I am creating a database that uses as roster not in File maker format. This file contains a great deal of information. Is there anyway that I can make filemaker go to this file and copy only the names out of it and place these names in a data base?

You have not provided us nearly enough information venture an opinion.. "A file" is just a little vague.

What Platform are you on?

What is the File type?

How is data formatted in the file?

In general, unless the file is ODBC compatible, there is no way for FM to "go to the file" and pull out information. You will need to convert the file to text or one of the formats that FM can import. The conversion often involves a lot of text editing (find and replace) and an intermediate FM file to pick out the important items (names). If this is just a word processor list, FM has no method of recognizing a name, a priori.

-bd