Object Metadata

Metadata helps you to find objects in M-Files. Metadata is the information related to an object. For example, the creation date, the class, and the name of an object are all metadata. The more you enter metadata for an object, the easier it is to find the object when you need it.

Editing the metadata

You can edit the object metadata on the metadata card:


Objective	Instructions
Edit property values	Click a property. Mandatory fields show an asterisk (*).
Add properties	Click Add property at the end of the property list.
Remove added properties	Click the remove icon () next to the property name.
Change the workflow state	See Changing the Workflow State on the Metadata Card.
Change permissions of the selected items	See Editing object permissions.

Click Save to save the changes and create a new version of the object.

Tip: You can use keyboard shortcuts when you edit object metadata. For more information, see Shortcuts for the metadata card.

Metadata suggestions

When Intelligent Metadata Layer and intelligence services are set up, M-Files shows metadata suggestions for a new document.

Click a suggestion to add it as a value for the property above the suggestion. If there is a plus sign (+) on the left of the suggested value, the value is added as a new object or value list item. Some property types let you add more than one of the suggested values.

Using the metadata card toolbar

Click a property to activate the metadata card toolbar. The toolbar is available for properties that use a value list. The toolbar can include these options:


Icon	Action
	Adds a field to a multi-select property.
	Remove a field from a multi-select property.
	Refresh the values of the property.
	Open a dialog to create a new property value.
	Open a dialog to edit the selected property value.

Editing the properties of many objects

To select many objects in the listing area, do one of these operations:


Objective	Instructions
Select a list of objects	Click the first object, hold down the ⇧ Shift key, and click the last object.
Select many individual objects	Click the first object, hold down the Ctrl key, and select the other objects.
Select all objects	Use the shortcut Ctrl + A.

Tip: When you edit the permissions of many objects, we recommend for performance reasons that you do not make other metadata changes at the same time.

The metadata card shows all the properties of the selected objects. See this table for descriptions of the special property values used when you have selected objects that have a different value for the same property:


Value	Description
	The values of the selected objects are different.
	None of the selected objects have the value selected.
	Some of the selected objects have the value selected.
	All the selected objects have the value selected.

When you edit a value, you change the value for all the selected objects. For example, if you replace (varies) with a new value, it is set for all the selected objects.