Question about using the url attribute

[TimP]

I found specific instructions in the help file about adding a URL attribute to an info item and then using the "Store Contents" function to bring that document into the database. It doesn't seem to quite work because the "store contents" function, whether the button or the menu item, are grayed-out. And, if you could change the template to "document", the info item's template to "document", other behaviours would change - such as making the form at the top of the detail pane go away and making the text of the formerly "text" type item inaccessible.

Is there another setting or trick to making this work - that is, using a URL attribute in a non-document item type?