Web and Mobile Access

M-Files Web provides a way of accessing your document vaults via a web browser. It is thus possible to use M-Files on any computer that provides the capability for web browsing.

The M-Files Web interface is managed with the M-Files Server computer. In a normal implementation, M-Files Web is set to listen on TCP port 80 for the HTTP protocol, but there are other possibilities as well. For more information, contact M-Files customer support.

M-Files Web has been implemented with standard languages, such as HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This makes it possible to use M-Files with various browsers, among them Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Please see the System Requirements and Technical Details for details.

Enabling the Necessary Internet Information Services (IIS) Components

The following Internet Information Services (IIS) components need to be enabled on the M-Files Server computer before web and mobile access can be enabled:

ASP.NET features
Dynamic Content Compression
Windows Authentication
IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility
Static Content

Steps

In Microsoft Windows open Control Panel and then open Programs and Features.
The Programs and Features dialog is opened.
On the task pane on the left, click Turn Windows features on or off.
The Windows Features dialog is opened.
Navigate to Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services and enable the Common HTTP Features feature.
Navigate to Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Application Development Features and enable the ASP.NET features.
Navigate to Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Performance Features and enable the Dynamic Content Compression feature.
Navigate to Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Security and enable the Windows Authentication feature.
Navigate to Internet Information Services > Web Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility and enable the IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility feature.
Navigate to Services > World Wide Web Services > Common HTTP Features and enable the Static Content feature.
Click OK to close the Windows Features dialog.

Results

You should now have the neccesary components installed and you are ready to enable web and mobile access on the selected server computer.

Enabling Web and Mobile Access

Before you begin

M-Files Web uses Microsoft Internet Information Services and .NET framework version 4.0 (or higher). These applications must be installed on the computer running the M-Files Server in order to enable M-Files Web.

Steps

Open M-Files Admin on the server computer on which you intend to host web and mobile access.
In the left-side tree view, expand the desired connection to M-Files Server.
Still in the left-side tree view, right-click the connection and select Configure Web and Mobile Access... from the context menu.
The Configure Web and Mobile Access dialog is opened.

Select one of the following options:

Select the option...	If you want to...
Modify an existing web site	Modify an existing M-Files Web site. Select the existing site using the Web site drop-down menu.
Create a new web site	Create a new M-Files Web site within IIS. Enter the name of the site in the Name field and the TCP for connecting to the site in the TCP port field. The TCP port is 80 by default as it is the most common TCP port for web servers. If you use any other port, you need to indicate the port in the URL (`http://<domain name>:<port>`) to access the site.
Create a new virtual directory	Create a new M-Files Web site under a virtual directory within an existing web site. Use the Web site drop-down menu to select the preffered existing web site and, in the Name field, enter the name of the virtual folder. The URL for accessing the site is thus `http://<domain name>/<virtual folder name>`.

Click OK to close the Configure Web and Mobile Access dialog.

Results

You should now have web and mobile access to the vaults under the selected connection. You can test to see if your site is online by typing the URL of your site into your web browser.