Is there anyway to open a database created in FM 5 in 4.1? I have a file that I need to open, but I only have access to 4.1. . .

You could try changing the extension to .fp3. But make sure you do it off a copy and not the original.

hi,

i don't think changing the extension will do it. you could get the person who supplied you with the .fp5 file to export the records to a tab delimited text file, and then import this into pro 4.1. if you can't get them to do that, you can download a trial version of pro 6 - from the filemaker website (which will open the .fp5 file) - and then export the records from there, to then import into pro 4.1.

i hope this helps.

jd.

Hi,

You could also download the demo of version 6 and do your own file manipulation. It will also give you an opportunity to see what you are missing.

Lee

I've been wrestling with this, cross-platform. At work (a non-profit on a lean budget), I use FMP 5.5 on Windows XP. At home, I have FMP 4.01 on Mac OS 9.1, on a G3. Both are registered, paid-for versions, but I can't take my work database home and work with it on my Mac, regardless of how I save it (.fp5, .fp3, or .fm).

The only option I haven't tried is a tst export, but since there are about 80 fields, that could be a lot of work, and I need to do it several times a week. (This isn't complex data -- just text and number fields. It's a data-base of donors and gift histories.)

One thought is to persuade my bosses to upgrade to FMP 6.0, but it's $150 and it will have to work . Will FMP 6.0 for the PC allow me to save a file in FMP 4.01 for the Mac? It seems so simple.

(I'm not going to be able to persuade them to upgrade my home Mac version.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi NPU,

FileMaker is not Backwards compatible. (i.e., you can open a file that is developed V4 in a later version (i.e. 5, 5.5, or 6. (the files are actually converted from version 4x format to the current version)).

However, it doesn't go the other way. You can *not* open a file developed in 5, 5.5, or 6, in any versions earlier than version 5.x). Also, you need to be aware that there are features the newer versions that are not backwards compatible (i.e. Get Field is in 5.5 and 6, but not in 5 or earlier)

The Demo of FileMaker 6 is a full working demo and you could use that at home for a while to work on the files.

HTH

Lee

Thank you for your answer, Lee. If we upgraded to FMP 6.0 for the PC at work, and I upgraded to FMP 6.0 for the Mac at home, could I then use the databases interchangeably? (Is 6.0 truly cross-platform?)

In a word. Yes.

FileMaker Pro 2.0

September 1, 1992

ScriptMaker, Windows version, AppleEvents

Just use fonts such as Verdena or Arial and allow for increase in size when using it on the Windows.

HTH

Lee