Upgrading & Migration

Hi, I've converted my 5.5 solution that I've used for years, first to version 8 (never finished converting in 8), then to version 9. Works fast and well, except that when I shut it down and bring it back up, none of the links between my 4 files work. I can go back to the field name dialog and choose the field from a different file that's supposed to appear in that place, but the links break again when I shut down. Is this common? Any idea what might be the cause? Also, it's my understanding that it would run better if I could combine the 4 files into one file with 4 tables, if that makes sense. Is there an easy way to accomplish this without recreating the so…

Hello, can anyone help, Here at work I've just got a faster Mac, i transferred my user account from the old machine with Migration Assistant. If i open a local file everything is fine, but if i open a remote file from our FMP server it starts to load then crashes FMP If i log-on with the original account everything is fine, i deleted all the FMP prefs, keychains and re-installed FMP9, still crashes!!! I also called FMP but they don't know Anyone got any ideas? Thanks Ian

Hi there When converting my pro 6 databases, a message popped up indicating that the Customer file cannot be found. I browsed to the Customer file to re-establish the relationship or whatever was missing. I launched the app and the same message popped up when opening the Invoicing file. I checked the links and every thing checks ok but the warning message keeps popping up for the Customer file. I deleted the relationship and started from scratch. During the process, I noticed that several references exist for the Customer file. I can see Customer, Customer 2, Customer 4 and 5. I am still experiencing the warning message. Any tips to help me out on this.

Hi - I just upgraded to FMP Advanced 9. I have a solution that was set to login automatically to a default user, set in File Options. This has worked fine for some time. Since using FM9, however, it seems to ignore the Login Using setting, and insists on popping up a Login dialog, with my WIndows user name suggested. This will cause confusion for my users who should not be aware of any login at all. Does any one know why this changed and how I can restore the old behavior? Thanks, Michael

I have two Databases and I would like to make them one but retain all the layouts and scripts etc form both databases. Is there any way to do this easily. John

Hello, I have a MS server running FileMaker Server 8v4 with the clients using FM Pro 8. One of our db administrators wants FM Pro 9 on his PC. Will this cause any issues? I understand that if he modifies any existing FM8 db file with FileMaker 9 features there will be problems. What if he makes simple changes (i.e. add a new field to a table) will this create problems when the clients, using fm8, open the fm file? I think he should just use 8.5 until we migrate to v.9 What is the general consensus? Thank you in advance.

Hello everyone, I still have some fm6 databases around and I want to convert some to version 9. I was told that I need to have fm7 to translate them to version 8.5 or 9. Is that true? I haven't tried it yet. I wanted to ask here first before I do anything.

I have a file that was developed in 5.0 and only had a password. When converting to 8.0 the file asks for a User Name and Password. How do you find out the User Name. I can access it in the old 5.0 but can't find the user name.

I have recently upgraded from FM5.5 to FM9, so the multiple tables concept is new to me. I have several small databases that are used on our website. Is there a benefit to putting all of the databases into one file as separate, non-related tables? Thanks, Nick

Where I work, a particular person has had FMP thrown at them without any training and expected to make a working database that deals with patient care info. This person is a *nurse,* completely untrained in computers. As a result of certain parties believing that she must have a telepathic link to FMP instructors because hey she's a nurse, the entire database is flat. Instead of having separate tables for patient info and records, everything is just heaped together as a listing of patient care incidents. This has been going on for about 5 years. Now, I'm supposed to jump in and separate patient info from patient records. We have 9500+ records. As it stands, I get t…

Is there any real performance benefits in upgrading from filemaker 7.0 & 7.0 server to 9.0? In looking at most of the spec sheets the products look very similar. I currently run xp pro. Working with stored .jpg container fields is slow through the network. I was told there are better ways in 8.0 to view .jpgs? Is an upgrade worth it or am I just looking for a headache? Any imput would be appreciated. By the way I am not opposed to jumping to 8.5 if there are known issues with 9.

Has anyone else had trouble or strange behavior after installing this recent update? I have a user who has performed the upgrade, and now has trouble with one of the report layouts. Conditional formatting doesn't seem to work properly, and it appears it may even be displaying different data? Was just wondering if anyone else has experienced any trouble with this upgrade... and is the only way to rollback an upgrade to uninstall FileMaker and reinstall? Thanks!

hello I am quite new to FMpro, but have been trying to update a database from version 6, to 8.5 on Mac OSX. I got the managed to get the information converted, but in the process it has lost all tables,formats and layouts, and now remains looking like a simple A4 document which is quite hard to read...Can someone please advise on what i am doing wrong? I have tried to recover the old file and then import it which didnt work, i have also tried savng the old v6 file as differnt types of file types like excel, but that failed also. Thanks for any and all help kel.

