Overdue FMP13 Migration

[trentps]

I’m looking for information and some pointers that that will help me migrate my FMP13 setup to something current.

 My main system shares three FMP13 files using Peer to Peer sharing.    The system checks email regularly using a plugin, scrapes online order information, sends email using a SMTP plugin, updates web content via an FTP plugin, tracks inventory, customer and order information.   It’s also used to runs scripts for generating sales and inventory reports, sales projections, inventory estimates, purchase orders, etc.   Everything is accessible to other four workstations connected over the network and through VPN.

 After looking at what’s currently available for FMP I am little confused.   

 I’m guessing an ‘App’ is a marketing department name for a FMP file.    If so, where  is it created/edited?     What is used to access it?

 Do I need server AND 4-5 individual licenses?

 Can my existing FMP13 files be imported?  If so, I’m guessing I’ll need to make updates to scripts and plugins, but that’s better than starting from scratch.

 Any information or direction would be appreciated.    Requests to Claris for help resulted in form letters which were not helpful.

 Thank you.

[comment]

The current version 19 has many more features than your version 13. However, there have been no fundamental changes since version 12. The file format is the same, so there is no real "migration" to speak of. You should be able to open your existing files as they are in the current version. You may want to make some adjustments to take advantage of the new features (and possibly remove the Classic theme to improve performance), but in general they should function just as before.

19 hours ago, trentps said:

 Do I need server AND 4-5 individual licenses?

Peer-to-peer sharing is still available. However, you may consider moving to a server-hosted solution for other reasons - such as cost and performance. 

 

[trentps]

I received bad information from a Claris agent, quite possibly from me not using the correct terminology, that indicated that there was no way to share a file without using Server.   Because of that, I've been dreading and dragging my feet on an upgrade, and all the adjacent upgrades, for over year.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the information and that you took the time to share it.   My stress level has gone way down!

Thank you very much!

 

[bcooney]

Peer to peer is not suggested for production use. https://support.claris.com/s/article/Deprecated-and-removed-features-in-FileMaker-19?language=en_US