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November 13, 2020
After a long and exhaustive search, our law firm decided to purchase and use M-Files to manage our case files back in 2017. It was a long three years. Although M-Files is a capable document management system that presumably works well for some industries, it did not work well for our firm. We wound up deciding to eat our investment and abandon the product this month. We did so for several reasons, but the deal-breakers were
- the inability to easily and intuitively store large batches of documents, such as multiple document production sets, in the system
- the total lack of support from M-Files.
- Good integration with Microsoft Office applications
- It is relatively fast
- Metadata structure can be adapted to fit each company's unique environment
- Customer support
- Customer support
- Customer support
No. M-Files was unsuitable for our environment and was unable to fulfill its intended purpose.
June 09, 2020
M-Files holds the policies and forms for our hospital system. It is used by all associates/manager's/physicians within Catholic Health. Our M-Files account was created and designed for the needs of our hospital system. It is a very reliable system with easy access for our users. The search capability is extremely fast and reliable. When an associate needs immediate access to a policy or form, it is readily available. This is critical since we have surgery consents on this system as well as many other policies and forms and our five hospitals rely on these documents to function.
From an administrator's view, this system was created by working with M-Files so we have everything that is required, such as the documented date and time stamps for pathologists approvals on our policies, easy access to all versions of each policy, more than one version of a policy visible at a time for training purposes, and excellent customer service.
- Reliable: Our M-Files system has only gone down one time (for a very short period of time) at the beginning of the two years that we have been with M-Files. Our previous vendor's system had so many downtimes that our IT Department had to assign an associate to work with me for sending out notifications to associates etc. With our last vendor, one day I came to work and only 60 of the 260 consent for surgery forms were available to our end users although they were visible to me as the Administrator but weren't showing up for the end-users!
- Our M-Files system was created for us. It was created by working with developers to only have on our system what we required, and I must say, there were so many extra features that M-Files offered in our program that weren't available with our previous vendor. As mentioned previously, we can have two policies or forms visible to the end-user so one can be listed as "draft" or "training only" so our end users can read and use for training as we get ready to roll out a new medical record system. I can also preload policies and leave them in the working stage until they are approved and go back and publish them the day they are approved. The list goes on with so many great features.
- Our end users would say the greatest asset of this product is the search function. It's amazing how fast it is. There are many ways to search out a form or policy which makes it a true asset for our associates.
- When our account was first live, shortly after that we had our one and only downtime. When I called for assistance, I was told that I needed to work with Strickland Solutions, who created our vault for M-Files. When I called my contacts there, they told me I needed to contact M-Files. It was frustrating and did get to the bottom of it. There are now account reps that I can work with if I need to but I would recommend (and I had already suggested) that the support team is well aware of what level of support each customer has for their account. My account rep does call to check in with me periodically, but seriously, we aren't having issues and are a very satisfied customer.
May 16, 2020
M-Files is our internal document management solution. With the recent move to working from home as organizations deal with the current pandemic, we have been able to migrate paper processes to digital workflows. This has increased our productivity and reduced our dependence on legacy systems. Documents get a full history attached to them for tracking and auditing purposes which older systems never offered.
- Infinitely versatile. We have created non-document objects that documents can relate to. These NDOs can be leveraged to find relationships between documents to present versatile views, automated permissions and workflows. No more WHERE is my document, but WHAT is my document!
- Intelligent Metadata is a great ability to capture what you need to properly categorize your documents and the system will scan the documents to capture that data for you. Users still accept the presented data to ensure accuracy.
- Customization of notifications is exceptionally useful when monitoring adoption of M-Files. In real time you are able to capture if a user is struggling with a process.
- Using assignments with workflows means users are not troubled with finding what needs to be done, they simply get the assignment, carry out the work and move on.
- Integrating with fully custom systems can be a breeze also with several ways to import content and even an API to build your own integrations. The API documentation is thorough!
- If you are new to Electronic Document Management, this can be a really difficult product to roll out. Since it is infinitely versatile, there are infinite ways to configure it wrong. I highly recommend the M-Files admin training offered by M-Files as it will set you in the right direction.
- Many options are paid add-ons. So while you are not paying for what you don't need, many great features will come at a cost.