Wasn't sure where to put this, but thought OSX users might want to see this: Leopard Compatibility List http://www.macintouch.com/leopard/compat.html They seem to be up-to-date on FM issues too.

HI all, After converting my fm6 files, I experience crashes every time I enter a specific layout where there are Container fields. Those fields are used to play short tunes using QuickTime under Insert in the top menu. I thought the fields were corrupted in some way. So, I created a new Container field that is set up the same way with QuickTime. In Browse mode, I played the tune twice before crashing again. Am I missing something here? Thanks for your help!

I have been printing price tag labels using filemaker pro for a few years. Everything worked fine until I upgraded to filemaker pro version 8.5 from version 6. Now, when I print, sometimes it prints a blank one and sometimes it prints correctly. This doesn't seem to have any order to it, aside from the fact that the first label of the day always prints blank. After that it's hit or miss. I am using a dymo label writer printer. Has anyone else encountered any issues with printers after upgrading? And if so, any solutions or setting adjustments that I am unaware of in the database?

Hi. This is my first post, please bear with me. I am new to FMP and have a basic question regarding upgrading and, if possible, porting an old database on FMP4. Is it possible to access this database with FMP on a Windows OS? The old apple PC (OS8.5) is not running very well and I would like to be able to access the information more quickly and reliably. If this cannot be done, is it possible to open this database on a newer apple computer using any version of FMP. I have not purchased a new version of FMP, but will do so if this can be done. Help PLZ.. I hope I was clear enough with my explantion. Thank you for your time.

I am in the process of upgrading to FMPro 9. Many of my layouts make heavy use of Merge Fields. These used to work just fine but with FMPro 9 any merge field that is a calculation displays the field name and not the field contents. The content displays correctly if I don't display it as a merge fields. What's also weird is that so long as I don't touch an existing layout all is fine. But as soon as I do anything - change a font color, size, etc. - it changes to displaying the field name vs. the content. Any new layout is messed up no matter what I do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi There I have come across this solution for moving FH Pro 6.0 to 7 and above. Has any one used this product? http://www.dotcomsolutionsinc.net/products/fmpro_migrator/fmpro_migrator_features_benefits.html and what are the pit falls of shifting a large FH6.0 data base of multiple table to FM7 and above regards D

I have a file which has been coverted from 6 to 7. I have everything working OK except for two fields on 2 different layouts which contain dates. These two fields display and print as a question mark ("?"). This is only happening with imported records, new records display and print fine. I have tried changing the font and font size but to no avail. If I select the field the data is all there and visible. Hope someone can help as I want to go live with this update shortly.

hello, does anyone know how many records filemaker 8 can store? how big of a text size can be stored in one field etc. i have a hard time finding them on the user manual (didn't look carfully). does anyone know any good place i can look the info up? the data records might be exported to oracle database to use in the future. do anyone have any experiences or encounters of such a task? thanks

Hi Guys, I have around 100 related FMPro 6 files...which i need to migrate to FMPro 8 v2. Should i put these all under 1 hood in FMPro 8? Also, whats the best way to go about this? I was thinking simply open the 'mother' FMPro 6 db file in FMPro 8...thus giving me the db in FMPro 8. Then do the same with all other dbs and import the newly creatred FMPro 8 files in to the 'Mother' FMPro 8 file? Your thoughts? Thanks in advance

We are converting from FM4 to FM9 and are having trouble with the fonts. We used Charcoal (os 9) on many of our fields, but now when converted, there is no font family chosen (nothing is checked when you try to see which font it's using (os x). My question is, a good substitute is Lucida Grande, but is that available for OS 9 or is Charcoal available for OS x? We want to change to either one or the other. HELP!

Am i right in thinking that FM6 is the last backwards-compatible version of FileMaker that works for the early versions, and that my files - developed and expanded since the days of FM Pro 2, and now all converted to FM6 - cannot be converted to later versions? Forgive me if this question has been asked many times before, but my search (convert version 6 to version 7) brought up so many irrelevant posts that contained the number 6 or 7, that I stopped browsing through it.

