Checking Out a Document for Co-Authoring

Note: This content is no longer updated. For the latest content, please go to the user guide for M-Files Online. For information on the supported product versions, refer to our lifecycle policy.

With M-Files, several users can edit a document at the same time. You can check out a document for co-authoring with Microsoft Office for the web when the Microsoft Office for the web tools and co-authoring have been enabled for your vault or vaults.

Note: Office for the web has limits for the maximum size of the files. For more information, refer to Microsoft documentation.

Editing an Office Document in the Co-Authoring Mode

You need to have an Office 365 account and editing permissions to the document you want to edit via co-authoring.

To check out a document for co-authoring:

Locate the object you want to make available for co-authoring in M-Files Desktop or in the classic M-Files Web.
Right-click the document and select Check Out for Co-authoring in the context menu.

Note: Co-authoring is only available for single-file DOCX, XLSX, XLSM, and PPTX documents.

Result:In M-Files Desktop, a security warning is opened about who can view and modify the file during co-authoring. If you use the classic M-Files Web, skip to step 4.
In the Security Warning dialog in M-Files Desktop, click Begin Co-authoring.
Result:The document is opened in Microsoft Office for the web.

Tip: If you are using Google Chrome and the browser cannot complete loading the editor, check whether the address bar contains an icon informing the user about a blocked redirection. If it does, go ahead and click it, and allow the redirection to be carried out. Finally, close the browser window or tab and double-click the document in M-Files to reopen the editor.
Edit the document in the browser.
Microsoft Office automatically saves your document when you make changes to it.
Once you are done, click End Co-authoring to close the editor.
In M-Files Web, this command is called Save and return to M-Files.
To end co-authoring, right-click the object in M-Files Desktop or the classic M-Files Web and select Check In in the context menu.
The user who checks out the document for co-authoring must be the one who also checks it in. The changes made during co-authoring are attributed to the user who checked out the document for co-authoring and checked in the new version.

You can reject the changes made in co-authoring by right-clicking the object and selecting Undo Checkout from the context menu.

The changes made by you and anyone else during co-authoring are saved to M-Files, unless you selected Undo Checkout instead of checking in the document.

Participating in Co-Authoring

When a document has been checked for co-authoring, you can take part in the authoring process by doing the following steps:

Locate the co-authored document in M-Files Desktop or the classic M-Files Web and double-click it to open it in the co-authoring mode.
A co-authored document is marked with a yellow icon containing a white checkmark.

Result:A dialog about editing the document in the co-authoring or opening it in read-only mode is opened.
Select Edit (Co-authoring).
Result:The document is opened in Microsoft Office for the web.

Tip: If you are using Google Chrome and the browser cannot complete loading the editor, check whether the address bar contains an icon informing the user about a blocked redirection. If it does, go ahead and click it, and allow the redirection to be carried out. Finally, close the browser window or tab and double-click the document in M-Files to reopen the editor.
Edit the document in the browser.
Microsoft Office automatically saves your document when you make changes to it.
Once you are done, click End Co-authoring to close the editor.
In M-Files Web, this command is called Save and return to M-Files.

The changes you made to the document are saved to M-Files once the user who started the co-authoring has ended the co-authoring and checked in the document.