Features

M-Files Online comes in four different product editions: Core, Standard, Professional and Enterprise.

User Interfaces

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
M-Files Desktop for Windows
M-Files Mobile for Android and iOS
M-Files Classic Web
M-Files New Web
Embedded UI for Microsoft SharePoint Online & Teams
Embedded UI for Salesforce
Chrome Extension for Gmail and Google Drive
GANTT Chart View

Solution Templates for Common Use Cases

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Generic Document Management (Sample Vault)
CM vault template for contract management (Adobe
Sign and DocuSign integrations are supported in the
Professional and Enterprise editions)
Back Office vault (Adobe Sign and DocuSign
integrations are supported in the Professional and
Enterprise editions)
HR vault template for employee records management
Project Document Management vault template for
managing documents related to projects, cases, and
engagements.
GDPR vault template for managing PII data requests
and privacy policies.
QMS vault template for SOP and audit management.

Version Control

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Prevent inadvertent simultaneous and conflicting edits
with the Check Out and Check In features.
Capture all changes in file content and metadata
though the enforced version control feature. Previous
versions can be accessed via the object history window.
Use the Version Control Lite module to configure
multiple versioning schemes including major and minor
versioning and manage working copies and published
versions of documents separately.
Use the Advanced Version Control module to manage
multiple published versions and translations per
document simultaneously.
Use the Change Request module to initiate version
updates via formal change request objects

Collaboration and sharing

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Share documents as email attachments.
Share objects and documents with other M-Files users
with M-Files URLs.
Share files to external users with Public Links.
Use co-authoring to let multiple users edit Microsoft
Office files simultaneously.
Use the M-Files for Google Workspace module to
enable editing and co-authoring of native Google
documents.
Enable optimal collaboration and productivity
with Hubshare – a complete Digital Client Experience
and Collaborative Workspace solution.
Add-onAdd-on

File manipulation and control

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Show a file preview for common file types.
Show a file preview for native Google Docs, Sheets, and
Slides.
Annotate and redline files without modifying the
original file.
Convert files to PDF in workflows, while importing files,
while sharing files, and when adding documents from a
scanner
 to M-Files.
Use the PDF Processor module for advanced document
rendering.
Track and manage printouts of official documents with
the Controlled Printing module.
Print and Download Prevention – prevent users from
taking local copies and printing sensitive documents.
Compare two different file versions of the same
Microsoft Word document.
Use the Advanced Document Compare feature to
compare two different file versions, two different
documents, and multiple file types.

Filing content

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Save content based on what it is and apply metadata
properties for better discoverability.
Leverage AI-powered metadata suggestions for more
efficient and accurate filing.
Save documents from any Windows application
directly to M-Files’ virtual M drive.
Save emails and email attachments from
Microsoft Outlook to M-Files.
Automate filing of email correspondence from
Microsoft Outlook using M-Files for Outlook Pro.
Add-onAdd-onAdd-onAdd-on
Save email messages from Gmail to M-Files.
Save email attachments from Gmail to M-Files.
Assign documents to workflows automatically based on
metadata.
Set permissions individually for each document and
object manually or automatically via metadata.
Organize files with dynamic views and virtual folders.
Detect duplicate files based on the file content

Search

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Use full-text search from M-Files repository (file
content and metadata).
Use full-text search from connected external
repositories (file content and metadata).
Use fuzzy search for searching for spelling variations of
the search term.
Use proximity search to find two words or phrases
within certain distance from one another.
Save searches (dynamic views) for later use.
Use faceted search to provide additional search filters in the user interface.
(Requires IDOL implementation)

(Requires IDOL or Smart Search implementation)

(Requires IDOL or Smart Search implementation)
Maximum full-text search index size1 million
objects
Unlimited
(Requires IDOL or Smart Search
implementation)
Unlimited
(Requires IDOL or Smart Search
implementation)
Unlimited
(Requires IDOL or Smart Search
implementation)
IDOL Search – run full-text search indexing services on
separate servers and implement multi-server search
index cluster to support large search indexes with
millions of indexed files.
Smart Search – memory-based search technology to
allow an instant search experience for
M-Files Online customers. The new search engine is
hosted by M-Files in the cloud but on-premises vaults
can connect to this cloud service too

Workflows, Processes and Audit Trail

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Build workflows with graphical workflow designer.
Send assignments to other users.
Implement advanced automated processes without scripting or
API using the Configuration Accelerators utility.
Use the Advanced Notifications module to log send notification messages better
and for more advanced features for notification message templates.
Use the Periodic Tasks module in the Advanced Workflows add-on
to automatically create recurring periodic tasks, such as
periodic document reviews in workflows.
Automate sending of learning requirement assignments
of controlled documents with the Training Management module.
Enable automatic progression of parent or child workflows with the
Hierarchy Manager module in the Advanced Workflows add-on.