We currently used FM Unlimited 6.0.2 running on an Intel Mac Mini with OS 10.4.10. We host 3 html questionnaires with FM Unlimited that when submitted are received into 3 FM databases, one for each different questionnaire. The fields are named the same in the html web interface of the questionnaire as the fields in the receiving databases. We have never been able to figure out with FM 8 Advanced (which we were told replaced FM Unlimited 6.0.2) how to convert our current setup, in fact, we asked, and were told FM 8 Advanced didn't do what we were doing with FM Unlimited 6.0.2. So we are still running our businesses with the 3 html online questionnaires in the old…

I am beginning a data migration into a system that I have converted. In performing the drop conversion prior to running the migration process, three files failed. Two of those files will not cooperate with me. I have tried to Save As a Compressed copy and export as FileMaker with no luck. I receive the following error message: "Sorry, FileMaker is unable to read the disk this file is on. Click Continue to try again, or click Quit and copy this file to another disk" FileMaker KB contains this error in reference to a FileMaker 3 file. This particular file is an .fp5, though it is very likely to have been upgraded from 3 at some point. I made sure to not only …

My first post (YAAAAY!) Please bear with me. I am a total newbie when dealing with File Maker, although I have been working in it for years. We use a program called Funeral Data Manager, developed by a funeral director in PA. It uses File Maker to run, although it can run by itself without using FM. If I open the program in FM, I can edit certain functions and layouts, but I cannot do this without opening it in FM. The problem is, we just got a new computer running Vista, and I installed FMP 8.5 Advanced. No problem. I then transferred over our old files and asked FM to open them. First, it told me that they would need to be converted to the new version and procee…

Hi. Purely theoretical at this stage, but I am looking to move down the path of selling an FmPro app that has been "sealed" in the Devlepoer Utilities - ossibly incorrect terminology sorry. I have a couple of questions - the first one is not clearly covered in the manual here, and the second one isn't mentioned. Firstly, if I need to recall the database from a client to make changes how do I make such changes? Is the USR file simply a renamed FP7 file? How do I make changes to the database and then return it to them per se? Secondly, this is pushing it a bit, but is it possible to send a patch out to the client that replaces the current database? Eg. I…

Hi there, I am new to FM 8.5. After converting my FM6 databases, I tried to access scripts with no success. When I press the Option key (Mac), the Account Name dialog box opens up. I typed my password and access was denied. I tried several times with no success. Any help on how to access the programing would be great!

We're getting ready to migrate to FMP 9, FMPA 9 and FMSA 9. I want to test the new eAuthorize 4.0 plug-in with our solution, but I wanted to verify that I'm not going to screw anything up. If I open our database-- hosted on FMSA 8-- with FMP 9, it won't screw up the database for existing FMP 8 clients, right?

I have a shared solution made in FMP4 that consists of 7 related files. I am upgrading to FMP9. I am only using the FMP "client", not any web. I have converted the files fine and the solution seems OK up to a point. I have done some simple tests and the relations seem to be working on the local system. When I share the file, the extension (.FM) is missing and although I can open all 7 files remotely and see their data, the relations don't work. I get pop-ups that say, for example... "xyz.FM could not be opened. Either the host is not available, or the file is not available on that host." The file is available, I have already opened it and see the data. T…

Does anyone know of a way to save a FMP 7 file to something that FMP 5 would be able to read? I apologize for the idiocy of this question, but I hav e to try.

I'm migrating from ver 5.0 into 8.5 and have what probably is a basic question. What is the advantage [after conversion of the 5.0 tables] of combining all the separate tables into a single table? I can appreciate that I now have fewer tables to manage, but don't seem to grasp any significant processing advantages. Some explanation would be appreciated. Thnx

Hello What is the best approach to getting an entire filemaker database intact into another database. I have several single databases that I would like to put into one database. Is that possible and what is the best way ?

Hi, I am Graduate assistant working on the conversion of FM6 to FM7 invloving volumes of databases. In the process of conversion I found that there is no direct method available in FM for importing data involving containers fields. It would be great if someone could help me by advising any protocols or softwares available which could help in importing container fields data from FM6 to FM7.

Hi all, have you found or are using, any "must have" tools for converting/updating FileMaker 5.5/6 database solutions into FileMaker 8.x versions? Any suggestions for tools or techniques to do the best and fastest job of upgrading an older solution would be appreciated. - Thanks

Hello Can anyone tell me whether it is definetely possible to upgrade a UK purchased version of FM 7.0 or 8.0 with a US purchased version of FM 8.5 upgrade

I've converted some of my FMP6 applications to FMP7. Since there were multiple related files it still remains the same. Is there an easy technique to convert all the separate files into one database in 7, also getting all the fields and screens right? Mike

When I transfer a FMP v 6 file to FMP Advanced the password used in v 6 is not applicable in Advanced--unable to access full file. Why is this and what do I do? Second question: text colors in FMP 6 are not the same in Advanced. For example RED in FMP 6 come out as light blue in Advanced. What would cause this?

