We have used a Filemaker solution for our business for the past 5 years. Suddenly one of the 35 files acts as if it's set to "Single User" when accessing (needing info from a relationship)from a client on the network.

I've checked sharing settings and replaced files from back ups made before the problem cropped up. The problem persists with this single simple file.

(running Server 5.5 FM Pro 6 on clients)

The file can be seen and opened via "File/Open Remote" and the solution works fine on the client until one quits the app. On opening again, the file is "invisible" again until opened manually via "File/Open Remote" from the menu. It behaves just like a file set to "Single User" running on a server.

Any idea's? I'll pay for help since if this was happening on a critical file dependent on a critical relationship our business would have a serious problem.

Hi Frederickj:

Welcome to the Forums.

One possibility for your situation is that there is a rogue copy of that file on your network somewhere. FileMaker 5/6 has the nasty habit of connecting to almost any file of a given name, so that if someone has the file in question open on their computer, and you also have it running on the server, you could end up connecting to either one. That's one possibility.

Another is file corruption in the given file. One way to test that is to create, from scratch, a new file. Give it whatever fields it needs for relationships, give it the same name as the file in question, make sure all of its sharing settings are right, and replace the problem file with the new one. Run the system and see if the same issue comes up. If you have the same issue, then I would go back to my first possibility. If not, you are looking at a problem with the file itself. Solutions are to recreate the file from scratch and import the data from the extant (bad) file, or to find a truly clean backup copy.

Hope that helps.

-Stanley