Reporting and Analytics

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Reporting module – export M-Files metadata to a
reporting database for data insights.
Use your favorite data visualization tools such as Microsoft Power BI
to create dashboards of document metadata.
M-Files Information Extractor – suggests metadata tags
for documents based on text analytics.Suggestions are either based on matches with other metadata
in the vault (such as synchronized account names from CRM)
or based on text analytic rules, such as pattern matching or data libraries.
Smart Metadata – uses machine learning to learn and suggest metadata
for new or existing documents. Its machine learning is based on the
documents and metadata already in the vault.
Image Analysis – provides metadata suggestions for images
based on the Computer Vision API of Microsoft Cognitive Services.
Requires Microsoft Computer Vision API subscription
that needs to be purchased separately.
M-Files Smart Classifier – offers automatic
document categorization suggestions for documents.
M-Files Discovery – finds business critical information such as
agreements and sensitive data within M-Files
and any connected external repository.
Use Log Exporter to export M-Files vault event log entries out
from the M-Files Server to be stored,
analyzed and, and archived elsewhere. This allows managing
the vault database size better and also allows analyzing
M-Files vault event logs with third party tools, such as Splunk.
Enable User Action Log to have more visibility on actions
performed by individual M-Files Desktop users in a given vault.

Email management

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Standard add-in for Microsoft Outlook – save emails
and attachments from Outlook to M-Files
M-Files for Outlook Pro – automate archiving emails
to M-Files.
Add-onAdd-onAdd-onAdd-on
Chrome Plugin for Gmail – save email messages and
attachments from Gmail to M-Files for long-term
preservation.

Electronic Signing

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Capture content approvals via workflows in M-Files
event log,
Digitize signature processes with M-Files for Adobe
Sign
. Requires Adobe Sign subscription.
Digitize signature processes with DocuSign integration.
Requires DocuSign subscription.
Digitize signature processes with Visma Sign integration.
Requires Visma Sign subscription.
Electronic signatures – require additional verification of
workflow state transition in M-Files to fulfill technical requirements
for electronic signing in highly regulated environments.
This feature is designed for use cases where documents
are approved internally in M-Files.
Trusted Digital Signatures – Ideal for use cases where documents
are approved internally within M-Files and signed documents
must be digitally signed for authenticity.
This module is designed for use cases where two or more
organizations share official records as PDF files and the receiving party
wants to ensure that the digitally signed PDF document
was signed by the other party.Requires a hardware-based digital signature certificate
that must be obtained separately.
The feature is not compatible with M-Files cloud repositories.
Smart Card Signatures – enforce Smart Card authentication
for workflow state transitions in M-Files Desktop.

File migration, Capture, and OCR

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Import files and folders
Client-side scanning
Hot folder monitoring
M-Files OCR Lite module – Convert scanned images to
searchable PDFs and use zonal OCR to capture
metadata attributes from within certain area on the scanned page.
M-Files OCR module – Use barcode recognition to capture
barcode values as metadata attributes and use hyper-compression
to reduce the file size of the scanned images
without compromising the image quality.
M-Files Importer tool to mass-import documents
from file systems and data objects from Excel files to M-Files.

Multi-repository support

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Network folder connector
SharePoint Online connector
Google Drive connector
Connectors for other repositoriesAdd-onAdd-onAdd-on

Connections to external data sources

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Connections to External Databases – Synchronize data objects
from external databases and map them with M-Files metadata structure.
Use Ground Link to establish secure network connections between
different network domains or between M-Files Cloud and
local on-premises resources, such as network folders.
M-Files for Salesforce – Synchronize Salesforce data objects
to M-Files and tag documents to Salesforce accounts,
opportunities and other objects.
M-Files Plugin for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Dynamics 365 –
Synchronize data objects from Microsoft Dynamics to M-Files
and tag documents accounts, opportunities and other data objects.

Extensibility and Programmability

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
M-Files API
M-Files Web Service API
M-Files UI Extensibility Framework
Developer Portal

Authentication, User management and Permissions

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
M-Files Authentication
Windows Kerberos Authentication for on-premises vaults
Azure Active Directory Authentication
Create and Manage user groups and named access
control lists in M-Files Admin.
Manage administrator roles and privileges.
AD FS Authentication
OKTA authentication
Google Authentication

Data Encryption

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
File data encryption at rest. This feature is enforced for
all cloud repositories and can be enabled for all onpremises vaults.
Metadata encryption at rest – enabled in the cloud but
requires additional configuration for local deployments.
Encryption of data in transit
Azure Key Vault integration – manage encryption keys independently.

