--- title: "M-Files collaboration: calendar, comments and dashboards" url: "https://ctrldocs.com/blog/ctrlportals-collaboration/" language: "en" description: "Collaboration in M-Files with CtrlPortals: a calendar, comment threads that mention colleagues, dashboards, documents and a knowledge base beside the records." dateModified: "2026-10-14" --- [CtrlPortals](https://ctrldocs.com/blog/) # How CtrlPortals changes collaboration in M‑Files A calendar, threaded comments, dashboards, documents and a knowledge base, all on the same screen as the M‑Files data they belong to. 31 August 2023 Krystian Biały 2 min read ![A comment thread on a customer in CtrlPortals, where colleagues mention each other, ask for a check and confirm it](https://ctrldocs.com/img/cRQ4ctwKHJ-200.webp) In this article 1. [Calendar](#calendar) 2. [Comments where the work is](#comments-where-the-work-is) 3. [Dashboards](#dashboards) 4. [Documents](#documents) 5. [Knowledge bases](#knowledge-bases) 6. [In short](#in-short) M‑Files holds the documents, projects, customers and opportunities a team works on. [CtrlPortals](/products/ctrlportals/ "CtrlPortals") adds a workspace on top of it that you lay out yourself, filled with panels that show that same data. The schedule, the discussion, the figures, the documents and the guides end up on one screen instead of in five separate tools. Here is what that looks like in practice. ## Calendar[#](#calendar) Schedules, deadlines, appointments and project progress go in a calendar component with day, week and month views. Events are moved by dragging them, and hovering over one shows its details without opening anything. ![A CtrlPortals calendar for October 2026 in month view, with CAPA tasks, change-request tasks, document training records and recorded issues on their due dates, each kind in its own colour](https://ctrldocs.com/img/SQ6dhCnbtg-200.webp) ## Comments where the work is[#](#comments-where-the-work-is) People comment on the record the work is about, so a question about a customer sits on that customer’s record. The discussion stays in the same window as the work, and colleagues can be mentioned by name. Typing an @ in the comment box offers the matching users to pick from, and a mention is highlighted in the thread. ![A CtrlPortals comment thread on a customer record: colleagues reply to each other, mentions are highlighted, and typing @Jon in a new comment offers Jonas Lind to pick](https://ctrldocs.com/img/7evqBlhxeW-200.webp) Comments can also be gathered into one list, with each comment’s text and the people it mentions. Open one and you land on the portal where it was written. ## Dashboards[#](#dashboards) Dashboards are for the people who need the whole picture rather than one record: project managers, sales teams, anyone reporting on the vault. They read live M‑Files data and show it as interactive plots and graphs, from sales per month and per product to closed opportunities on a single customer record. ![A CtrlPortals sales dashboard in M-Files with tiles for active customers, pipeline value, deals closed this month and average deal size, and charts of opportunities by state and lead probability, beside a customer portal showing closed opportunities per month and a comment thread](https://ctrldocs.com/img/sdJAMVysya-200.webp) The dashboards read straight from the M‑Files vault, so there is no separate database to set up, feed and keep in step, and the figures on screen are the figures in the vault. [See where a plot can read its data from](https://ctrldocs.com/products/ctrlportals/). ## Documents[#](#documents) People open and work on documents in the portal itself, without going elsewhere to find them. If your team shares them in Microsoft Teams, [CtrlConnect](https://ctrldocs.com/products/ctrlconnect/) shows their details right in the chat. ## Knowledge bases[#](#knowledge-bases) A portal can also be a knowledge base. The HTML component takes your own pages, with videos and whatever content you want to put in them, so instructions sit next to the documents they describe. ![An M-Files window where a CtrlPortals portal shows a CtrlShare Quick Start guide with introduction text and an embedded video, next to the list of administration guide documents](https://ctrldocs.com/img/_qRjtp2sZ3-200.webp) ## In short[#](#in-short) You decide which of these a portal shows, so the discussion, the schedule and the numbers stay next to the records they are about. [Book a demo](https://ctrldocs.com/contact/?product_interest=CtrlPortals) and we will walk you through a portal, one part at a time. [← All articles](https://ctrldocs.com/blog/) In this article 1. [Calendar](#calendar) 2. [Comments where the work is](#comments-where-the-work-is) 3. [Dashboards](#dashboards) 4. [Documents](#documents) 5. [Knowledge bases](#knowledge-bases) 6. [In short](#in-short) [Book a demo](https://ctrldocs.com/contact/) ## See the products at work Book a demo and we'll show you the products that fit your M‑Files setup. [Book a demo](https://ctrldocs.com/contact/)