Unmanaged and Managed Objects
External files that do not have M-Files metadata are unmanaged objects in
M-Files
terminology. You can view and edit them in M-Files, but the changes are
saved only to the external repository, and M-Files Server does not keep a version
history for these objects.
When you add metadata properties for an unmanaged object, it is promoted to
a managed object in M-Files. Managed objects can be edited in the external
system or in M-Files, but M-Files keeps a version
history only of the changes made in M-Files. Because the external repository
does not necessarily support version history, M-Files Server saves all object versions
in M-Files and only the latest version in the external system.
Note: Unmanaged objects that are checked out cannot be promoted. Before you promote
an object, make sure that the object is not checked out to you or someone else. For more
information, see these
instructions.
Reasons to promote objects to managed objects
You can use these essential M-Files features with managed objects:
- Version history
- Object relationships
- Document collections
- Workflows
- Assignment features
- Check out and check in
- Co-authoring
- Converting single-file document to multi-file documents
- Object comments
- Scanning and text recognition
- Annotations
- Sharing objects with the Copy Link option
- Offline availability
Unmanaged objects are also not part of replication packages.
Creating objects with metadata
You can use the features given here to create M-Files objects with metadata. Make sure that you use only one of them. If you use more than one feature, the same content is migrated to the vault more than once.
Promoting Unmanaged Objects
To convert an unmanaged object to a managed object:
- In M-Files Desktop or M-Files Web, find and select an unmanaged object.
-
Make sure that the object is not checked out for editing.
- If the object is checked out to you, you can right-click the object and select
Check In or Undo Checkout from the context
menu.or
- If the object is checked out to someone else, see the metadata card of the object to identify the user who has checked out the object, and then ask them to check it in.
- If the object is checked out to you, you can right-click the object and select
Check In or Undo Checkout from the context
menu.
- Use the Class drop-down menu to change the class of the object.
-
When you have changed the class, you can enrich the object with metadata as you see fit.
The class that you select sets the default metadata properties of the object.
- Click Save to save your changes.