Simple M files question...

[Markaj]

Hi I am persisting with M files although I am not entirely convinced it is for me though - although to be honest I am trying to find out how it works as I go along.
Anyway, my question is; I have a growing list of 'Projects'. Some really are projects and some are things like standard components, custom fasteners etc. Basically these equate to folders in Windows.
Is there a way of grouping these 'Projects' so that the list doesn't just get longer & longer & become unmanageable? ie. 'projects' within 'projects', or folders with sub folders.
Thanks
Mark

 

[DavidJ]

You should look further into Views and how they work, there are many possible options.

You could group projects by 'customer' - 'created' (date) grouped by year perhaps - project status (in progress/not).

You can add extra properties to the 'project' definition and use these to help with grouping.

You can even nest views inside other views - but remember any filters applied at a higher level also apply to the contents of nested views.

 

[Markaj]

Hi David, Thanks for the swift response!
So I can add other 'sub projects' to the 'project' already used? This part (Knuckle 283 assy) which is in 'Standard Comps' can now also be put into a sub group say 'Knuckles'.
Actually, I just tried it & it creates another 'project' on the list, so the part appears in 2 places.
What I really wanted to do was tidy up the ever growing list of projects by grouping them.
I suppose this is the nature of using metatags rather than folders? so everything is located by its tag rather than location?

 

[DavidJ]

Look at 'Grouping Levels' - in the bottom half of View definition tab.

You can use any property you like to group Projects etc. I have views set up to show (for example)

Documents ; grouped by Customer, then project.

Documents; grouped by Project (with filter applied so only 'in progress' projects show).



Sub-projects implies another layer of structure - not sure how you'd want that to work. It isn't built in as standard. You could maybe add a 'Project Family' (or similar) property to the project definition, then use that property to group projects in views.... (if there isn't already a property that you can use).

 

[Markaj]

Thanks again David,
Its getting there bit by bit. I can set up a view where I see a list of customers (which is a start), however when I click on a customer, I get a list of all parts relevant to that customer, rather than being arranged into projects.
I suppose what I would like to see is something like;
Alibre>By Project>Customer>'customer name'>Project I can get as far as 'customers name', but as above it lists all the documents linked to that customer.
I guess this is all a bit like when itunes & iphoto first came out & similar in principle?
I am sure it will make more sense the more I get into it!
Mark

 

[DavidJ]

You need to set the filter for the view to show only Projects if you want to see projects (top half of view properties window).

By default, no filter is set for object type. The most common filter is 'document or document collection'.

 

[albie0803]

Hello Mark,

I have M-Files set in this sort of way. My #1 View is Customer/Job, When I open it I get a list of customers. If I open a customer I get a list of jobs done for the customer, If I open a Job I get the files used for that job.



I have another one that shows me just drawings for each customer. I could easily change it to make it drawings only for each job for a given customer.



hope this helps a bit.