How to Disable Duplicate File Detection

Overview

In the March 2020 update, a new duplicate file detection feature was added to M-Files.
The feature compares the internal hash value of files in the document vault and shows relation between identical files in M-Files user interface.
In some cases this could be problematic, for example, if some object types are generated automatically from a template by only adding metadata, and not opening the file for editing in the creation phase. This may cause slowness in M-Files Desktop when opening the “tree view” if there are large numbers of such files.

Solution

This feature can be disabled via M-Files Admin tool:

• Navigate to ServerName
• Document Vaults > VaultName > Configurations > Expand Advanced Vault Settings
• Expand Configuration >Click Duplicate Detection
• Change “Duplicate files in listing area” to “No”

In case you want to also disable the duplicate file detection when adding content, change the other option also to “No”.

After doing these changes:

• M-Files Server restart is required.
• In addition, all users need to log off from M-Files Desktop for this feature to get disabled.

Applies to M-Files March 2020 update (20.3.8876.7) and later.