Search Functions

M-Files supports quick searches and advanced searches.

Video: Searching

General search criteria

Search all objects: With the default setting, Search all objects, M-Files searches for all objects on the basis of the search strings (unless more specific search criteria have been defined in the advanced search).

Predefined search criteria

Predefined search criteria can be used to speed up the search. You can search for objects according to a certain object type or the modification date:

Other search functions

You can make the results more specific by enabling the Search within this view checkbox. In this case, the search only covers the view that you are in, whereas M-Files would normally search from the entire vault.

Note: The Search within this view option is only available for views and virtual folders, and is thus not displayed, for instance, in the Home view.

You can clear all search criteria with the Reset All button in the top-right corner of the user interface.

Search results

The order in which the search results are listed is based mainly on frequency or recency of use. The main idea is to emphasize things that are relevant for the user. The following information is of primary importance for providing search results:

  1. When was this document or other object created?
  2. When and how many times was the document or other object edited?
  3. When and how many times was it processed?

For more information, see Finding Documents and Other Objects.

Emphasizing the search words

When you make a search in M-Files, your search terms are marked in yellow on the listing area as well as on the metadata card and file content (preview). When preview is in use, M-Files highlights the search terms in yellow in the file contents for common file formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.).

Results of a quick search in the user interface.

Contents of the following types of files can be highlighted in the Preview tab:
  • Email files (eml, emlx, msg)
  • HTML and web archive files (htm, html, mht, mhtml)
  • Image files (tif, tiff, jpg, jpeg, bmp, gif, png)
  • Microsoft Excel files (xlsx, xlsm, xltx, xltm, xlsb, xls, xlt)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint files (pptx, pptm, ppsx, ppsm, potx, potm, ppt, pps, pot)
  • Microsoft Word files (docx, docm, dotx, dotm, doc, dot)
  • OpenDocument files (odt, ott, ods, odp)
  • PDF files
  • RTF files
  • Text files (txt)
  • Visio Drawings (vsd, vdx, vss, vsx, vst, vtx, vdw)

Search results in other vaults

When you do a search in M-Files, the Search Results in Other Vaults pane at the bottom of the search results listing shows you the number of results in any other vaults you are connected to. If the M-Files logo next to the vault name is blue, it means that there are matches to your query in the vault. If, on the other hand, the M-Files logo is grey, it means that the search results are not yet available or there are no matches to your query in the vault. The search results are retrieved only from the vaults that you are currently logged in to. You can click Show all to view also the vaults you are currently not logged in to.
Tip: You can set your login account to be automatically logged in to a vault when Windows is started. For instructions, see Adding a Document Vault Connection.

When you click any of the vaults in this pane, you are taken to the vault in question and the search results for your query are displayed.

The Search Results in Other Vaults pane can be hidden or displayed by right-clicking on an empty space in the listing area and selecting Display Mode > Show Search Results in Other Vaults from the context menu.

You can also show the Search Results in Other Vaults pane minimized by default, so that only the heading of the pane is displayed until you expand the pane. To display the pane minimized by default, right-click on an empty space in the listing area and select Display Mode > Bottom Pane > Minimized from the context menu. Note that this setting affects all the panes that are displayed at the bottom of the listing area.

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© M-Files Corporation 2016
Last updated 10/2016