It’s easier to type in all your fields at one sitting and never enter Manage Database again. However, most people can’t plan a solution that extensively and frankly, it really isn’t necessary. FileMaker is very forgiving and will let you add, change or delete fields and automatically update all references or even warn you if the field is used somewhere like in a relationship. With that said, it is still ideal to enter the bulk of your fields in one sitting, especially if your requirements document specifies them. Just don’t worry if you forget some data entry fields or need to add a calculation or summary field. Many developers plan to the nth degree but I’m here to tell you fields are easy to add any time and are very unlikely to disrupt your relational design.

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