Viewing and Editing Object Permissions

Every object in M-Files has permissions. The object's permissions specify what type of access rights the vault users have for that object. For more information about permissions, refer to Object Permissions.

Access right types

In M-Files, there are four types of access rights:

Access right Description
Read Lets the user see the object and its metadata. If the object has file content, lets the user view it.
Edit Gives the user read access and lets them edit the metadata and file content.
Delete Gives the user read access and lets them delete the object.
Change permissions Gives the user read access and lets them change the object's permission settings.

Permissions dialog

To open the Permissions dialog of an object, click the Permissions field on the metadata card.

The dialog contains two sections:

  • The Effective permissions section. You can use this section to edit the access rights of the selected object. For example, Full control for all internal users, Only for me, another predefined collection of permission settings, or customized permissions. If the object has automatic permissions settings, no selections are available.
  • The Check permissions section. You can use this section to see what type of access the vault users have for the object with the current settings.

Viewing access rights

To view the effective access rights for an object:

  1. Select the object in the listing area.
  2. On the metadata card, click the Permissions field.
  3. In the Permissions dialog's Check permissions section, select which type of access rights to view.
  4. Optional: In the search field, enter a name to filter the list of users.
  5. Use the table to see the given access rights for each user.

Editing access rights

Note: If the object has automatic permission settings from object properties, you have to disable the permission settings before you can edit the access rights. See Disabling automatic permissions.

To edit the access rights of an object:

  1. Select the object in the listing area.
  2. On the metadata card, click the Permissions field.
  3. In the Permissions dialog's Effective permissions section, select permission settings for the object.
    For example, Full control for all internal users, Only for me, another predefined collection of permission settings, or customized permissions. If the object has automatic permissions settings, no selections are available. With customized permissions, you can manually give certain users or user groups the access rights to the selected object.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click Save on the metadata card.

Disabling automatic permissions

Some objects can have automatically specified permission settings. In most situations, you can disable the automatic permission settings and select a predefined collection of permissions for the object. For information about permission settings in M-Files, refer to Object Permissions.

Note: You can disable automatic permissions only if all automatic components related to the object properties can be disabled and you have rights to change the permission. Enforced automatic permissions cannot be disabled.

To disable automatic permissions of an object:

  1. Select the object in the listing area.
  2. On the metadata card, click the Permissions field.
  3. In the Permissions dialog's Effective permissions section, click Disable all automatic permission settings.
  4. Select permission settings for the object.
    For example, Full control for all internal users, Only for me, another predefined collection of permission settings, or customized permissions.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click Save on the metadata card.
If the automatic permissions have been disabled, click Enable all automatic permission settings in Permissions dialog to enable all previously disabled permissions again.