FMP7 typing speed on Intel iMac

[Fred E]

Just migrated my FMP7 to an Intel iMac (OS 10.4.10). 'Find' speeds are OK, but merely typing text into a field has become quite sluggish through Rosetta. A friend with an Intel iMac does not have this problem. We both use simple (3-field) single-table (flat-file) databases of about 1500 records. Any fix for me?

Edited October 24, 2007 by Guest

[Fenton]

You really should upgrade FileMaker to at least 8.5 (I guess you'd get 9 now, which is OK, but watch out when printing; printing page ranges that do not start at page 1 will take it down). But the speed is remarkably better, almost twice as fast, because it is native to the Intel processor.

[Fred E]

FMP9 would be nice, but overkill for me. In fact, my favorite flat-file database is still AppleWorks 6. Basic scripting there is easier, as are some other operations. I am using FMP7 only because my language database table needs Unicode capability (for Chinese characters), which AW6 cannot handle. But am still curious to know why FMP7 should be sluggish for keyboard entry on my Intel iMac and not on a friend's Intel iMac. Am I missing some preference settings? The friend's DB does not appear to have unusual settings, and indexes on all fields.

[Fenton]

Well, I don't really know, because mine was never slow. First thing to check is that you have the latest version of 7, 7.0v4 (?). Then turn off Spelling, Check as you type (don't know, but worth a try). Then think about other "input" utilities that could be causing problems; such as the programs Spell Checker, or TextExpander (though I have SC and it has always played well; but must be kept up-to-date).

You could also create a "test" account for your computer, and startup in the that account, or start up in Safe Boot (hold Shift key down on startup), which disables various extensions.

If it is fast after starting up in either of the above modes, then it is some other program/extension/input manager/whatever messing with the input.

[Fred E]

Thanks - will give those a try. More later.

[Fred E]

Fenton,

I had FMP7v2, found the v3 update on the Filemaker site (no reference to anything later), installed it, and it works (meaning that text entry is at normal word processor speed). v3 had been billed on the Filemaker support site as, among other things, enhancing editing performance. So THANK YOU for the idea - it saves me from mild cursing and a bad attitude. I will indeed consider your other thought of upgrading to FMP9 after they get it to be happy with Leopard.

Fred