Hi there I am extremely new to file maker. I recently bought 3 programs for my company. All three were created in file maker 4 and only work on win 95/98/2000 After seeing file maker 8 and working with the trial i have decided to buy this beast of a program. Id there anyway to convert/ import /export the program i bought into file maker 8 and make it work on the newer version so i can tweak it to do what i want? Or will i need to rebuild it from the ground up. I apologize if i posted in the wrong place...i am new i could not find a south African group.. Thanks

FMP8 Adv, WinXP I read this in Bob Bowers’ Best Practices article: “During the conversion process, a table occurrence that’s named the same as the source table for that file will be created, and every relationship in the old file will turn into a table occurrence linked to that occurrence.” My question/problem: After successfully coverting a small (6 file) solution from FMP5.5 to FMP8 and then consolidating the 6 files into one master file, I’m wondering if I need to keep the several “relationship TOs” that were generated during the conversion process or do I delete them and “reconnect” the TOs somehow. I’m having trouble understanding this. Resources see…

Hallow, Am sourcing around for a good filemaker consultant who can help us migrate from filemaker v5.5 to filemaker v8.5. Does anyone have any contacts? Thanks, Carol

I have converted a text file to a FileMaker Pro 8.5 file. The file has over 3000 variables (columns) however I am only able to see the first 100 variables when in table layout. I've checked other layout forms and all of the data appears to be there, I just can't view it as a table. Boss on my case.. help anyone??

Was wondering if anyone else was having slow screen redraws in 8.5?

Can anyone help Im trying to convert the attached fmp5 file to fmp7. If you just open it with fmp7 it does not work. Im not filemaker advanced enough to figure it out. Any help would be great! 1177724238-serial_reset.zip

I am looking for a table that lists every function and script step for the various compatible Filemaker versions. So, one such table would be for FM 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0, another would be for 7.0, 8.0 and 8.5. The tables would list the functions/script steps on the left as rows and the versions as columns. The purpose of this would be to avioid using functions or script steps that the client's version does not support. For example, I have several clients that use FM 5.0 and 5.5. I don't remember which functions and script steps that were introduced in 6.0, and so I may inadvertantly use them. The same goes for the newer versions. I have looked for som…

Hope someone can help , I am upgrading from filemaker pro and server from 4.1 all the way to 8.5 .I am running mac OS 9 and I am upgrading the computers to the new IMACS (OS 10) , so I was just wondering how hard this will be or if it's even possible. I would like to copy all the files into the file maker 8.5, or has any tried something like this.

I recently converted from FileMaker Pro 6 (FMP6) to FMP8 and find that the rearrangement of fields in layout is incredibly slow when using click and drag. It's almost as if it's delayed somehow. Is this a known problem? I realize that there are all kinds of ways to align easily with a click of a button (new functions), and I'm using them, but I just don't understand why the click and drag method seems to have gone whacky in the new version. Any thoughts out there about this?? :qwery: Thanks!

Hi- I'm developing an app that would be distributed as a run time. The data is not part of what's distributed - user would enter their own data. I'm trying to think ahead to when I want to distribute an improved version of the runtime in the future. How do you get data out of one version and into a modified one? Some kind of export then re-import? Right now (early in design) I am not using any external files. Should I be? Thanks for your help. Michael

There's a lot of papers on migrating from pre-7 FM, but I haven't found anything on going from 7 to 8.5. I'm wondering if there are any variations in scripts, calcs, commits, error trapping, etc. that need to be considered? I have a small workgroup solution that's very complex. I've tested it as much as I can in 8.5 and haven't encountered any surprises, but I'd appreciate anyone's experience in this. It's a small company and the application is mission-critical. So we have a large risk with a small amount of resources available to allocate for the upgrade. I'd like to just upgrade the five Macs (OS 10.3-4) to FM 8.5 and run the files, but if anyone knows…

Forgive me for I am about to sin. I am about to mention MS Access on a FMPro forum!! I just wondered if anyone has experience of MS Access compared to FMPro and whether they would like to comment to help me decide what to do? I am not a computer whizz but about 8 years ago created a database in FMPro4 for my business. Over the years it has grown to 20 odd related files and includes a diary and everything that my business needs with the exception of accounts. I converted to FMPro7 some while back but have not done it properly with the result that it doesn't function quite as well/look quite as good as it did with FMPro4. So I am now ready to take the plun…

