I think the answer to this is going to be 'you can't do anything like that unless you have PDM'.  I am just wondering if there are any tricks out there that would allow one to quick-view a custom property (say, 'part number') in addition to the file name when browsing SW files in windows explorer? 

It would be super convenient if this were possible (even more convenient if I could search that without PDM system...and more convenient yet if I could view/search multiple properties at hand in Explorer w/o PDM system).