- If you don't have a technical person on staff, this will be tricky to maintain. Not impossible. If your processes do not change, once setup it will be fine.
We have not pulled in external applications yet to unify our systems. We are leveraging this tool to be able to decommission several redundant systems in pull the data into M-Files as our source of truth. We will be integrating these other applications soon to migrate to M-Files, but not for a long term ongoing connection.
May 15, 2020
M-Files is used in our organization as our primary document and content management application. Nearly all departments rely on it heavily for organizing documents, as well as materials related to meetings, projects, programs, and committees. The versatility of M-Files means that we've been able to continue to adapt our business needs and processes to have M-Files automate processes and security permissions. Prior to M-Files, our organization, like many others, relied on the typical shared drives and department folder approach with email attachments to share content. Now we are able to collaborate on content across teams and streamline the organization of meeting content without worry of the current version or who last edited the document. We've also standardized how content is accessed while simultaneously providing users with the ability to customize their interface so they can work according to their preferences.
- Version control and history tracking on documents.
- Search ability to filter content for a team, creator, or another property.
- Permission control, limit access to documents to read or edit, or only specific workflow states.
- Administrative control to access all content.
- Administrative control to restore deleted content.
- Administrative control to audit and retag content when needed.
- Robust workflow capabilities.
- Sharing content externally requires organizational efforts involving information governance, risk management, and IT strategies. There are options the administrators need to consider to permit external sharing. External collaboration requires other IT infrastructure solutions to incorporate M-Files. External facing content can be done, but not easily done without first planning workflows and permission configurations.
- Configurations are determined by the customer primarily. The creation of properties and classes are at the discretion of the customer administrator. An organization needs to understand information governance and enlist collaboration with M-Files, IT, Records Management, Risk Management, and Legal. This is not so much a downfall of M-Files, but it is a consideration that embarking in the adoption of an ECM is a significant investment for an organization, both financially and human resources management, but the benefits with best practice configuration will ensure success.
- There are features that are advertised, but further investigation is available with an additional purchase of an add-on. Unfortunately, not entirely unusual in this business
Our organization has not opted to build a connector to other repositories like SharePoint, but we appreciate the option. Instead, one of the unifying experiences we've enjoyed is the common views we have set for the organization on the M-Files home page. While the experience might be likened to the previous network drive structure and navigation, it's a dynamic experience to automatically filter in new content without worrying if the new content is there as it's not where it is, but what it is. There is also the ability, if configured correctly, that can filter content or non-document objects based on their state. For example) our organization operates many committees over the years, our Committee property filters on active committees. This is a feature that enables all teams to see relevant information and creates a unified experience rather than the former disjointed one. It's truly rewarding to see document relationships, such as to a Committee, and have the visibility of who supports the committee, what that committee is about, and if it's active or not, all at a glance of a metadata card. Our legacy system did not offer any such ability.
We use M-Files across the whole company. We have an ERP system that is built on M-Files, so we use it widely for production, quality, and purchasing. Basically all documentation is stored and handled in M-Files. We also use its workflows to manage production flows, purchase orders, agreements etc.
- Document versioning is very easy and you can easily come back to earlier version
- You can define, which metadata is needed to each document type. This makes saving with correct metadata easier.
- Document sharing is easy and you can select, if you want to share a certain version or the newest one.
- NA
May 19, 2020
We recently implemented M-Files... we have been using it for about 6 months. We started in one department, customer service. That went well and we are expanding M-Files into accounting, procurement and logistics. I expect further growth. M-Files has helped improve document retention and retrieval, customer response times and team collaboration.
- Searching - M-Files can search both the tagged metadata and document content.
- Integration with ChronoScan (auto-indexing software) - many of our files are sent to M-Files directly from our ERP and tagged with metadata with no human intervention.
- Stability - We use the M-Files hosted solutions (our vault is in the M-Files cloud), uptime has not been an issue.
- Previews during the 'create' process do not always work. I cannot preview .msg files until I save those files. Others have this problem too... and others do not.
- It would be nice to have some simple "functions"... maybe in the compliance kit. What I am thinking would be similar to Excel functions allowing me to modify text strings. Sticking with the Excel example, =LEFT, =RIGHT, =MID, etc... maybe that functionality is there - I have only been using M-Files for a short period of time.
