It is necessary for me to take a perfectly lovely database from a FM 5 file down to a FM 3 file. The file contains a large number of records. Not all fields are filled in each record.

This is what I have managed thus far, in a nutshell:

Sorted the fields by name

Sorted the "move all" fields same

exported to text with tabs

attempted to import the fields into FM 3

When I open in FM 3, the fields and the imported information don't match, seems to be no obvious pattern to the mismatching. I have spent several hours already rebuilding the new database, making sure the fields and values and indexing are identical.

I am not a complete novice, but I am pretty new to the FileMaker scene. None of my co-workers, who have much more experience with this than I, have offered an easier solution.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Export as a "DIF" file, then open it from within FMP3. That should create a file with all the fieldnames.

P.S. You can drag the icon for the exported file over the icon for FMP3 and it will open automatically.

Success! Dan, your solution worked!

Only one glitch and you may know how to solve it, as well.

All of the fields converted to text fields. Previously, a number of the fields were value lists and numbers, with a few calculations and summaries thrown in. This a glitch I can live with.......and fix.

Thanks, Dan! You have saved me a multitude of time and effort.

Jean Kirk

That's why I get the big bucks.

Yeah, right.