Can't change theme

[john9210]

My layout has the classic theme. When I modify the Edit Box style and save it to the current style, I cannot change the theme. The options "save change to theme"," save as a new theme" and "rename theme" are all grayed out. Only the Revert changes to theme is available. Why is this happening?

[bcooney]

Starting with FM15, the classic theme is no longer supported. 

[LaRetta]

Hi John,

One thing you can do is go to Manage > Themes and duplicate the Classic theme.  YOu'll need to also then change all layouts to point to this new theme.  You can then modify the new custom theme all you wish.

Keep in mind that you may lose some of your fields' formats if you've set them 'outside' of the defined style and have probably even used 'format painter' on many fields (which can greatly impact your layout loads).

You will find that a newer theme will lighten your solution's footprint but there might be some cleanup to do.  Once done, you should be good to go.

Hi Barbara!!  

[john9210]

Thanks LaRetta. This may save me a lot of work since I have a about 2 dozen FileMaker files that I would need to update to a new theme.

[LaRetta]

 

9 hours ago, john9210 said:

... I have a about 2 dozen FileMaker files that I would need to update...

I am curious why you have so many files, John?  Was this an older solution that was brought forward through versions and never transitioned from multiple files into one ( or a few )?  You do indicate your self-rating at Intermediate so I suspect you have a good reason.  

Working in an older solution is similar to owning an older car ... where is that tipping point where more time/effort/money is going in rather than coming out.  Of course there are reasons to have that many files but it isn't normal so I thought I should ask.  

Added ... sometimes folks simply aren't aware of the flexibility and simplicity of using multiple tables.  And sometimes businesses can't afford to take the time necessary to upgrade their solutions.  I have a few clients still in the latter situation!

[john9210]

I have been a FMP user for many, many years, beginning with version 1. All (at least most) of my solutions are for my own personal use. These include for example, address book, sales data, inventories, medical records, password management, just to name a few. I have updated my solutions each new version of FMP. Because of FMP's great report capability, I would rather use it over spreadsheets.

My solutions are relatively small (a few hundred records or so) so when FileMaker introduced Themes, I didn’t believe it was worth the effort to learn to use them. I thought the performance gain on my solutions would be negligible. However, I recently decided to explore their use, especially after reading the excellent article "Converting from the Classic theme" by Alexis Allen.

I don't know how to really define my forum self-rating. It seems “intermediate” is appropriate. I would think that an expert is someone specifically trained in the use of FileMaker and in database theory. Although I have a gained lot of knowledge over the years, I'm far from knowing all the intricacies of FileMaker and database theory.

That's why this forum is so useful. It has the experts who are willing to take their time and energies to help me when I need it.

[Lee Smith]

Hi John,

5 hours ago, john9210 said:

I don't know how to really define my forum self-rating. It seems “intermediate” is appropriate

Spot on. 

There are a lot of different blogs, videos, white papers, demos and training classes that are available on converting classic themes, including this one.

My favorite is (Re)Theming Solutions by Matt Petrowsky. If you are not a member of, you can still watch the video. I do this and create my copy of the file and then compare it to his example.