We are just now starting to explore those options. We are especially looking at integrating it with SharePoint and MS CRM.
M-Files is used across the organization for document management.
- Workflow
- Version history
- Permissions: a "search" bar would be incredibly helpful for adding users on the permissions tab in the client and admin tool
- Search: sorts by document score and not document name, which is what most folks search on
May 19, 2020
We use M-Files as a global document and workflow management system.
- Document version history
- Global sharing of documents
- Structured storing and fast finding of relevant information and documents
- GUI is a bit over complicated these days
- After updates to software, I need to select my offline views again
- No search in offline mode
We use document links in Confluence and in emails, instead of attachments.
M-Files is used in the whole company as the main document handling system. With meta data all contracts are classified and saved.
- Metadata classification helps to find the correct document or all equivalent items.
- Version method of one document helps to get rid of different documents that are hard to recognise ("final. FINAL").
- Documents can be defined by different Permissions and confidentiality level. Well appreciated feature by our customers.
- Interface (API) from our CRM system produces the metadata structure to M-Files.
- Scanning settings from multiprinter directly to M-Files should exist by default.
- The number of documents grow hard to manage. I have not found assisting feature to pack or separate historical data.
The integration between our CRM has been most beneficial to us over the whole period of time we have used M-Files.
March 18, 2020
M-Files is used for:
- Metadata management in sales, project deliveries, and services.
- Document management.
- Service task management.
- Combines document and metadata management well in one package.
- Flexible and easy to configure.
- Good support for the use over Internet, no VPN connection needed.
- Good data replication tools over data vaults.
- Opening of a metadata card is a bit too slow on average.
- Offline use features are too limited.
- Mobile phone client user interface needs improvement.
- There are still many things to improve in the everyday use in M-Files client.
March 17, 2020
M-Files is used in many cases in our whole organization. Just few situations is shown below:
- Document management of the company
- Substation assets management
- Management system (ISO 9001)
- Visualization of the processes by the Process Maps add-in
- It is easy to use (good user experience).
- Possibilities to develop features, which creates an effective performance for the whole organization.
- Good possibilities to integrate into the other systems.
- In a views could have more advanced filtering capabilities. (Users could filter directly from columns).
Working with M-Files and Teams add-in is really effective! The other ones are not yet used.
December 30, 2019
Today M-Files is being used worldwide inside my company to handle files and another similar kind of documents, like control revision, file storage, and workflow for approvals. It is a very important application for Engineering areas, because this area needs to be conforming to many legal compliances.
- Great workflow.
- Works with metadata, which makes files easy to be found.
- It has excellent versioning control.
- It has integration with other applications, like Office 365.
- It could have more CAD integrations.
- Has the possibility to have online revision, inside the application.
- It could have a better documentation transmitter section.
It has been beneficial because it is a goal for our company to have this cross-platform information flow. Today is very productive to have the information among the systems, but not having a manual entry point for each document/file. Today we use the default connectors to share this information, and it solves the aim that it proposes to solve.
Our company currently has three different M-Files vaults. One of which is designed for the whole organization but the two others are for a specific department in our company. I'm currently in charge of one of our vaults which address the management and update of our supplier's documents and approval processes.
- Document updating, workflows, and reminders.
- Document metadata and detailed information.
- Views for specific needs based on extensive metadata.
- Possibilities to tailor M-Files according to user's own needs.
- Search.
- Visuality.
- Self-direction.
June 29, 2019
We have implemented M-Files as a service management system for service business and quotation management system for capex projects. This solution covers service agreements, service work management and reporting of service activities for customers and invoicing. Customers' install base of service agreement lines is included. All capex quotations are included with classification information. Already decided further development includes project document management and customer document distribution.
- Defining and implementing data requirements with business people is very flexible
- Defining and implementing business workflows is very flexible
- Document management is efficient
- Creating simple views in M-Files is easy but with increasing data complexity also creation of views becomes complex.
- M-Files has competent people but their support processes can be enhanced.
- User interface could be more user friendly.
We are implementing project document management which currently is in shared folders. We are sure that finding latest version, knowing what has been delivered to customer, knowing what has changed from one version to the next one will improve.
