--- title: "Project document management on M-Files · Solution Management" url: "https://solutionmanagement.eu/solutions/project-management/" language: "en" description: "Project documentation on M-Files: every document under its project, every version kept, approvals on record, and a Microsoft Teams team for each project." dateModified: "2026-10-22" --- Project document management on M‑Files # Find the approved version years later A project produces drawings, reports, contracts, minutes and a great deal of email. Years later someone asks which version applied on a given date, and who approved it. Project document management on M‑Files keeps each document under its project with its whole history, approvals included. [Book a demo](https://solutionmanagement.eu/book-a-demo/) ![Three screens of a project in M-Files: the project plan as a gantt chart, the same plan as a list of tasks with their dates and state, and the folder structure the project's team gets from its template](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/iDn5W847YV-200.webp) In the project ## Everyone on the project opens the same version ### Filed once under the project A document belongs to the project, so it appears under the project and in every other list it fits. There is one copy. ### Every earlier version kept Every saved change is a new version, and the earlier ones stay available. While you have a document checked out, nobody else can edit it. ### Approval that goes to the next person Documents go through review and approval step by step. Each step can hand the task to the next person and change who has access. ### Lists that show your own projects Each person can have lists such as the active projects they are involved in, or the documents they edited recently. ### Open it from your desk or your phone Project documents open from the desktop client for Windows, the web portal or the mobile app. ### A dashboard for each project With CtrlPortals from our development partner CtrlDocs, each project gets a dashboard with progress, open items and a Gantt chart of the plan, drawn from the live data. Outside the company ## Share with clients and subcontractors A project rarely stays inside one company. The client wants the current drawings, the subcontractor needs to write in the method statement, and the correspondence has to end up with the project. - Hubshare for the client — With M‑Files Hubshare, you share selected project content with invited clients and partners, who see only the hubs they are invited to. - CtrlShare for writing together — CtrlShare, from our development partner CtrlDocs, opens a document for a subcontractor to edit with you in OneDrive for Business. They are invited by email, confirm with a code, and there are no public links. The document returns to M‑Files as a new version. - Email under the project — Emails to and from the client are filed from Outlook with the project on them, and M‑Files can pick up the customer or the contact from the email. ![A project's portal in M-Files, built with CtrlPortals: its fields, the comment thread and the tabs for its documents, events and calendar](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/H9QILTMAdo-200.webp) ## See a project with its documents and versions [Book a demo](https://solutionmanagement.eu/book-a-demo/) The plan ## See where the project stands, from M‑Files The project's tasks are records in M‑Files, next to its documents. CtrlPortals, from our development partner CtrlDocs, draws them as a plan, with a bar for each task, arrows between the tasks that depend on each other and a line for today. The same tasks can be seen as a board, a calendar or a list. - The board for the weekly meeting — The board shows the tasks by state, with the hours in each column added up underneath. - One colour per person — Bars and cards carry the responsible person's colour, so a plan reads by who does what. [CtrlPortals on ctrldocs.com](https://ctrldocs.com/products/ctrlportals/) ![A project plan as a gantt chart, with the tasks grouped under design, procurement and installation, a bar for each task in its owner's colour, arrows between dependent tasks and a line for today](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/EjDK2MlvS1-200.webp) Microsoft Teams ## Each new project gets its team in Teams CtrlTeams, from our development partner CtrlDocs, creates the team and its channels from the project in M‑Files, and brings the documents back with the project's details on them. ![Diagram of CtrlTeams, with templates and a project in M-Files, an activated connection that creates the team with members, folders and template documents, files synchronised back with metadata, and closing and archiving at the end](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/OXm1phCIXI-200.webp) ### From template to archive Give the project a template and connect it. The team is created with its members, folders and template documents. People work in Teams, the files come back to M‑Files, and at the end the team is closed and archived. [CtrlTeams at ctrldocs.com](https://ctrldocs.com/products/ctrlteams/) ![A generic project template in M-Files with its folder structure, folders and baseline artefacts](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/rJ55ilmztM-200.webp) ### Set the folders once, get them in every team Choose a standard folder structure for the project, and the same folders appear in its team or channel when the project is connected. ![The metadata card of a project template in M-Files, listing its document templates and folder structure](https://solutionmanagement.eu/img/hoyCdKS2zh-200.webp) ### Approved templates, wherever the document is created A team starts with the approved versions of your document templates. New documents come back to M‑Files with the right details, whether they were made from a template, in a folder or in the chat. Project end ## Archived when the project closes When the project ends, its documents are still needed for the warranty period, the next phase or a dispute, and later they are not. A rule handles both. ### Archived or deleted by rule A retention rule counted from the project's end date marks the documents for archiving or deletes them after the period you set. Deletion first hides a document from users; permanent destruction is a separate step. ### The Teams team closes with it With CtrlTeams, from our development partner CtrlDocs, the project's team in Microsoft Teams is closed and archived at the end, and the files are back in M‑Files with the project's details on them. ### Found years later Search by project, date, type or a word in the text. What opens is the approved version, with the earlier ones behind it, from the desktop client, the web portal or the mobile app. Next step ## See a project and its team in a demo Book a demo and we show a project in M‑Files with its documents and their approvals, and a team created with CtrlTeams. We answer the same working day. [Book a demo](https://solutionmanagement.eu/book-a-demo/) [Pricing and editions](https://solutionmanagement.eu/pricing/) Questions ## Questions about projects and Teams How does a document end up under its project? Through its metadata. The project is a field on the document, so the document appears under the project and in any other view it fits, without copies. Views are filtered on metadata, such as the active projects you have a stake in. How does CtrlTeams keep Teams and M‑Files in step? Project templates, document templates and the standard folder structure are managed in M‑Files, the folder structure as metadata. Documents created in Teams, from a template or the usual way in a folder or in the chat, are synchronised back to M‑Files with the relevant metadata. Whose products are CtrlTeams and CtrlPortals? Both are M‑Files add‑ons from our development partner CtrlDocs. We resell and implement them. Read about them at [ctrldocs.com](https://ctrldocs.com/). How do we share documents with a client or a subcontractor? Two ways. With M‑Files Hubshare, you share selected content with invited clients and partners, who see only the hubs they are invited to. [CtrlShare](https://ctrldocs.com/products/ctrlshare/), from our development partner CtrlDocs, invites an outside person by email to edit a document with you, with no public links, and the document returns to M‑Files as a new version. What happens to the documents when the project ends? A retention rule counted from the project's end date archives or deletes them after the period you set, and someone can be told or asked to review first. With CtrlTeams the project's team in Microsoft Teams is closed and archived at the same time. Until then every version stays searchable. Are drawings handled as documents? Yes. A drawing belongs to its project like any other document, with a revision history and an approval on record. Every change is a new version, and M‑Files can run your own versioning scheme, such as revision letters. [Engineering and construction](https://solutionmanagement.eu/industries/engineering-construction/) shows a drawing register with purpose of issue. Does it run in the cloud or on our own servers? Either, or a hybrid of the two. M‑Files Cloud runs on Microsoft Azure, where your data is encrypted in storage and in transit, and M‑Files holds an ISO/IEC 27001 certification that covers M‑Files Cloud, Hubshare and Aino. Site staff open project documents from the mobile app either way. [Pricing and editions](https://solutionmanagement.eu/pricing/) sets out what a quote contains.