You can define relationships between objects in order to link interrelated documents. For instance, an offer could contain an offer document and a related price list along with a company brochure. Each object can be updated separately and they have separate version histories. The objects do not need to be copied unnecessarily.
The "Relationships" dialog for a multi-file document.
By using relationships, you can define metadata connections between objects, just as via the metadata card. For example, you can link a customer with an object. The customer then also appears in the object's metadata. Likewise, the relationships entered via the metadata card will appear in the Relationships window.
The dialog window contains three tabs representing the relationships from and relationships to the object, as well as one for all relationships.
Add relationship, Edit relationship, Remove relationship
Use the buttons along the bottom of the dialog to add, edit, and remove relationships. To add several objects at once, you can drag and drop objects from other windows.
Latest version, Specific version
When you add a relationship, M-Files prompts for the desired behavior regarding the version of the added object. You can set the relationship to always apply to the latest version or to the current version.
Browse Relationships
Objects frequently have relationships with other objects. For example, a document is often attached to a project or a customer. Relationships are defined separately for each object. For more information, refer to Relationships.
The objects related to the current object can be viewed by using the Browse Relationships function if relationships between object types have been specified in M-Files Admin (disabled by default). For more information, refer to New Object Type.
Related objects are always shown in the listing view (search result or view), regardless of whether relationships between the object types have been specified in M-Files Admin. This allows you to easily browse, for example, documents and contact persons related to the project, directly from the listing view. You can also move from one object to another by using relationships. For example, you can move from a document to the related object, from a project to the customer, or from a customer to the contact.
Relationships between objects in separate vaults
The interaction between several vaults enables creation of relationships between objects in different vaults. Then the objects are not exported from a vault to another but the relationship is created by referring to an object in another vault, that is, a link is created to the original object.
You can create a relationship by dragging an object from one vault to another or by using the Relationships function in the same way as when adding a relationship to an object in the same vault.
In addition, you can replace a file with a file in another vault as if the two files were in the same vault.
Shortcuts
The related object in another vault is displayed as a shortcut in the target vault. When you double-click this object, M-Files shows the object in the original vault in the same way as when M-Files shortcuts are used.
In the target vault, you can see the basic properties of the related object (shortcut) and information for the original vault, but the actual changes and opening of the object are performed in the original vault. You must have permissions for the original vault and original object if you want to view and edit the related object in the original vault.
You can rename the shortcut in the target vault if so desired; this change does not change the name of the original object in the source vault and does not cause any conflicts between vaults.
Shortcut permissions
The shortcuts have their own permissions. The default setting is the target vault's default permission for new objects set by object type.
Shortcuts created through synchronization
When data is synchronized between vaults, for such purposes as archiving or publishing, shortcuts are created in certain cases through metadata of the imported objects. For example, if a document related to a certain project is imported to the target vault but the project is not imported, M-Files creates a shortcut for the project in the target vault. Then this shortcut is a link to an object in the other vault. The requirement is that the Project property definition be associable between the source and target vaults. The metadata definitions themselves must always be associable so that their related objects and values can be displayed or imported as shortcuts.
Requirements
M-Files automatically creates a relationship to objects that have a built-in object type (for instance, Document or Document collection). If the object type of the object is created by the user (Customer, Project, etc.), you should ensure that the metadata definitions of the object types can be matched between vaults.