Hiya. I'm moving from an old 4D environment, and C++, to FM, and having some problems finding equivalent solutions to common problems. In fact, i'm sure that some of the solutions in FM will be totally different. I'm a little overwhelmend, even with the big fat Que book. Lots of little options dialogs and not a lot of overall sense of what's the right thing to do... For example, let's say I've got a comic-book database. The comics records each have a foreign key which is the title of the comic. The title record data isn't stored in the comic record; just the foreign key is kept. There are many titles which have the same (or similar) names. When the user wants to…

hi i started working in filemaker in version 3 (i think) and developed a management system for my business that consisted of all of 50 related files. when i migrated to version 7, i was obviously able to to rewrite the system into a single file. at the time, however, i thought it would help me to use 2 related files instead of one (one is primarily contact management and the other job tracking). now, i feel there may be advantages in merging these to files into a single file. is there an easy way to do this, or am i in for a major operation? i should add i am now on 8.5 advanced

We have a 5.5 database that we loaded in FM 8.5 and saved as a fp7 database. When we load this database in FM8.5, it takes forever to load before we get to the first window, approx 1 minute. The file is 5 Mb. Is there a way to find out what is slowing the loading (step, log, debug, etc ?). When we load the original 5.5 database in FM 5, it loads normaly. Thanks.

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of why I should or shouldn't migrate our Filemaker Pro 5.5 server & database to our new Xserve running 10.4.8? Any help would be most appreciated. ;)

I am in the process of deploying a converted solution. Users are logging in from Citrix MetaFrame connection. In v6, the display looked fine. In v8, it is grainy and ugly... Any ideas?

hello..have an fm4 and want to upgrade to 6.0 unlimited on a diffrent machine..I have installed 6.0 on the new server but I don't know how to move all those files from the 4.0 fmserver.. I haven't had any contact with the database before so have little controll over what to do with which files anyone??

I finally want to upgrade from Filemaker 4 and say goodbye to OS 9; I'm using it for simple invoicing. I was told that the existing data and templates would migrate to Filemaker 6 easily but not beyond, as a result I tracked down a brand new Filemaker 6 on eBay. Before I break open the software, can somebody else confirm I'm doing the right thing? Thanks for any help.

We have a fairly complex system. Screen redraw on a mac osx 10.4.7 works fine, but when using it on a windows xp home machine, it takes forever the screen to redraw. If you are clicked in a field on one record and try to go to another record while still clicked into that field, the screen takes forever to redraw in windows. We just upgraded from v6 to v8.5. never had any problems in v6. Have been using the system for about 10yrs now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Hi, I have seen at least one post in this forum that suggests that the behaviour of relationships in FM 8 differs from FM 6. If there are no target records in another table then with FM 8 the target table would not display a found set of 0 records but rather all records. I am almost certain that I have experienced exactly the same when I was briefly reviewing a huge FM 6 solution that I had converted to FM 8 just for testing. But when I tried to reproduce that behaviour with a simple FM 8 database it turned out to be the same as it was with FM 6 - a source record that has no associated target record shows 0 records when GTRRing to them. Since we are just se…

So a coworker wanted to work on a fp5 database using fp7, and started the conversion process, but aborted (cleanly) because she was unsure what it would do. Now the fp5 databse has dissappeared, and no fp7 has appeared The conversion log looks like this: 10/19/2006 10:50:10 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, Conversion started. 10/19/2006 10:50:11 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, Version: Pro 5.0 - 6.0. 10/19/2006 10:50:14 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, 6 file references were converted. 10/19/2006 10:50:19 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, 5 relationships were converted. 10/19/2006 10:50:23 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, 9 calculations were converted. 10/19/2006 10:50:48 AM, MAVU.fp7, 0, Conversion aborted. no error messag…

We have recently purchased a site license for FileMaker Pro 8 for our users. We have users in Mac and Windows environments and I want to push the msi file through Group Policy to those Windows users. The installation went fine but when I try and run FM, I get the following message:

I hope this is the correct area to post this question. I have looked around and cannot find anyone else with this question. I recently purchased Filemaker Pro 8.5 for the Mac. In transferring my database from my old FilemakerPro 3...to 8.5, in certain fields a zero is added to the calculated number (ie: 14 becomes 140). It does not do this in all calculations. Any suggestions?

Is there any written or real world guidelines regarding performance. We have a database that has been converted from v3 to v8.5. It could use a complete redesign for performance reasons and will eventually happen, but looking for quick win performance boosts. I can use Advanced and create a single file version of it (instead of 5 related files) by importing the tables and fixing relations, etc., Question: Is there a noticeable difference in performance with a single file solution compared to a multiple file (same files, same calcs, etc., etc.) ? Just wondering if it's worth the effort or if I should just start rewriting.... Any insight would be…

I've test converted some solutions from v6.4 to 8.5. Once in v8.5 the screens look horrendous because of what the conversion did to the fonts. Is this problem likely to be fixed in a version update or do I have to manually fix all 60 screens in my solution to make them look nice again?

