How to merge databases / add new records with some different fields

[Krisola]

Dear Community,

 

I am working with FileMaker Pro 16 and I’m searching for advice on how to merge two databases. I have found some similar posts but which did not describe the same situation.

 

I have database A in which the first 100 cases=records have been documented. Some time ago, two different teams have started to work on that database simultaneously: 

One team did not add new records but added new fields to each record.

The second team did not change the records of the first 100 patients but added new cases=records -> database B.

Database A has 100 records and 1599 fields, database B has 200 records and 1265 fields.  

There is only one table in the two databases (but it has different names).

 

I have tried the following: I have exported the database B in excel, have deleted the first 100 records (which are more complete in database A) and have then tried to import the new cases as an excel file into database A. However, when filemaker asks during the import which fields to keep and which field corresponded to which field, these fields are not in the same order (in the left and right column), even if I change the order to alphabetic or other, and it takes hours (or days) to drag and draw the fields to their right place.

 

Do you have advice on how to combine the two databases more efficiently?

Thank you very much in advance 

Sophie

[comment]

I don't think we have enough information here to offer practical advice. From the field counts, it seems like you have fields instead of records in both tables(?)/files(?). If these fields come in consistent sets, you can import each set in turn. But that's just a guess.

Edited January 20, 2021 by comment