Using the example in the Org Manual doesn't seem to work although I am new to emacs and org mode so maybe i'm not grasping the concept.
I set org-use-inheritance to true, I saved the file and loaded it fresh and tried C-c C-c on the #+PROPERTY line to refresh local setup.

Problems:
1. If the property is not yet used on an entry, tab completion only shows "property_ALL" instead of "property", and of course there is no completion on possible values. 
2. inherited properties - Where is the GENRES property and the inheritance?
3. Is there a way to display only some of the STANDARD properties along with my custom properties in the completion buffer?

See sample org file below:

Use case - i am trying to manage my contacts and want to predefine about 30 properties and their allowed values before using them.  I want to use COLUMN view to look through 1,000's of contacts and possibly sort them by different criteria depending on task at hand.  I will use agenda to manage TODOs and SCHEDULED.  By setting a UUID for each top -level entry (a person) then possibly write some functions (providing a database -like functionality).  I need this to work across Windows, Mac Leopard & Lion, Centos, and OpenSuse, along with syncing some contact info to iPhone & iPad, all whether I'm online or offline (in the field).  I will use svn or git to keep things current on the desktop/laptop platforms.   


#+PROPERTY: NDisks_ALL 1 2 3 4

* CD collection
  :PROPERTIES:
  :Publisher_ALL: "Deutsche Grammophon" Philips EMI
  :END:
** Classic
   :PROPERTIES:
   :GENRES:   Classic
   :END:
*** Goldberg Variations
    :PROPERTIES:
    :Title:    Goldberg Variations
    :Artist:   Glen Gould
    :Composer: J.S. Bach
    :Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
    :NDisks:    1
    :GENRES+: Baroque
    :END:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :results output
(print (version))
(print org-use-property-inheritance)
(print (org-entry-properties nil ))
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: 
: "GNU Emacs 24.1.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin11.3.0, NS apple-appkit-1138.32)
:  of 2012-06-15 on gamma.local"
: 
: t
: 
: (("FILE" . "/Users/davidcoate/gtd/temp.org") ("BLOCKED" . "") ("Title" . "Goldberg Variations") ("Artist" . "Glen Gould") ("Composer" . "J.S. Bach") ("Publisher" . "Deutsche Grammophon") ("NDisks" . "1") ("CATEGORY" . "temp"))






David Coate
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