Question concerning Word format

[Damien Huang]

Hi,

I'm new to FileMaker Pro.

So I have a trial version of FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced.

I would like to know if it's possible to integrate word documents into FileMaker and modify them with FileMaker data?

I searched around but didn't find any solutions.

[Wim Decorte]

12!?   The current version is 18 so you'd be better off grabbing that trial.

There are many different ways to integrate with Word documents.  From simple to complex.    Some of options may depend on the operating system this needs to work on.  macOS or Windows or both?

Some quick options:

- export from FM and do a mail merge in Word

- construct the ful .docx file format yourself (it's XML)

- using the Office 365 APIs if the Word document is stored on OneDrive

 

[Damien Huang]

Thanks for your answer.

 

I work on Windows and I just download FIleMaker 18 trial version.

I need this functionnality to work in a script. 

For example it needs to retrieve a customer's data into a bill on word format.

Is exporting from FM and do a mail merge in Word the optimal solution?

And how does the xml soluition works?

 

 

[comment]

1 hour ago, Wim Decorte said:

- construct the ful .docx file format yourself (it's XML)

Actually, it's a ZIP archive containing a number of components - mostly XML documents, but also optional media files. Constructing such package is far from being trivial. And it would require a plugin or a call to third-party application in order to ZIP the final result.

However, it is possible to create a file in the Word 2003 XML format by exporting as XML and applying a custom XSLT stylesheet during the export. Such file can be opened by Word as a native document.

There are also plugins that enable writing (and reading?) .docx documents directly.

Another avenue worth exploring (esp. in view of the forthcoming v.19) is JavaScript in a web viewer. 

 

[Ocean West]

Is a Word document essential?  What is the end goal?  

You could just as well enough generate a 'document' such as a PDF from FileMaker and distribute that vs a Word document. 

 

 

[Damien Huang]

2 minutes ago, Ocean West said:

Is a Word document essential?  What is the end goal?  

Yes it needs to be changeable even after the generation of the document.

And I have already have my templates in Word format.

4 minutes ago, Ocean West said:

You could just as well enough generate a 'document' such as a PDF from FileMaker

I already tried exporting to PDF through FileMaker but it's not really working for A4 format.

 

22 minutes ago, comment said:

Actually, it's a ZIP archive containing a number of components - mostly XML documents, but also optional media files. Constructing such package is far from being trivial. And it would require a plugin or a call to third-party application in order to ZIP the final result.

I think this will be too complicated for me.

But thanks for your answer

[Wim Decorte]

1 hour ago, Damien Huang said:

Is exporting from FM and do a mail merge in Word the optimal solution?

There is no such thing as a general optimal solution.  There are many options an the optimal one will depend on a number of factors and I don't think we know enough to pick one for you.  

So ask away on what the options are and that will hopefully help you choose one.

54 minutes ago, Damien Huang said:

I already tried exporting to PDF through FileMaker but it's not really working for A4 format.

Can you expand a bit on that?  Paper size has very little to do with whether PDF output works or not.  So if that's the only thing holding you back, it may be easy to solve.

[Damien Huang]

16 hours ago, Wim Decorte said:

Can you expand a bit on that?  Paper size has very little to do with whether PDF output works or not.  So if that's the only thing holding you back, it may be easy to solve.

I really need it on Word format so I think PDF is out.

I think doing a mail merge in Word won't be a good solution afterall because I  need to do an export of the current record to a Word format through a script.

I've found that 360Works is a pretty good solution. Is it really ?

[bcooney]

You’re creating invoices in Word? Why?