While there are some features which FileMaker provides natively, I often wonder how heavily they are used. One feature in particular is the Saved Finds feature, which is only available in Find Mode. It's a great feature in terms of convenience, however, its implementation is right on top of the funky developer'ish UI. It's buried many levels deep within multiple dialogs (if you want to modify any of the saved searches) and it's just not as pretty as developing your own within a dedicated layout or UI widget.

In this video and technique file, I showcase a system of how to provide the same feature of saving user searches. This is handled in such a way that you can make the searches available to whatever user/group or permission set you desire. Unlike the native features in FileMaker, it's not user account specific. Ultimately, it provides many more advantages of being able to run automated searches.

If your data is the kind where multiple routine searches are frequently re-run, then this technique will have what you need. AND, a big bonus is a tip about how to detect when a user executes a search vs when a FileMaker script does so and being able to determine the difference.

Click the title or link to this article to view the video.

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