Deployment Options and Included Volume

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Included cloud volume150,000 objects per subscription + 10,000
objects per each named and concurrent user
license
150,000 objects per subscription + 10,000
objects per each named and concurrent user
license
150,000 objects per subscription + 10,000
objects per each named and concurrent user
license
Included cloud file storage1 MB per object1 MB per object1 MB per object
Additional cloud volume available
Support for multiple M-Files cloud vaults
Included on-premises volume1 million objects1 million objects*1 million objects*1 million objects*
Support for multiple on-premises vaults
on each M-Files Server
Support for multiple on-premises servers
Additional on-premises volume available
Use Multi-Server Mode to build fault-tolerant onpremises implementations with multiple application
servers instances that attach to the same vault
database(s).
* one million objects or 150,000 objects + 10,000 objects per each named and concurrent license, whichever is more

Restrictions for M-Files Cloud Vaults

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
Maximum volume per M-Files vaultN/A40 million
objects
40 million
objects
40 million
objects
Max. average metadata database consumption per
object
N/A50 KB50 KB50 KB
Max. average search index consumption per objectN/A20 KB20 KB20 KB
Max. # of database calls per secondN/A100100500

Product Support and SLA

CoreStandardProfessionalEnterprise
M-Files Community
M-Files Help Center, Product Center,
User Guide and M-Files Knowledge Base
M-Files AcademyAdd-onAdd-onAdd-onAdd-on
Guaranteed uptime (99.5%) in the cloud
M-Files Product Support (8/5)
M-Files Product Support (24/7)
Response timeStandard SLAStandard SLA24/7 SLA

Additional volume

Each Standard, Professional and Enterprise edition subscription includes volume of 150,000 objects per subscription plus 10,000 additional objects per each named and concurrent user license. This volume can be used across as many cloud and on-premises M-Files vaults as needed and additional volume can be purchased separately. Customers can purchase multiple different additional volume products within one subscription.

For example, if a subscription includes 100 Standard Edition Named User Licenses and 35 Standard Edition Concurrent User licenses, then the included volume is 150,000 + (100 + 35) x 10,000 = 1,500,000 objects. If customers wants to manage for example 1.5 million active data objects in the cloud and additionally archive 10 million objects in the cloud and then implement an on-premises solution for 5 million objects, the customer can purchase 10 million objects additional archive volume and 5 million objects additional on-premises volume. The supported features are different in each additional volume product type:

FeatureAdditional Volume
(CV-AV-XXX)
Archive Volume
(CV-AAV-XXX)
Additional
On-premises Volume
(CV-AOV-XXX)
Additional Premium
On-premises Volume
(CV-AOP-XXX)
(Coming soon)
Maximum volume per M-Files vault40 million objects40 million objects40 million objects*40 million objects*
Volume can be used for cloud implementations
Volume can be used for on-premises implementations
Max. number of database calls per second (for cloud repositories)1005N/AN/A
Included cloud file storage per one million objects1 TB1 TBN/AN/A
Additional cloud file storage availableN/AN/A
Indexing of metadata for search
Indexing of filedata for search
(IDOL or dtSearch)

(Smart Search)
Max. average metadata database consumption per object50 KB30 KBN/AN/A
Max. average search index consumption per object20 KB5 KBN/A20 KB
*Refer to the System Requirements and consult your M-Files representative for architectural guidance and best practices. M-Files Software Service is designed to support typical information management use cases.
To provide excellent customer experience to all M-Files customers, M-Files has the right to restrict the usage of the Software Service if the use results in Customer significantly exceeding the restrictions specified in the table above

Documents and (Data) Objects in M-Files

Number of objects is a key metric to measure M-Files service consumption. As M-Files architecture is primarily metadata-based, the object count is more relevant metric than the number of files or pages, for example. Objects can have zero, one or multiple files and the metadata as well as file contents are indexed for full-text search and changes to object metadata and file data are automatically captured in version history.

An object in M-Files is a document or other object and typical object types include: documents, document collections, customers, projects, and assignment. Objects can be created in M-Files or synchronized from an external databases and systems, such as CRM and ERP. Cloud customers can easily view their object consumption in the subscription management portal.

In most uses cases, the total object count is close to the document count but a good estimate for the total number of objects is a sum of: number of migrated documents, estimated number of new documents created in two or three years, number of external objects synchronized from external databases (for example, the total number of customer and opportunity objects to be synchronized from Salesforce to M-Files). To help you to estimate the needed volume, here are some definitions:

Data typeObject consumption
A document with 10 metadata attributes1 object
A document with 20 metadata attributes1 object
One unmanaged object in an external repository1 object
A document with 5 versions1 object
A document collection with 10 documents11 objects
A multi-file document with 10 files1 object
Assignment object1 object
One synchronized customer object from Salesforce CRM1 object
One synchronized opportunity object from Dynamics 3651 object
One audit finding in M-Files QMS1 object
Value list itemNot an object
Number of relationships between objects is not relevant either. If you have synchronized 10,000 customer accounts and 20,000 sales opportunities from your CRM and manage 100,000 documents related to those accounts and opportunities, your object consumption will be 130,000.

Add-Ons

You can also complement your M-Files solution with multiple add-ons for integrations and more sophisticated use cases. Contact your M-Files representative for more details.
Quantity of add-ons is based on “Normalized Users” which refers to the calculated value of the Users that corresponds to the quantity of the user licenses. One Named User License equals one Normalized User, and one Concurrent User License equals three Normalized Users.

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