October 16, 2019
M-Files is currently being used by all the Product Development organization following the closure of local hard disk drives. We use it for two main purposes: 1) Storage for the critical files and documents 2) File sharing for the company's internal and external communication. It brings safety and target to prevent loss of information. It now comes default with our laptops/computers and is being used as a default application. A mobile version is also available for usage. It is also integrated for daily office tools like Outlook etc.
- Ease of use. It does not require (or requires limited) user training. You can easily get used to the interface.
- File organization - but once file systematic (or the views) is being copied by the users.
- Compatibility - add-Ins with other MS Office products.
- Mobile platform integration.
- Folder views have to be created by each user. Otherwise you're not able to view the created folders by the other users by default.
- While saving files, it has to be done by using keywords - otherwise later on document cannot be easily found.
All the sharepoints and local hard drives have been closed or advised not to be used since we started to use M-Files. Therefore all the file sharing and document storage is now being done via M-Files. However it could not be fully adopted yet as it requires heavy user experience and usage.
June 25, 2019
We use M-files across the whole organization. We manage literally everything with it—quotes, purchases, orders, workflow, tasks, etc. We have also tailored it to work as a laboratory information management system in our laboratory, where we manage the samples, analysis data, and quality control.
- Document management
- Workflows
- Easy access and intuitive to use
- More features without coding (for example more options for automatic naming of documents, more functions when changing workflow state, etc.).
- Customizable front page (work example: different kind of page depending the user's task or department).
- Editing notification settings by admin (not only by user).
Our organization hasn't yet used these features but they sound useful.
M-Files is being using by the whole organization to store, retrieve, revise and approve documentation. The system uses metadata properties allowing users to search and view documents quickly and easily, eliminating chaotic network folders; users are no longer required to remember where a file or folder is stored. Workflow capabilities allow users to route documents for review and sign-off, keeping content in one system vs. multiple databases. Creating assignments in M-Files provides traceability for routing and reviewing of documents, eliminating email attachments and uncontrolled paper files. Permission settings within the system allows only authorized persons to access certain files. The Check In/Check Out system creates automated version control and leaves a history trail, leaving a structured audit trail.
- Metadata drive - searches through metadata and throughout the document itself to retrieve what the user is looking for. Finds documents fast and easily using the search bar. Additional filters can be added if needed to filter further.
- Advanced automated workflows. Assignments are automatically generated once a workflow state is reached and emails notifications are sent to assignees. Automation ensures smooth transitions and eliminates manual triggers.
- Traceability and version control. M-Files tracks each change to the document itself and to the metadata. This is important for audits and having the version history at your fingertips.
- Extremely customizable. Users can create their own views for themselves or common views for the whole company to view a group of documents. These options can be customized based on the metadata properties. Administrators can create the properties and structure in the Admin tool.
- Notifications could be improved. Once an assignment has met the deadline date, it will no longer notify the assignee of an overdue assignment every day after the deadline. The assignee will only see the overdue assignment by opening up M-Files and seeing it on their home screen or referring to the email last received.
- Once an action has been taken within the system, the page needs to be refreshed frequently. Improvements could be made to reduce the refreshing required to see the changes that were made.
- M-Files acts like a library - in order to edit a document it must be checked out by a user. Once changes are made the document should automatically check itself in by default. When exiting out of a document, sometimes it does not automatically check in and requires manual check in. Consistency of automatic actions could be improved.
- The M-Files Admin customization and workflows could be explained or assisted more at initial setup. Since the system is out of the box, trying to setup the system to cater to the company's needs can be time consuming and a confusing process. It took a lot of trial and error to get the metadata properties and values setup properly. It something that we still struggle with at times since M-Files support doesn't know how our company operates and how we want to use the system.
M-Files is installed as its own drive on your computer, making it easy to save a document from your hard drive to the system. You can simply click on File>Save As and save your document directly to M-Files. Users can also migrate documents into M-Files by clicking on the chosen document within the file explorer and dragging it onto any open space on the M-Files homepage - a dialog box will then appear asking for the user to fill in the required metadata properties.
