Synchronization of Objects and Their Values Between Vaults

Conflicts and their resolution

If users edit an object at the same time in multiple vaults, a conflict can occur during synchronization of data between vaults. For example, from source vault A to target vault B. When M-Files detects a conflict, it creates a conflict object.

If automatic conflict resolution is enabled, M-Files resolves conflicts automatically. For instructions on configuring automatic conflict resolution, refer to Configuring Automatic Resolution of Replication Conflicts in M-Files knowledge base. To restore a discarded object version, see Showing and Restoring Discarded Object Versions.

Unresolved conflicts are shown in object relationships. In the listing area, expand an object with the arrow button. If the object has unresolved conflicts, they are shown under the Conflicts node.

To see all conflict objects of the vault, go to the Conflicts view. By default, the view is hidden. For information on unhiding views, see Using the Clean View, Hide View, and Unhide Views commands.

In manual conflict resolution, you decide which object version you want to keep. To resolve a conflict, you must have editing rights to the object and the conflict object in the same vault. Right-click the conflict object and click Resolve Conflict: Keep These Changes to replace the local changes with the contents of the conflict object or Resolve Conflict: Discard These Changes to keep the local version.

If two-way synchronization (replication of contents) is used, you must resolve the conflict in both vaults.

Publishing selected objects of one vault in another vault

If you want to publish only certain objects from a vault by using another vault, you can do this by using a search filter when defining the content export. You should also check that the object types of the published objects can be associated either automatically or based on aliases.

Value list values

When the metadata structures of vaults have been defined according to your needs and the required metadata definitions can be associated, the actual synchronization of objects and their values can be performed between vaults. Data synchronization between different vaults is performed with replication of contents.

However, you should note that if the value does not exist in the target vault or you cannot create it as a normal value-list value during import (for example, in the case of built-in values, such as classes, workflows, and users), the value name is displayed in metadata in the form "Value name XYZ (deleted)". In other words, if the value does not exist in the metadata structure of the target vault after import, it is shown as a "Value name XYZ (deleted)" value.

Related objects

The object metadata contains information on other, related objects. For example, a document might be related to a project or a customer.

When objects are exported to another vault, you may not want to export their related objects to the target vault. For example, you export documents to the target vault but not projects or customers (for instance, in publishing operations, you publish price lists and brochures but not customer information). Then the related object is shown as a shortcut in the object's metadata (or, less frequently, with the "Value name XYZ (deleted)" value). The object refers to the source vault and has not been imported as a genuine object to the target vault. For further information, refer to Relationships between objects in separate vaults under Object Relationships.