Ok folks, here a tricky problem: I have a customer database in FM 6 and one in FM 8.5. Every time that a new customer is created he gets a serialnumber. Example: If I create a customer in FM8 he gets nr 100 then I crate a customer in FM6 and he should get nr 101. Is it possible to let both FM get the numbers from a unique source and upgrade the source every time a customer is created in one DB or the other? Ops, almost forgot, both databases are running on different machines with the proper server installed. Who is the genius that can help with this?

I am work ing crossplatform and have 6 database that i would like to "merge" into one. I have figured out how to import fields, scripts but am having trouble moving all the layouts and relationships. Is there a way to do this either withing filemaker or with a third party solution. M

Hi: To start, I'm a newbie to Filemaker, so thanks for bearing with me: My department has a little server holding several one-file 5.5 databases which we have to 1) convert to FM 8 and 2) move to a server controlled by IT. IT charges for hosting by the file, and allows us a limited number of FM files in any case. The question: Can these separate databases be converted to 8 and all be housed in _one file_ (with a front end of some sort slapped on it)? Could this be done as a more or less straight conversion, or would we have to create a new file in 8, set up the tables and layouts from scratch, and then import the data? Or something in between? …

Basically, I am looking for tips, and references on how to use a filemaker file as a scripted "import engine" to handle the moving of data from .mer files to a new set of files without creating a large mess... basically using the engine file itself to handle all of the functionality. I understand scripting and relationships fairly well, my main trouble is updating the new files, currently held as tables in the engine only by file references. I think I just need a push in the right direction, but will take all the help I can get. :-) John

Good evening, I have a quote layout similar to an average invoice document with repeating fields ...it is in filemaker pro version 6 ...all layouts print well ...however when I convert it with fm7 the repeating fields do not print properly ...these fields are vertical fields and only about 1/3 of them print the lines across the page ...however in fm8 the conversion works well ...my prob is the machines at work cannot run fm8 as they are not winxp sp2 .....is there a prob with fm7...I have updated the FM7 installation to v3 .. any assistance would be appreciated ......even if I delete the layout parts in fm7 ..and recreate them in fm7 format they …

Hello all, I am on Panther upgrading to Tiger. I have FM 7 and would rather not have to as long as 7 works well with Tiger. Any feedback on this issue is appreciated. Thanks!

I have read a recent post regarding access passwords after converting from 6 to 8, but I still can't access the new files after converting; it is asking for a username and password. Any combination I have tried from the previous advice does not work. I am working from another location using FM8 and I have the FM6 data files. I don't have access to the original install cds for FM6 so that I can open the files and remove protection, although I don't think they are password protected at present. Can anyone help with this please? Alternatively I can make the files available for someone to look at if required. Thanks very much Lyndon

Hello I was quite dismayed when opening my Filemaker 7 database in Filemaker 8 Advanced to find that my navigation tabs created in 7 no longer show up as tabs but buttons. I know there is a lot of talk about the new tabbed feature in v.8 but as I understand it, you cannot use them to navigate to different layouts. Is there a way to import the old tab feature in 8? or make the the new tab feature work as it did in the old v.7 way? I can't believe Filemaker would disable something like this but did they? I have some screenshots if nyone needs to see what I'm talking about... Thanks for the help

I have a runtime solution bound and released in fmpadv8. The files are based on a seperated model. If i were to upgrade to fmpadv 8.5 and issued a rebound version(using the original bind key) of the user interface file would this work with the other files or would all files in the new bound version need to be distributed? Please bear in mind all other files are just data and calcs only no layouts.

I was having a hard time finding any comprehensive step by step instructions to convert a multi-file FMP 6 system to a single-file FMP 8 system. One of the systems I wanted to convert is very complex (60 tables, hundreds of scripts, hundreds of layouts). Anyhow, I ended up writing my own step by step instructions while upgrading some of my smaller systems, so that when it came to upgrading the larger system, it would work much better. I thought I'd share the instructions here, in case anyone else was interested: FMP 6 multi-file to FMP 8 single-file Theye've worked well for me, and I'm now on to the bug-fixing stage of this very complex system. …

I'm getting ready to update from 7 to 8.5, and I'm wondering if the printer issues have been resolved. The main issue I had was bieng able to print to two differnt printers in the same script, retaining the settings for each printer. And did I read correctly that in 8.5 advanced you can import former 5.5 files into a multi table solution? Keeping the field names, types, etc??

