Hope someone can help , I am upgrading from filemaker pro and server from 4.1 all the way to 8.5

.I am running mac OS 9 and I am upgrading the computers to the new IMACS (OS 10) , so I was just wondering how hard this will be or if it's even possible. I would like to copy all the files into the file maker 8.5, or has any tried something like this.

It is very easy, IF you will keep the same structure. One of the big differences is that from version 7 on, you can store multiples tables in 1 file. What this means is that what used to be 4 or 5 or even more files all working together can now all be put in one file.

But if you are converting older files, you would have to rebuild the tables and relationships and import the data. It can be quite a task.

I transferred about 5 databases for a client recently from 5.5 to 8. It was not difficult. You just drag the folder with the database files to the filemaker icon and it will convert them for you.

Watch out for certain filemaker calculations though. See Filemaker.com for details.

Yes, migrating to FM8/8.5 can be as simple as opening the files with the new version, or it can be weeks or months of tedious rewriting and debugging. It depends very much on the complexity of the solution.

Read the Foundations and Migration Methodologies white paper here for a detailed list of migration issues and processes for handing the migration:

http://www.filemaker.com/support/whitepapers.html