Upgrading very old version

[sjs101]

Hi. This is my first post, please bear with me. I am new to FMP and have a basic question regarding upgrading and, if possible, porting an old database on FMP4. Is it possible to access this database with FMP on a Windows OS? The old apple PC (OS8.5) is not running very well and I would like to be able to access the information more quickly and reliably. If this cannot be done, is it possible to open this database on a newer apple computer using any version of FMP. I have not purchased a new version of FMP, but will do so if this can be done. Help PLZ..

I hope I was clear enough with my explantion. Thank you for your time.

[Fenton]

The FileMaker file itself is cross-platform, so Mac to PC will not be a big problem. It depends on which font you used however, as to what exactly it will look like. Also, later versions of FileMaker smoothed fonts and objects, so that can make a difference.

But the bigger question will be whether it works the same. There were a few changes in the way some things work, which would not matter a lot in very simple files, but would matter quite a bit in more complex files, with many scripts, etc..

FileMaker 9 does not really "open" FileMaker ".fp3" files, it "converts" them to its newer ".fp7" format, leaving the older version file as is. It also converts all the calculations to the newer functions.

If your file is complex you're going to have some work on your hands to track down all the things that are different. You will definitely want to take a look a the (now visible) File References (which are often a bit of a mess after converting; they were a mess before, you just couldn't see it :-).

How many files? Approx. how many scripts? How many relationships?

[gdurniak]

Up until a year ago, we ran FileMaker 4 on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and OS X (in "Classic" mode), so it is possible

Note that Apple just discontinued "Classic", so you won't be able to use the very latest macs

If you can find a copy of FileMaker 6, it will run on the new Mac OS X (even Leopard), and the upgrade will be almost seamless.

greg