Windows Property System

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Purpose

The Windows Property System is an extensible read/write system of data definitions that provides a uniform way of expressing metadata about Shell items. The Windows Property system in Windows Vista and later enables you to store and retrieve metadata for Shell items. A Shell item is any single piece of content, such as a file, folder, email, or contact. A property is an individual piece of metadata associated with a Shell item.

Developer audience

Before you start reading the Windows Property System SDK documentation, you should have a fundamental understanding of the following:

  • Component Object Model (COM)
  • Shell Namespace programming

For an introduction to COM, see COM Fundamentals. For an introduction to Shell Namespace programming, see Getting Started with the Shell Namespace.

For uses of the Windows Property System, see Property System Overview: Development Scenarios.

Run-time requirements

The supported run-time environment for using the Windows Property System is Windows Vista or later and the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Desktop Search (WDS) 3.0 or later also include a subset of the Windows Property System. For the Windows 7 or updated Windows Vista SDK download, see the Windows SDK.

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