Installing M-Files Upgrades

Note: This content is no longer updated. For the latest content, please go to the user guide for M-Files Online. For information on the supported product versions, refer to our lifecycle policy.

The M-Files installer automatically detects the previous versions of the software and can migrate the settings from the old to the new version. Hence, do not uninstall any previous versions of M-Files before upgrading.

Note: If M-Files is not deployed with Windows Group Policy, you must have local administrator permissions on your computer to install a new M-Files version.

Perform the following tasks to upgrade M-Files to a newer version:

  1. Execute the M-Files installer for the new version.
  2. Select the Simple upgrade option.

With the Simple upgrade option selected, the setup automatically installs the same components that were installed in the earlier M-Files version. The setup installs the new version and transfers the M-Files settings along with all local data from the earlier version to the new version. Finally, the setup uninstalls the earlier version.

Important remarks

  • Speed and performance improvements in M-Files 2015.2 and newer can cause some empty virtual folders to appear in views in which empty folders are set to be hidden. Because of this, we recommend reading the document Security Aspects to Consider When Upgrading to M-Files 2015.2 before upgrading your system.
  • If you are upgrading from a version that is older than M-Files 2015, note that the new installation includes significant improvements to the vault database structure. This means that – especially with large document vaults – the upgrade process might take substantially longer than usual. It is also recommended to ensure that the server computer has at least twice the amount of free space required by the metadata database file (the FDB file for Firebird and MDF file for Microsoft SQL Server databases). The database structure is upgraded automatically by the M-Files installer.
  • Property group and dynamic property configuration for M-Files 10.2 and M-Files 2015 has been replaced with more versatile configuration options in M-Files 2015.1 and later. See the document Configuring the Metadata Card (M-Files 2018) for more details.
  • If you are upgrading M-Files Server from M-Files 2015.2 or earlier to M-Files 2015.3 or later and both of the following are true:
    • You have a document vault that contains documents either in the Chinese, Japanese, or Korean language.
    • The selected primary or secondary language for the full-text search features of the vault is some other than Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. For more information, see Creating a New Document Vault.
    In such a case, you should rebuild the full-text search index of the vault after the upgrade is complete so that the documents in the aforementioned languages are still retrievable by searching their contents. For instructions, see Vault Maintenance.

Installation preconditions

All M-Files Server instances in a replication setup must have the same four-digit build number (for instance 4320 in 11.2.4320.32 and 11.2.4320.33).

You can use the following table to verify the compatibility between M-Files Server and M-Files Desktop:

M-Files Desktop (M-Files 2015 and 2015.x) M-Files Desktop (M-Files 2018) M-Files Desktop (M-Files Online)
M-Files Server (M-Files 2015 and 2015.x) Compatible Compatible Not compatible
M-Files Server (M-Files 2018) Compatible Compatible Compatible
M-Files Server (M-Files Online) Not compatible Compatible Compatible

To verify compatibility with M-Files API and replication, see M-Files version compatibility regarding API and Replication.

Note: In some cases, you must disable your antivirus software for the duration of the upgrade process.

Installation order

You can choose to either first upgrade the client computers and then the server computer, or first the server computer and then the client computers. If you do not upgrade to the immediately subsequent M-Files version, make sure that the new version is compatible with the old version to avoid unnecessary interruptions (see the compatibility chart above). In such a case it is also recommended that you first upgrade the server and then the client computers.
Note: Some of the new properties of the higher M-Files version may not be available until both M-Files Desktop and M-Files Server have been upgraded to the new version.

Upgrading offline vaults

As the internal database structure of the document vault changes during a software upgrade, the document vaults must be upgraded as well. All the vault in the online state are upgraded automatically during a software upgrade, but if any of the vaults are in the offline state, they need to be updgraded manually. To do this, open the vault context menu in M-Files Admin and select Upgrade.

Preparing for the server upgrade

Before installing the upgrade on M-Files Server, ensure that the following conditions are met:
  • Make sure that your server fulfills the hardware and software requirements of the new version (see System Requirements and Technical Details).
  • The administrator should also ensure that recent backups of the document vaults are available and usable. The backups may be useful should an unexpected fault situation occur during the server upgrade.
  • The administrator should also take backups of the master database.
  • The backups should preferably be stored on a separate disk drive.

In the event of a fault situation, write to our customer support at [email protected] immediately. Do not attempt to rectify the fault yourself, as solving the fault situation is usually much easier if no additional actions have been performed.

Service releases

Service releases are smaller M-Files software upgrades that share the same main version number (for example "11.0" for M-Files 2015), followed by the four-digit version ID for the service release. For instance, versions 11.0.4300.47 and 11.0.4300.58 are service releases for M-Files 2015 (11.0.4300.27). Usually, the service releases do not contain any new properties, but rather are released if faults requiring repair are detected in the software, or if compatibility with higher versions of other software requires changes to M-Files.

Service release versions are fully compatible between each other and can be installed in whichever order. In other words, whether the service release is installed first on the workstations and then on the server, or vice versa, makes no difference.

Automatic updates

Automatic updates keep your M-Files software up to date. If a newer version of M-Files covered by your M-Files subscription becomes available, it is downloaded to your computer and you are notified about it. New M-Files versions normally become available as automatic updates about a month after a new version has been officially released.

To ensure version compatibility, see Installation preconditions.

Disabling the updates

You can open the automatic updates control panel via your Windows start menu or by right-clicking the M-Files icon in your Windows notification area and selecting Settings > Automatic Updates from the context menu. If you wish to disable automatic updates, you can do so by opening the Settings tab and unchecking the Check for updates automatically check box. Administrators can disable automatic updating altogether by using a modified installation package. For more information, see M-Files Setup: Advanced User's Guide.

You can check for updates manually by opening the Installation tab and clicking the Check Now button.

Upgrading the M-Files OCR module for versions M-Files 2015 and later

M-Files Server versions for M-Files 2015 and later do not support the OCR module of the M-Files versions prior to M-Files 2015, so you might need to upgrade this module after upgrading the server software. See Instructions for enabling the M-Files OCR Module for detailed instructions.

Centralized deployment via Windows Group Policy

You can use the Windows Group Policy feature to automatically distribute M-Files to client computers. Alternatively, you may use any other centralized deployment mechanism that you are familiar with. You can also customize the behavior of the M-Files setup program. For more information on these options, refer to M-Files Setup: Advanced User's Guide.