Just wondered what the key differences are between auto entering a lookup or a calculation as they appear to do the same thing. I have got Filemaker the missing manual 10 which has an explanation but they both still seem to do the same thing to me. Any enlightenment on when to use one or the other would be greatly appreciated.

They are the same except in one situation ... calculations cannot be directly changed. So if you want to provide a calculated result, but still allow a User to manually change the result, use Auto-Enter (do not replace).

Auto-enter (do not replace) will not change the value again if fields it references are changed, unlike an unstored calculation or auto-enter (replace) calculation. And auto-enter (replace) will not change if the fields it references reside in another record or another table. :laugh2:

Edited March 7, 201213 yr by LaRetta

Also,Lookups do not allow you to make other modifications, such as adding text styles.

Thanks for adding that, Lee ... I had read "between auto entering a lookup or a calculation" as "between auto entering or a calculation". The term 'looking up' can mean so many things and my went a different direction on it without really reading it.