Opening File with Option Key

[clz]

I have a user on an iBook G4 who needs to open the files with a password. Pressing the Option key when opening the files is not prompting her for a password. It just opens the files with the general user password and rights. It appears that the Option key works in other programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator but not FileMaker. Unfortunately, the keyboard on the iBook only has one Option key.

Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Cindy

P.S. I generally don't use a Mac so my knowledge with them is very limited!

[Reed]

I remember this happening to me from time to time with v6 on OS X. If you log out of your OS X user account (or just reboot the machine) Then it starts working again. I don't know if this is a problem with all versions of OS X and FMP, but I know it hasn't happened to me in a couple of years. (I use FMP 7v3 now on 10.4.2)

[clz]

We solved the problem. The Option Key wouldn't work on the Mac if we didn't have a connection to a folder on the server where the database files reside. If there is a connection, and it doesn't even have to be the folder with the database files, the Option Key will work. Very strange but I am thankful it is now working!

Cindy

[Steve T.]

Hi, C! Just FYI... It sounds like you're opening databases through the filesharing network. Although I had done so for years without incident, I stopped when I heard that others were not so fortunate. This kind of access can lead to db corruption. The best way to access databases through the network is to have the databases all open and shared on 1 computer (e.g. server) and then access them through FileMaker's OPEN/HOSTS or OPEN REMOTE menus. The Option key password things still applies, too.

--ST