  We report on the temporal properties of the ULX pulsar M51 ULX-7 inferred
from the analysis of the 2018-2020 Swift/XRT monitoring data and archival
Chandra data obtained over a period of 33 days in 2012. We find an extended low
flux state, which might be indicative of propeller transition, lending further
support to the interpretation that the NS is rotating near equilibrium.
Alternatively, this off state could be related to a variable super-orbital
period. Moreover, we report the discovery of periodic dips in the X-ray light
curve that are associated with the binary orbital period. The presence of the
dips implies a configuration where the orbital plane of the binary is closer to
an edge on orientation, and thus demonstrates that favorable geometries are not
necessary in order to observe ULX pulsars.These characteristics are similar to
those seen in prototypical X-ray pulsars like Her X-1 and SMC X-1 or other ULX
pulsars like NGC 5907 ULX1.
