Indexing Service views the documents that it processes as objects with an assortment of properties. It separates the information that a document represents into these properties — according to their characteristics — as it filters, indexes, and queries the properties. This section describes the important characteristics of document properties and how Indexing Service processes them. The following table lists the topics in the section and describes the characteristic that each topic discusses.

Indexing Service stores and accesses its information using the Microsoft® OLE DB Provider. Consequently, Indexing Service documentation sometimes uses database nomenclature — referring to document properties as attributes, columns, or fields — appropriate for the context.