Find the right version the first time
The documents are on a file share, in SharePoint and in people's inboxes, and the person who knew which version counts has left. M‑Files is a document management system that keeps each document once, filed by what it is, with the current version first and the earlier ones behind it.
What a document management system does
A document management system, or DMS, keeps documents in one place, records what each one is, and controls who may open it, which version is current, and when it is approved, archived or deleted. M‑Files does this with metadata instead of folders, so the same rules follow a document wherever it appears.
Filed by what it is
Each document carries its customer, project, type and dates. That is how it is found, who may open it, and which rules apply to it.
Paper, email and Office files
Documents are saved from Word, Excel and PowerPoint, emails are filed from Outlook, and scanned pages become searchable PDFs with M‑Files OCR.
Versions and check-out
Every change becomes a new version and the earlier ones stay available. Check-out stops two people overwriting each other's work.
Review and approval
Workflows pass a document to the right people, remind them before the deadline, and can change who has access the moment it is approved.
Access that follows the document
Permissions are set for a kind of document and apply in every view. A project plan can inherit the permissions of its project.
Kept, logged and deleted on time
Retention rules archive or delete documents after a set time, and the event log records changes, downloads and deletions with the time and the user.
What changes for the people who use it
- Search and get the current version — Search by customer, project, type or any word in the text. What comes up is the current version. The earlier ones sit behind it in the version history, where a folder would have put them side by side.
- One document in every place it belongs — A document is saved once and appears under every customer, project and process it belongs to. Everyone sees the newest version, and check-out stops two people overwriting each other's changes.
- Approvals that move by themselves — Review and approval run as a workflow. The next person is told when it is their turn, and the log records who changed the document and when.
- Confidential stays confidential — Access follows what the document is, so a confidential contract stays confidential in every view. The log shows each change and each download.
Everyone finds their own way in
Some people want a ready-made view on their home screen, some build their own, and some only search. M‑Files supports all three, and everything is linked, so one item shows what belongs to it.
- Ready-made views — Virtual folders that fill themselves, set up for the company, a group or one person.
- Search by word or by detail — Free text and metadata in one search, with the most relevant results first.
- Desktop, web and mobile — The desktop client for Windows, the web portal and the mobile app open the same vault.
- Email and network folders too — Emails are filed from Outlook, and connectors show content from network folders and SharePoint Online without moving it.
Works where documents are made
M‑Files sits inside the programs people already use, so filing a document is part of saving it, and the systems that know your customers and suppliers stay in charge of those lists.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Open, edit and save documents from Office and fill in the metadata as you save. Details from M‑Files, such as the customer name, can be inserted into the document itself.
Outlook
Emails are filed from Outlook with their metadata, and M‑Files can pick up the customer or the contact from the email.
Teams
Open M‑Files content and search the vault from Teams.
SharePoint and network folders
Connectors show content from SharePoint Online and network folders inside M‑Files without moving it, so a migration can wait.
CRM and ERP
Lists such as customers, suppliers and employees are kept in sync with your business system, so a document is filed under the same customer your ERP knows.
Electronic signature
With the DocuSign or Adobe Acrobat Sign integration and your own subscription to that service, signed documents return to M‑Files automatically.
Five things to try on your file share
| Feature | M‑Files | File share |
|---|---|---|
| Find the current version of a contract by customer name | Yes | Partial |
| Know who approved it and when | Yes | No |
| See it under the customer and the project at once | Yes | No |
| Restrict it to legal and the account owner automatically | Yes | Partial |
| Get a reminder before it expires | Yes | No |
From file share to M‑Files
We scope and deliver full M‑Files implementations, and we can start quickly with a pilot for one kind of document. How long it takes depends on how many kinds of documents and integrations are in scope.
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Scope
Together
We go through the documents that cause trouble today and agree which kinds go in first, who needs them, and which rules apply to them.
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Define and set up
Our consultants
Metadata, objects and workflows are defined with you and the structure is set up. Where you need it, M‑Files is integrated with your CRM or ERP.
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Bring the documents in
Together
Existing documents can stay where they are and be shown through connectors, or be moved in. With the M‑Files Metadata Agent, metadata can be added to existing documents in bulk.
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Live, and not alone
After go-live you have fast access to specialist knowledge, an agreed SLA, technical advice and support.
The same vault, set up for each job
Contracts, supplier certificates, employee files and project documents live in the same vault. Each ready-made solution adds the objects, views and workflows for one of them, and each industry page shows how they combine.
Contracts
A register with owners and notice dates, and a reminder before the renewal.
Learn moreSuppliers
Certificates and agreements under each supplier, with a list of what expires next.
Learn moreHR
One file per employee, access by role, and deletion by rule after they leave.
Learn moreProjects
One copy per project, approved versions, and a Teams team from a template.
Learn moreQuality
Controlled documents, training, audits and CAPA in VisualQMS, which runs on M‑Files.
Learn moreManufacturing
Drawings, work instructions and quality records with one current revision.
Learn moreEngineering and construction
Drawing revisions with purpose of issue, and the correspondence filed with them.
Learn moreFinancial services
The client file complete, access by role, and deletion when the rule says.
Learn moreProfessional services
Find the proposal you wrote last year and reuse it for the next engagement.
Learn more
What it costs
M‑Files publishes a per-user price for one edition. The rest of a quote is about your set-up, and we set it out part by part.
- Two editions — M‑Files is sold as Essentials and Enterprise. Both include metadata-based document management, M‑Files Aino, the Microsoft 365 integration and workflows. Essentials has a published per-user price on m-files.com and is usually billed yearly; Enterprise is quoted.
- What Enterprise adds — More AI capacity, extended audit logging, encryption keys held in your own Azure Key Vault, federated sign-in, and controlled rendering with watermarking. Hubshare, for sharing with invited clients and partners, is licensed separately.
- Licence types — Besides named-user licences, M‑Files has concurrent and read-only licence types, so the licence can follow how each person uses the system.
- The four parts of a quote — Licences, implementation, training, and support after go-live. We set them out separately, so you can see what each part covers and start with a pilot if you prefer.