August 09, 2019
We implemented M-Files for various customers after looking for a more cost-effective ECM platform than OnBase or Perceptive for some of our leaner customers. M-Files was relatively new to us but after evaluating the software and the direction it was headed we decided to implement it and it had the functionality we were looking for at a fraction of the cost of the competitors. As an ECM platform, it helped reduce the number of shared folders, spreadsheets, inconsistent Sharepoint usage, and other things that often come from a company trying to collaborate and share information while making it easy to recall and find that information in the future.
- Very easy to recall, identify, and locate related information.
- The interface is modern and slick, making the learning curve much lower for new users.
- Installation and support are top-notch and administrating the platform will be familiar to regular system administrators.
- The workflow engine, while powerful, does not contain many advanced features but they are in the roadmap.
- This is nothing against M-Files, but it is a relatively new ECM platform so adoption and user community is not where more mature platforms are.
- The interface is nice looking and easy to use but could use a bit more polish so it does not feel like too "new" of a product.
We have not undertaken any integration with other platforms and instead use it as a sole location for electronic data for companies.
June 20, 2019
M-files is used across the whole organization and it is used for all business related documents. Also, it is used for reporting returns and claims.
- Integration: Reads data from other systems.
- Easy to force data to be organized.
- If the built in functionality isn't enough, you can easily script additional functionality into M-Files.
- Performance. Feels slow.
- Metadata integration is limited. Only database connections with a single SQL query. No JSON/XML/etc. Database connections only pull mode. No possibility to push data into M-Files and constantly pulling large data sets from the database is slow.
- OCR module broken for years without a fix.
- Logs everything to Windows event log which is not very searchable.
- Mobile app is virtually unusable. Slow and buggy. Randomly fails to follow customized metadata cards, eg. default data ignored.
Most of these features require M-Files Online which we don't have.
Employed for managing the quality management system QMS and policy & procedures in the company.
- Save and share files
- Workflows
- Finding files
- Metadata card: more options on pre-filled data.
- Workflow designs for in-house applications (does not require a consultant).
Have not looked at it yet.
June 19, 2019
Used across the entire organization. Eliminates paper documents, for the most part, reducing clutter and filing. Searching for and retrieving documents is now much simpler. Overall, the office function is more efficient.
- Centralized store of purchasing documents.
- Centralized store of quality and safety documents.
- Sales process has been streamlined.
- Initial set-up was rather complex, but not impossible.
- Metadata card customization could be simplified.
- Search function returns too few results at times.
We have not utilized this functionality.
M-Files helps our company manage the paperwork involved in transporting hazardous materials, and to streamline their invoice processing procedures. As a company that regularly handles hazardous material and works with safety in mind, we’ve always had comprehensive requirements. Because M-Files is able to do so many things, we've molded a lot of our operations around it.
- Provides quick and easy access to the right content.
- Provides higher levels of user adoption.
- M-Files is accessible on desktop, cloud, and mobile devices.
- We would like to see the ability to automatically resize pictures, so they don't take up so much storage.
Having a single pane of glass to view all our documents is key.
September 07, 2018
M-Files is being used to store content that is related to individual departments, across departments and across business functions. We had issues sharing and finding content, having too many duplicates and restricting permissions to certain content (or too much restriction).
- Search functionality - M-Files has a robust search system that allows users to quickly find content in seconds
- Relationships between content - how M-Files relates objects to content makes finding valuable information easy
- Versatility - MFiles allows users to integrate with current systems and microsoft office to easily integrate into normal business operations.
- One major frustration we have had has to do with our particular project, not the tool in and of itself. We had a combination of development efforts, some from M-Files and some from our developers in house. It has been hard to push the project forward at times since we are not allowed to control the cloud environment or develop in the cloud environment. We have had to wait on things to get pushed via content packs we develop on prem, which are then shared via a dropbox to M-Files. We hoped there would be a smoother solution for this.
We have slightly since we employ SharePoint, but we mainly are going to benefit from the API integration that is available. We have an in house application that we are going to be able to use as an integration with M-Files which is going to add a lot of value.
September 05, 2018
M-Files is being Piloted by a few NC Board of Nursing departments prior to being used organization-wide. M-Files is simplifying access to files, data, etc., located in several different databases and applications. We're also combining the implementation of M-Files with the OCR conversion of 10+ years of graphic files into electronically searchable files, which will dramatically improve accessibility and drastically reduce search time.
