Core Document Properties¶

The Open XML format provides for a set of descriptive properties to be maintained with each document. One of these is the core file properties. The core properties are common to all Open XML formats and appear in document, presentation, and spreadsheet files. The ‘Core’ in core document properties refers to Dublin Core, a metadata standard that defines a core set of elements to describe resources.

The core properties are described in Part 2 of the ISO/IEC 29500 spec, in Section 11. The names of some core properties in python-docx are changed from those in the spec to conform to the MS API.

Other properties such as company name are custom properties, held in app.xml.

Candidate Protocol¶

>>> document = Document()
>>> core_properties = document.core_properties
>>> core_properties.author
'python-docx'
>>> core_properties.author = 'Brian'
>>> core_properties.author
'Brian'

Properties¶

15 properties are supported. All unicode values are limited to 255 characters (not bytes).

author (unicode): Note: named ‘creator’ in spec. An entity primarily responsible for making the content of the resource. (Dublin Core)
category (unicode): A categorization of the content of this package. Example values for this property might include: Resume, Letter, Financial Forecast, Proposal, Technical Presentation, and so on. (Open Packaging Conventions)
comments (unicode): Note: named ‘description’ in spec. An explanation of the content of the resource. Values might include an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content, and a free-text account of the content. (Dublin Core)
content_status (unicode): The status of the content. Values might include “Draft”, “Reviewed”, and “Final”. (Open Packaging Conventions)
created (datetime): Date of creation of the resource. (Dublin Core)
identifier (unicode): An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context. (Dublin Core)
keywords (unicode): A delimited set of keywords to support searching and indexing. This is typically a list of terms that are not available elsewhere in the properties. (Open Packaging Conventions)
language (unicode): The language of the intellectual content of the resource. (Dublin Core)
last_modified_by (unicode): The user who performed the last modification. The identification is environment-specific. Examples include a name, email address, or employee ID. It is recommended that this value be as concise as possible. (Open Packaging Conventions)
last_printed (datetime): The date and time of the last printing. (Open Packaging Conventions)
modified (datetime): Date on which the resource was changed. (Dublin Core)
revision (int): The revision number. This value might indicate the number of saves or revisions, provided the application updates it after each revision. (Open Packaging Conventions)
subject (unicode): The topic of the content of the resource. (Dublin Core)
title (unicode): The name given to the resource. (Dublin Core)
version (unicode): The version designator. This value is set by the user or by the application. (Open Packaging Conventions)

Specimen XML¶

core.xml produced by Microsoft Word:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<cp:coreProperties
    xmlns:cp="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/metadata/core-properties"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dcmitype="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <dc:title>Core Document Properties Exploration</dc:title>
  <dc:subject>PowerPoint core document properties</dc:subject>
  <dc:creator>Steve Canny</dc:creator>
  <cp:keywords>powerpoint; open xml; dublin core; microsoft office</cp:keywords>
  <dc:description>
    One thing I'd like to discover is just how line wrapping is handled
    in the comments. This paragraph is all on a single
    line._x000d__x000d_This is a second paragraph separated from the
    first by two line feeds.
  </dc:description>
  <cp:lastModifiedBy>Steve Canny</cp:lastModifiedBy>
  <cp:revision>2</cp:revision>
  <dcterms:created xsi:type="dcterms:W3CDTF">2013-04-06T06:03:36Z</dcterms:created>
  <dcterms:modified xsi:type="dcterms:W3CDTF">2013-06-15T06:09:18Z</dcterms:modified>
  <cp:category>analysis</cp:category>
</cp:coreProperties>

Schema Excerpt¶

<xs:schema
  targetNamespace="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/metadata/core-properties"
  xmlns="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/metadata/core-properties"
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
  xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
  elementFormDefault="qualified"
  blockDefault="#all">

  <xs:import
    namespace="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    schemaLocation="http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/qdc/2003/04/02/dc.xsd"/>
  <xs:import
    namespace="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    schemaLocation="http://dublincore.org/schemas/xmls/qdc/2003/04/02/dcterms.xsd"/>
  <xs:import
    id="xml"
    namespace="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"/>

  <xs:element name="coreProperties" type="CT_CoreProperties"/>

  <xs:complexType name="CT_CoreProperties">
    <xs:all>
      <xs:element name="category"        type="xs:string"   minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="contentStatus"   type="xs:string"   minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dcterms:created"                     minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:creator"                          minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:description"                      minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:identifier"                       minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="keywords"        type="CT_Keywords" minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:language"                         minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="lastModifiedBy"  type="xs:string"   minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="lastPrinted"     type="xs:dateTime" minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dcterms:modified"                    minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="revision"        type="xs:string"   minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:subject"                          minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element ref="dc:title"                            minOccurs="0"/>
      <xs:element name="version"         type="xs:string"   minOccurs="0"/>
    </xs:all>
  </xs:complexType>

  <xs:complexType name="CT_Keywords" mixed="true">
    <xs:sequence>
      <xs:element name="value" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" type="CT_Keyword"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute ref="xml:lang" use="optional"/>
  </xs:complexType>

  <xs:complexType name="CT_Keyword">
    <xs:simpleContent>
      <xs:extension base="xs:string">
        <xs:attribute ref="xml:lang" use="optional"/>
      </xs:extension>
    </xs:simpleContent>
  </xs:complexType>

</xs:schema>

Core Document Properties¶

Candidate Protocol¶

Properties¶

Specimen XML¶

Schema Excerpt¶

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