M-Files is a document management system, or DMS, used by organizations of every size to organize, find, share and control their documents and other business information. If your company just chose M-Files, or you are evaluating it, this guide explains the essentials in plain English.

What M-Files is used for

• Finding documents fast, by what they are rather than where someone saved them.
• Controlling versions, so everyone works on the latest one and every change is recorded.
• Running processes like contract approval, invoice review, quality procedures and engineering document control.
• Protecting information with permissions that follow each document.

The building blocks

• Vault: the repository where documents and other objects, such as customers and projects, are stored.
• Metadata: the properties that describe each document. See M-Files metadata explained.
• Views: saved searches that show documents grouped the way you need.
• Workflows: the states a document moves through, with assignments and approvals.

How people use M-Files

M-Files has a desktop client for Windows, a web client for browsers and mobile apps. Vaults can run on your own servers or in the M-Files cloud. Its AI features, branded Aino, are offered for cloud vaults.

And on a Mac?

Mac users can use M-Files Web in a browser. For daily work, M-Client is a native macOS app for M-Files: it opens your vault's views, lets you edit documents in your Mac apps with check-out and check-in, shows full metadata cards and workflows, and integrates with Finder. Read how to use M-Files on a Mac for a comparison of the options.

Getting started

M-Files is sold and implemented through partners such as MechSoft, an M-Files partner since 2008 and a Premier Elite Partner today. If your organization already runs M-Files, Mac users can start a free 15-day trial of M-Client today.