2. Click the Restore button in the upper-right corner of the Outlook window. This reduces the size of the window so you can see other parts of your desktop.
3. Double-click the My Computer icon, and then locate the file that contains the custom properties.
4. Drag the file into the public folder in Outlook. You might have to adjust the size of your program windows in order to do this. When you drag the file into the public folder, the custom properties in it move into Outlook.

Set up the public folder view

1. In Outlook, in the Folder List, click the public folder that you dragged the file to, and then click the file to select it.
2. Right-click any column heading in the view pane, and then click Field Chooser on the shortcut menu.
3. In the list at the top of the Field Chooser, click User-defined fields in folder. The custom properties you defined in your file will appear in the list.
4. Drag each custom property from the Field Chooser to any column heading. This turns the custom properties into columns in the view.

Now, when you send documents to the public folder, the documents can be sorted, grouped, and filtered using their custom properties.