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Home/System setup and customization/Vault configuration and customization/Configurations editor

Configuring custom vault data

Last updated on 3 April 2026

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The Custom Vault Data section in the M-Files Admin configurations editor allows you to add and modify custom vault data to affect the vault functionality. The most common type of custom vault data are custom settings of the vault that allow you to add custom functionality to the vault. Sets of custom vault data are registered within specific namespaces.
Note: This section of the configurations editor is intended for advanced configuration and customization only, and therefore we recommend that you do not add custom vault data unless you know what you are doing.

Registering a namespace

To begin modifying custom vault data, you must first register a namespace for a new set of custom vault data. Complete the following steps to register a namespace:

  1. In M-Files Admin, access the custom vault data section.
    1. Open M-Files Admin.
    2. In the left-side tree view, expand an M-Files server connection.
    3. Expand Document Vaults.
    4. Expand a vault.
    5. Click Configurations.
    6. In the navigation area, expand Custom Vault Data.
  2. Select Namespace Registry > Configuration.
  3. Expand the Namespaces node, click Add Namespace, and expand the newly added namespace node.
  4. In the Group field, enter an internal name of your choice for the group that uses the namespace that you are about to register.
  5. Use the Storage Type drop-down menu to select the storage type that the namespace uses.
  6. In the Namespace field, enter the namespace that you are about to register, and in the Namespace Label field, enter a custom label for the namespace shown in the Custom Vault Data configuration.
  7. In the Namespace Description field, enter a description about the purpose of the namespace.
  8. Click Save to save your configuration.

Adding named values

After you have registered a namespace, you can add named values within that namespace. Complete the following steps to add named values:

  1. In M-Files Admin, access the custom vault data section.
    1. Open M-Files Admin.
    2. In the left-side tree view, expand an M-Files server connection.
    3. Expand Document Vaults.
    4. Expand a vault.
    5. Click Configurations.
    6. In the navigation area, expand Custom Vault Data.
  2. In the gray navigation area, expand Custom Vault Data > Named Values, then expand a group that you have registered in Registering a namespace, and finally select the namespace of the group.
  3. Open the Configuration tab.
  4. Click Add Named Value, and expand the newly created named value node.
  5. In the Name field, enter the name part of the named value.
    The name can only contain letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens, and periods.
  6. In the Value field, enter the value part of the named value.
  7. Repeat the steps from 4 to 6 to add more named value pairs within the given namespace.
  8. Click Save to save your configuration.

Example: Disabling the sorting of search results by their relevance

By default, M-Files sorts search results by their relevance.

This behavior can be prevented so that search results are sorted by user preference instead. Make the following changes on the M-Files Server computer to prevent search results to be automatically sorted by their relevance:

  1. In M-Files Admin, access the custom vault data section.
    1. Open M-Files Admin.
    2. In the left-side tree view, expand an M-Files server connection.
    3. Expand Document Vaults.
    4. Expand a vault.
    5. Click Configurations.
    6. In the navigation area, expand Custom Vault Data.
  2. Select Namespace Registry > Configuration.
  3. Expand the Namespaces node, click Add Namespace, and expand the newly added namespace node.
  4. In the Group field, type Search results.
  5. Use the Storage Type drop-down menu to select the MFConfigurationValue storage.
  6. In the Namespace field, enter the following value: M-Files.Core.Listing.SearchResults
  7. In the Namespace Label field, type Search results.
  8. In the Namespace Description field, enter for example Settings related to search results.
  9. Click Save to save the namespace settings.
  10. In the gray navigation area, select Named Values > Search results > Search results > Configuration.
  11. Click Add Named Value, and expand the newly created named value node.
  12. In the Name field, enter the following value: RememberSearchResultsSortingCriteria
  13. In the Value field, enter the following value: true
  14. Click Save to save the configuration.
M-Files no longer forces search results to be sorted by their relevance, and therefore users can change the column by which search results are sorted and the user preference is retained in subsequent searches.
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Registering a namespace
Adding named values
Example: Disabling the sorting of search results by their relevance
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