For the record, I started with FM7, and now doing conversions and therefore now learning how the older version worked, or should I say didn't work . . . From what I have found, the behaviour in FM 6 is that field validation is ignored by scripts. After converting files to FM7+, script now adhere to the field validation, and scripts will error mid-script due to the set validation. Is there a way to allow validation for data entry by the user, but ignore validation in scripts in FM 8.5 ? I understand why validation 'should' be done in scripts, but I'm trying to minimise the change in user experience when upgrading . . . Thanks in advance, Mav.

hi i've just bought fp 8.5 and 5 licences so we can share stuff around our new office. we have 20 or so small database files (fp5) and two larger ones (around 1.2 mb each). the small files have all converted without a hitch but the two larger ones open up after conversion with a dialog box asking for account and password details. i've tried entering my mac account login and password (didn't work obviously) and using Admin and no password didn't work either. the files open in fp6 with no password so why would fp8.5 want one? and how do i go about removing this restriction? many thanks in advance. max

Hi everybody, It's been a while since I had to deal with FM. Last big thing was upgrading from 5.5 to 7 more than a year ago which was a lot of work! Now the office I'm in thinks about upgrading to 8 or 8.5 So basically - is it more like purchasing, installing, converting files and ready to go...or what drawbacks come with it?? Is there a documentation available how to upgrade? Is it worth going with 8? Some say 8 is less stable, go with 8.5? And I assume upgrading to FM Server 8 (8.5) is unavoidable too... I'm sitting here and try to get back into my own FM developement-work...so any experience is highly appreciated ;-) Cheers, Stefan

can I have FM 6 and 8 installed on the same machine at the same time ? how about running at the same time ? Thank you !

I recently installed 8.5 and found that a font (ENGRAVERS GOTHIC BT) was no longer aligned properly on the layout or fit in the fields it had fit in before. I then opend the same file in 8.0 and all was well. So Filemaker has changed something with 8.5, I'm assuming. Does anyone know what it is, and has there been any notice of it? Am concerned. Thanks in advance

Like many others I am moving from 5.5 to 8.5. We did make use of relationships in FM5.5 and now I need to take those related databases and combine them into a single database with multiple tables. Now I know FM Robot will move the field defs, data, scripts, and all that. What does it do with the layouts, relationships, and file references?? For example let's say I had a simple invoice solution. In FM5.5 you had an Invoice dataabse which had a portal showing records from the Line_Items database. I have 8.5 Advanced so I can easily import the field defs and all that. However, the relationships need to be rebuilt along with all my portals and anywhere I displa…

Hello, I have a problem with some of my scripts that were created in Filemaker 6. The problem occurs when one file opens another file and attempts to enter a value for a field. The field from the second file also has relationships with a field from the first file. The error I get when this script is executed in Filemaker 7 or 8 is "This record cannot be modified because it is already being modified in a different window." I did not recieve this error with the filemaker 5. Is this a priveledges issue? Or is there some field preference that needs to be able to modify the same field in multiple windows? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello, I want to open an fm datase on an pc with filemaker version 5.0 this message appears... "this is filemaker pro release 5.0 this database was created by version 4.01 and cannot be opened" The fm file from 4.01 was created on an mac. What can I do to open the 4.01 file on my pc with fm 5.0? Please advice.. Nico

We have been using FileMaker Server 7 for a while in-house on a Windows 2000 Server box. New box runs a fresh install of Windows 2003 Server but FileMaker Server 8 will not run. Installation gives no errors, says it is starting, then looking in the Service list, it shows as stopped. Trying to restart the service says ok, then it stops again. Re-installed W2k3 Server, patched, Re-installed FMS8, patched.. No change. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. - Stacey

i have two databases that i want to merge into one file. there are no duplicate / conflicting names of tables, fields, scripts, etc. can this be done easily?

I have a need to take three database files that I had created earlier under FMP 5.5 and combine them into one database, as three tables within that database. The three databases are now relational to one another, and for the most part things are working smoothly -- it would allow for more efficiency, though, if they were all part of the same file. It's my understanding that the more advanced Filemaker Pro can do this, but I have the standard FMP Version 8. Is this possible in my version, and if so can you point the way to how to do it? Many thanks. Incidentally, I have the wonderful book, Filemaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual, by Coffey and Prosser -- if the …

I am experienced with writing FM databases in the pre-FP7 world. I have a client that is upgrading their current database set (made up of 9 related dbs) from 5.5 to 8.0. I have assisted them with a conversion and the solution appears to be functional in 8.0. However, they are interested in doing a complete rewrite, as many of the old database features are non-functional and obsolete. I have never helped someone plan a "from-scratch" solution before. Are there any good roadmaps or plans for how to get from concept to final product? I don't even know where to start with this client, outside of asking him exactly what functionality he wants the database to provide.…

