Adding a property to a dialog box in Studio Server

The dialog boxes that appear in the client applications such as Studio and Studio for InDesign and InCopy contain a default set of metadata properties.

Figure: The Check-in dialog in Studio for InDesign and InCopy, showing the default set of properties such as those for saving the file to a Brand, assigning it to a Category, adding a Status, and more.

Many more metadata properties are available in Studio Server and when needed, custom properties can be added as well.

The dialog boxes can be customized by adding or removing properties, depending on which ones are needed in a particular workflow.

This article describes how to do this.

Step 1. In Studio Server, access the Dialogs Setup Maintenance page by choosing Dialogs Setup in the Maintenance menu on the left side of the screen or on the Home page.

Step 2. Use the filter at the top of the page to specify to which Brand, for which object type and for which action the properties should be made available.

Example: To make the properties available to the Check In dialog box of images for all Brands, choose Brand '<All>', Object Type 'Image' and action 'Check In'.

Action list options

By choosing an action from the Action list, you control in which workflow dialog box each property appears. The following table lists each action that can be chosen, the dialog box the property will appear in and the menu action required for displaying that dialog box in the client application:

¹ Only a limited number of properties can be added to the Send To dialog; these include dynamic properties and XMP properties but no static properties or custom properties.

Step 3. At the bottom of the page, click Add.

When adding a first setup for the chosen Brand / Object type / Action combination, a message appears stating that in the setup that you are about to create, mandatory properties such as Name, Publication and Status will be automatically added. You will also be asked if regularly properties such as 'RouteTo' and 'Comment' also need to be added.

Step 4. Click Yes or No.

Note: Properties that are added by clicking Yes or that are left out by clicking No can at any time be removed or added in the next steps.

A list of properties appears: all mandatory properties and optionally all regularly used properties.

The option at the top of the list can be used for adding additional properties.

Note: Options for managing the already added properties will become available as soon as a change is made on the page: either by adding a new property or by navigating to a different setup and then returning to this setup.

Step 5. Add additional properties by choosing a property from the top of the list, setting its options, and clicking Update. For more information, see 'Property options' and 'Restricted properties' below.

Note: Review the settings that are shown for that action; they may hold additional information.

Example: When adding the Character Count property, the editable setting is automatically selected and a lock icon () is displayed to indicate that this option cannot be edited (this is because the character count value is provided by the system and should not be entered manually).

The setup is added to the list of Custom setups. Clicking it will display the properties for that setup.

Property options

The following list shows the options that can be set for each property.

• Group. Not editable on this page. Shows the name of the Group as set on the Metadata Maintenance page for the property. This groups properties together in a dialog box.

• Order. (Optional) Enter a number that specifies the order in which the property should appear in the dialog box.

• Property. Shows all static, dynamic and custom properties that are not yet added to the dialog box.

Note: Custom properties are listed first and are preceded by an asterisk character (*).

• Editable. Select if the property should be editable by the user. (See 'Restricted properties' below.)
• When selected, the user will be able to edit the content of the property, for instance by editing the default value or by entering a new value.
• When not selected, the property appears unavailable (grayed out) and will not be editable by the user. This can be used for instance when a default value is given for a property that should not be changed, such as copyright information.

Note: This option is disabled and not selected when the 'External' option has been enabled for a custom property.

• Mandatory. Select if entering a value for the property should be mandatory. (See 'Restricted properties' below.)
• When selected, the user is required to enter a value for that property. If no value is entered and the user attempts to go to the next step of the process (for instance by clicking OK button), a message appears informing that a value is required for that property.
• When not selected, the property can be left blank by the user.

Note: This option is disabled and not selected when the 'External' option has been enabled for a custom property.

• Restricted. Select if user is not allowed to modify the property. (See 'Restricted properties' below.)
• When selected, only users that have the option 'Change Restricted Properties' selected in their Access Profile are allowed to edit the property. For all other users, the property appears unavailable (grayed out).
• When not selected, the setting of the 'Change Restricted Properties' option in the user's Access Profile is not taken into account.

Note: This option is disabled and not selected when the 'External' option has been enabled for a custom property.

• Multiple Objects. (For Studio, for Studio for InDesign and InCopy 19.0.0 for Adobe 2024, or any higher version of Studio for InDesign and InCopy for any higher version of Adobe, and only when 'Send To' or 'Set Properties' has been selected from the Action list) Select if the property should be available when a user wants to change the properties for multiple objects or files in Studio or in Studio for InDesign and InCopy.

Note: This option is disabled and not selected when the 'External' option has been enabled for a custom property.

Restricted properties

Not all combinations of Editable, Mandatory and Restricted can be used together.

Example: Making a property Mandatory but not Editable is not logical if no default value is provided.

The table below shows an overview of the combinations that can be used.

Revisions

• 17 September 2026: Updated section 'Property options' with notes about the 'External' option.