- M-Files simplifies access to files, data, etc., located in several different databases and applications. You just need to know what you're looking for not where it's located.
- M-Files Intelligent Metadata Layer (IML) tool can search several different databases and applications simultaneously, including but not limited to Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and shared drives. The IML results of your search criteria are displayed on a single page, which simplifies review, access and storage.
- M-Files automatically tracks file/document versions to simplify management and version control, as well as prevent duplicates.
- Searching specific files using the IML Tool is streamlined by displaying company/customer names, document types, contacts etc.
- None so far, since we're early in our implementation.
We have not installed the IML Tool yet, but plan to implement it within the next 1-2 months. We're very excited about the IML tool's ability to search documents in several different enterprise locations simultaneously.
We use M-Files for our U.S. HR department. While we are a global company, we have not rolled this out outside of the U.S. so it is not used across the whole organization at this time. It addresses elimination of paper files and having everything stored electronically.
- Electronically located on users' desktop and users can drag and drop documents quickly and easily.
- We were manually filing papers, so this has been a nice tool to have.
- Once our system was set up, it has been user friendly.
- Main menu not as intuitive.
- Client set up was not as easy and streamlined.
M‑Files Scorecard Summary
Feature Scorecard Summary
What is M‑Files?
M-Files provides an information management platform that is designed to improve business performance by helping people find and use information more effectively. Unlike traditional enterprise content management (ECM) systems or content services platforms, M-Files unifies systems, data and content across the organization without disturbing existing systems and processes or requiring data migration.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in its Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files breaks down silos by delivering an in-context experience for accessing and leveraging information that resides in any system and repository, including network folders, SharePoint, file sharing services, ECM systems, CRM, ERP and other business systems and repositories.
The vendor claims thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries use M-Files for managing their business information and processes, including NBC Universal, OMV, Valmet, Rovio, SAS Institute and thyssenkrupp.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in its Intelligent Metadata Layer, M-Files breaks down silos by delivering an in-context experience for accessing and leveraging information that resides in any system and repository, including network folders, SharePoint, file sharing services, ECM systems, CRM, ERP and other business systems and repositories.
The vendor claims thousands of organizations in more than 100 countries use M-Files for managing their business information and processes, including NBC Universal, OMV, Valmet, Rovio, SAS Institute and thyssenkrupp.
Categories: Document Management, Enterprise Content Management
M‑Files Screenshots
M‑Files Video
M-Files connects to existing systems, like network folders and SharePoint, and makes those systems more intelligent by adding metadata, version control, and workflows to the content. M-Files enables organizations to access and manage the ever-increasing amount of documents and information across all business systems without requiring an expensive and time-consuming migration.
M‑Files Integrations
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), NetSuite ERP, Salesforce.com, DocuSign, AutoCAD, Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly Microsoft Dynamics CRM), Esri, Micosoft Teams, Microsoft SharePoint, Sage 200, AutoCAD LT and Autodesk, SAP, ChronoScan
M‑Files Competitors
Laserfiche, Alfresco Content Services, OpenText Enterprise Content Manamagement (ECM)
M‑Files Pricing
- Has featureFree Trial Available?Yes
- Does not have featureFree or Freemium Version Available?No
- Has featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?Yes
- Entry-level set up fee?No
M‑Files Support Options
| Free Version | Paid Version | |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | ||
| Forum/Community | ||
| FAQ/Knowledgebase | ||
| Social Media | ||
| Video Tutorials / Webinar |
M‑Files Technical Details
| Deployment Types: | On-premise, SaaS |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems: | Windows |
| Mobile Application: | Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone |
| Supported Countries: | M-Files is available in 100+ countries through direct support or via the company's partner network. |
| Supported Languages: | M-Files is available in 30+ languages. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What are M‑Files's top competitors?
What is M‑Files's best feature?
Reviewers rate Security, risk management & information governance and Contract lifecycle management highest, with a score of 8.3.
Who uses M‑Files?
The most common users of M‑Files are Mid-size Companies from the Information Technology & Services industry.