Set permissions, delete, and mark for archiving

As a result of a state transition, new permissions can be specified, and the object can be deleted, and archived, or both. You can select several options of the Actions tab at the same time.

Set permissions

Do not use automatic permissions

If you select this option, the object bypasses the automatic permissions that would usually be applicable to the object. Use the Set permissions feature to change the effective permissions for the object version.

Ignore the permissions of the latest checked-in version for this version

Object permissions in M-Files are version-specific, and this setting changes the default behavior of how M-Files checks permissions for earlier versions. This can make access to the history versions less restrictive.

When the setting is not enabled, this is how M-Files evaluates the permissions:

To have access to the latest object version, you must have at least read access to it.
To have access to a history version (a previous version), you must have at least read access to that specific version and to the latest version.

If this setting is enabled, M-Files ignores the permissions of the latest checked-in version. M-Files thus gives users access to older object versions for which they have at least read access. The permission settings of the latest version no longer change this access. Users that do not have access to later versions of the object still see the previous versions to which they continue to have access.

Note: Changes to this setting affect objects only when they enter the state. Objects that are already in the state keep the behavior they had when they entered it. If you create a new version of the object while it stays in the same state, the new setting is not applied. For example: If the setting was enabled and users had wider access to historical versions, the object must leave and re-enter the state to return to the default behavior. In the classic M-Files Desktop, you can also change this setting for individual object versions in the Permissions dialog, available in the object’s History dialog.

Example

There is an SOP and its workflow has the states the Draft, Waiting for Approval, and Approved. All three states have different permissions. A draft is shown only to the user who created the document, Waiting for Approval gives access also to the reviewer, and an approved document is shown to all users.

The document is currently at version 3 and in the Approved state. This means that it is accessible to all users. Someone moves the document back to the Draft state for changes. This causes the permissions of the latest version to be changed so that only the document creator can see it in the current version 4.

If the setting Ignore the permissions of the latest checked-in version for this version is enabled for the Approved state, all users will continue have access to the document version 3, but not to the latest one (version 4). If the setting is disabled (the default behavior), only the document creator can see the document version 3.

If the setting is enabled in the Approved state and the document later moves to the Waiting for Approval state where the setting is not enabled, most users no longer have access to the object and its historical versions. Only the document creator and reviewer keep access. In addition, all users can still see version 3, which was created in the Approved state when the setting was enabled. If the document moves through this workflow many times, all users can see the versions created in the Approved state because the setting is enabled in that state, regardless of the document’s current state.

Note: Even if the Ignore the permissions of the latest checked-in version for this version setting is enabled, the document is not visible in searches and views if the Look in the metadata of all versions option is disabled.