Using M-Files Desktop User Interface
This section tells about the M-Files Desktop user interface. Click on different parts of the screenshot below for a description of the areas in the user interface.

Video: Introduction to the M-Files Desktop User Interface
Top area
The top area of M-Files Desktop contains these items:
- M-Files logo
- Connection status
- Navigation path
- Search field and search options
- Object creation icon
- User menu icon
M-Files logo
Click the M-Files logo to go to your home tab. To change which tab the logo link opens, see Setting Your Home Tab.
Connection status
The connection status icon () shows the
status of your connection to the vault. The connection is measured with the round-trip time
to the server that hosts the vault. Click the connection status icon to open the
Connection Status dialog. If your connection is slow or there is no
connection to the server, contact your M-Files system administrator.
Click Refresh to refresh the information of your connection status or
Analyze Connection to see details about your connection.
The navigation path shows you where you are. In practice, it contains the name of the current view and of all its parent views. The path can be, for example,
.Searching
Use the search bar to find your documents and other objects. For more information, see Searching.
Creating objects
Click Create () to create
an object. For more information, see Creating Documents and Creating Non-Document Objects.
Listing area
The listing area in M-Files Desktop usually contains views and objects. For more information, see Listing Area.
Right pane
The contents of the Metadata, Preview, and Filters tabs are shown in the right pane. To hide the right pane, click the active tab. For example, Metadata or Preview.
Metadata card
To see and change the metadata of the selected object, use the metadata card. For more information, see Object Metadata and Metadata Card.
Preview
In the preview mode, you can browse and copy the content of the selected document. For more information, see Document Preview.
Filters
When you search for an object or a document, you can use the advanced search features on the Filters tab. In the Filters tab, you can give more specific search criteria for your search. For more information, see Search Filters.
Task area
In the task area, you can see shortcuts to different M-Files Desktop operations. For more information, see Task Area. Click the handle on the right edge of the task area to hide it.