Overview
This document describes some technical details about the synchronization between M-Files server and Google Workspace (GWS).
Impacted Products and Versions
M-Files version 19.9.8197.0 and later.
Solution
Q: How often are documents synchronized to M-Files (whether there is a specific amount of time, or it is real-time as it is saved on Google's side)?
A: The sync runs once per hour. In addition, synchronization is one-way only - only changes on Google's side are updated to M-Files. But not the other way around.
Q: If the checkbox "Enable Automatic Synchronization" is selected by one user, it is automatically active for another user? If so, isn’t it a problem that two users can edit the “same” file in GWS (the file linked to the same document in M-Files), which can cause an integrity failure for the document?
A: Users within the same domain see the same synchronization info, so sync enabled by one user is automatically active for the other user. If two users share the file in Google Workspace side, they are both able to edit it, and changes by both users are synced to the same document in M-Files. The synchronization detects the changes by Google’s internal version number, so earlier changes cannot overwrite newer changes, even if synchronization runs from two users' computers at the same time.
Q: Regarding the integrity of a document – when the user opens a document in GWS while mentioned checkbox is enabled, the document is not marked as checked out in M-Files. This means that another user is free to check out the document in M-Files Desktop (so two users are editing the same document at the same time – one through GWS, the other via M-Files). How does the M-Files Add-on for GWS handle this situation?
A: This situation requires some care from the user's side. The file in GWS and the version in M-Files are separate copies. Any changes made in GWS are synced to M-Files, but not vice versa. Editing in GWS does not check out the M-Files copy. So, if user A checks the file out in M-Files and edits it, user B does not see the changes in GWS. If user B edits the file in GWS and then saves it, they can overwrite user A’s changes in M-Files.
