Document Vault Advanced Properties

In the document vault advanced settings, you need to define whether you are using Firebird or Microsoft SQL Server for saving document vault information.

Firebird is a SQL database engine integrated in M-Files. As part of the M-Files Server service, it requires no separate installation and is therefore very easy to use. Choose Firebird as the database engine, unless you have a particular reason to choose Microsoft SQL Server. Switching from Firebird to Microsoft SQL Server can be easily done later on if necessary. Changing from Microsoft SQL Server to Firebird is not, however, possible.

Microsoft SQL Server is a SQL database engine that requires purchasing and separate installation. It is recommended to use Microsoft SQL Server with large document vaults, but it also requires that the administrator is already familiar with the Microsoft SQL Server management.

Note: Never modify the content structure of the document vault database directly using, for instance, database system management tools. The database contents may be modified with the M-Files Server service only. Other modifications endanger the logical integrity of the database, which may cause faulty operation of the software and loss of data. The structure and contents of the document vault may only be modified via M-Files Desktop, M-Files Admin tool, and M-Files API.

The advanced options of the "Document Vault Properties".

Use Firebird

See Using Firebird as the Database Engine.

Use Microsoft SQL Server

See Using Microsoft SQL as the Database Engine.

Audit trail features

M-Files supports the administration of electronic records and signatures in compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 11. Electronic signing requires the "eSigning and Compliance" module (previously the FDA 21 CFR Part 11 module), which is available for a separate fee. The module includes event logging extensions and electronic signature functionality. The module is activated with an appropriate license code.

In addition to this, vault-specific properties of the audit trail must be activated. Open the Properties dialog of the vault for which you want to activate these features and, on the Advanced tab, enable Audit trail features: Electronic signing and compliance. Electronic signatures are automatically enabled as soon as the license code is activated. For more information, see Electronic Signing and Compliance.

Security features

Extended metadata-driven permissions

For vaults created with version 8.0 (or later), the extended metadata-driven permissions are active by default. Otherwise they need to be manually activated. Please bear in mind that you cannot undo the operation.

Note: If you have assigned automatic permissions to values in earlier versions of M-Files, it is strongly recommended to check that the permissions are still working as desired.

For more information on automatic permissions, refer to Automatic Permissions. You can activate the automatic permissions by value, value list, object type, or class. For you to be able to use the automatic permissions via a specific property, you should also allow this in the property definition's properties. For more information, see New Property Definition.

Enable file data encryption at rest

This option allows you to use the AES-256 algorithm for encryption of the vault file data at rest. The encryption is compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) publication 140-2.

The feature can be enabled for newly created vaults or existing document vaults, but please note that M-Files only encrypts file data that is stored to the vault after the feature has been turned on.

From the perspective of the end-user, file data encryption is not visible in any way.

Note: Especially when encryption is enabled, it is crucial for the administrator to have thorough and frequent back-up processes in place. The combination of encrypted file data, hard drive failure and inadequate backup system could eventually lead to the loss of all data.

Other features

The Annotation and redlining feature enables you to add annotations to documents in the document vault. For more information about annotations in M-Files, see the topics Annotations and Redlining and Using Annotations.