We recently upgraded to FMP 8, from FMP 6. I decided to just try the conversion and see what problems - if any - would pop-up. I'm not an expert at this program, but I'm fairly good, understand database architecture, and usually can solve every problem that comes my way. This time it's different. The conversion went seemingly well. The only change that needed to be made after a few days was a minor font change to make something more readable. Then, I went to add a new field in and I can't. I went to check the options and I am repeatedly told that I don't have the privelages to change anything but the spelling ones. With FMP 6 the database was protected with…

Right now I'm running a FM8 server advanced v3 and use FM8 Pro advanced to create apps. My users have FM8 Pro. 1. If I upgrade to 8.5 Pro Advanced and use the new features will my users be able to use those features without upgrading their indivudual copies of FM 8 Pro? The databases are running on the server. 2. If I upgrade the server to 8 Advanced v 4, will the users have to upgrade their individual copies to 8.5 or can they continue to use 8.0? Thanks.

I am about to do some work on a database for someone which was created and is used in Filemaker Pro 6. I will be completing the work in Filemaker Pro 8. Will I be able to reload this database once the changes are made back into Filemaker Pro 6?

I am reposting this problem. I had no replies in the previous posting. Maybe now? FMA8 updater v2 tells me that it cannot find a file called "Filemaker pro 8 advanced.msi". I checked, it is in the same folder as the other updater stuff. I have no way of browsing and indicating it manually. What am i doing wrong? Anybody?

Apologies if this has already been discussed, I have been unable to find an answer for this in my search. I am in the process of moving our current system from FileMaker 5 to 8 and because of the amount of data in some files, 50+ files with as much as 300,000 records in some files, I will be converting the files with no data. However my concern now is getting the data from the v5 files into the new v8 files in the correct fields and in the quickest way possible, as I will only have a weekend to changeover the system. What is the best way to go about this? Thanks for your help. Orlando

I'm having an odd problem. Probably something stupid and small. I had a list in FM6 that will not work in FM7 or FM8. Explanation: Address Book.fp7 has a field called "calcName" which is concatenation of "Name_Surname & Name_First & Name_Last" Then, in my main Data.fp7 database, there was a contact field with a dropdown menu using a list derived from "Address Book.fp7::calcName" --- the problem is I am not getting the list to work in FP7 or FP8. It worked fine creating a list from the calcName before in FM6... Is this some small checkbox new to FM7/8 or does FM7/8 treat lists different so that a list from a calc field is not possible? Hope this…

I'm curious as to how many of you have chosen to upgrade existing databases, and how many chose to re-write them in FM 7/8? Any advice on deciding which direction to go? (I'm looking at an FM 4 database going to 8, multi-platform). Thanks to all

Please help. I have recently upgraded to Filemaker 8 from Filemaker 7 and have several scripts no longer functioning. This is the second time I have posted this question and am really hoping someone can point me in the right direction. It appears that using the setField[x] on a repeating field with global storage is not functioning as it did in 7. I have searched this forum and several others as well as the Filemaker knowledge base and have found nothing that describes this issue. The scripts simply place values into the repetitions of a globally stored repeating field and attempt to access the values later in the script using getRepetition. During testing I ha…

I am trying to install the Filemaker Advanced 8 updaters to get to version 3. On my laptop it worked fine, so the files are okay, I guess. But on my desktop I get an error message about a missing .msi file. Is there something I am doing wrong? Where can I check for errors? Both machines have the exact same configuration, by the way. I am working on Windows XP, SP2.

Hello All! I work for a school district that is happily running on FileMaker 6 Server. This summer we’ve decided that it’s time to convert to 8, we don’t want to get too behind and there NEVER seems to be a “good” time to make the jump. I’m not nervous about the conversion part, even though we haven’t been running 8, I have been working in it and already have FM8 Server running. My issue is that I’m so unsure of the best way to roll it out. See I’m not just converting the existing databases, I’m merging a lot of it together once it’s converted. For example, there is a staff roster database that I now want to make the core of it all. Then there are confere…

Hiya, I'm looking to move from version 5 to 7 and I'm wondering how much trouble I'm likely to run into. I've read a bit through the forum and other websites but it's tough to dig through all the version 8 transitions, which I hear can be a real pain. My database can be described as extremely complicated and it uses right around 12 separate databases in different relationships. I've read several times that going to version 8 is probably going to be tough for me, but how about version 7? Is it going to be a simple automatic filemaker conversion and all is well, or is there going to be some heavy work involved? That's my main question, but I'm also curious ab…

I am converting a Filemaker 6 Pro database over to Filemaker 8. I initially dragged and dropped my FM6 files into FM8. All converted fine, but I noticed that I still had separate files. So that means that I have to setup Accounts and Privileges for every file/table. So, is it possible for me to combine all FM6 tables/files into one nice FM8 database/file. Thanks!!