DIRECT MANIPULATION INTERFACE FOR DOCUMENT PROPERTIES

A document management system A is employed to provide arbitrary properties to documents 40, such that the hierarchical constraints of previous file systems are avoided. An interface 10 is provided for visualizing document properties and a location of the documents within an organized arrangement. A repository C holds documents and the attached properties. A first containment structure 26 is designed to portray representations of documents in the repository having a first property type. A second containment structure 24 is provided to portray representations of documents in the repository having a second property type. Within the first containment structure 26 is a first document 40 having a first property type. A movement mechanism 43 is designed to move the representation of the first document 40, stored in the first containment structure 26 to a location in the second containment structure 24. A property analyzer 47 senses operation of the movement mechanism 43 and analyzes properties attached to the first document 40 when the representation of the first document is to be moved into the second containment structure. A property changer 49 alters at least one of the properties of the first document 40 based on information received from the property analyzer 47. By this arrangement, a user may generate a structure of document organization in a system which separates a document's content and the properties of a document.