M-FILES: METADATA & SEARCHING
Find documents based on what they are, not where they are.
M-Files replaces folder structures with metadata — smart labels such as client, project, type, and status.
The result: every document is findable in seconds from any angle.
THE PROBLEM
Why folders do not work
Knowledge workers spend an average of 1.5 hours a day searching for documents. The cause is almost always the same: folder structures that differ by person, department, and time.
INTERACTIVE DEMO: EXPERIENCE IT YOURSELF
This is what metadata-driven searching feels like
Click on filters, type a search query, or click on a document to view the preview and metadata card. Just like M-Files works.
This is an interactive simulation. In a real M-Files environment, you also search the full document content (including PDFs and scans via OCR) and connect with SharePoint, network shares, and cloud storage.
THE SOLUTION
What exactly is metadata?
Metadata are properties that give context to a document.
Think of labels like "this is a quote", "from client Janssen", "for project Brussels" and "waiting for approval".
In M-Files, documents are not stored in folders, but described with metadata.
When saving, you provide a few characteristics: M-Files automatically indexes, organises, and displays the document in all relevant overviews.
Think of it like Spotify: you don't search for track_047.mp3 in a folder, but by artist, album, or genre. This is how M-Files works for business documents.
Metadata can be anything: a customer from your CRM, a project name, a date, a workflow status, even a digital signature. Fully configurable per organisation.
METADATA AS A FOUNDATION
What else metadata enables
Metadata is not only for searching. It forms the foundation of workflows, security, and version control in M-Files.