just curious...is there a way to copy an old table (i.e. the fields, or even a layout of those fields) into a new database/fm file?

otherwise, it looks like I will have to recreate fields over again, which is fine. just curious if anyone new if this is possible?

To copy a clone (no records) of a table, go to File-->Manage-->Database..., click the Tables button, highlight the desired table, and click the Copy button. Open the new database, go to Tables in the Database Manager, and click Paste. You can then import the records, if desired.

There is no direct way to copy a layout, but you can copy all the fields in layout mode, and then paste them into a blank layout in the new database.

You can then import the records, if desired.

You can also import the table into a new table, which will duplicate the structure AND bring in the data all at once.

ok thank you! i tried to do that, but for some reason, i am not allowed to "copy" the table after going to manage database and clicking on the table i want to use. i will keep playing with it.

If you want to import the fields and data all at once (the easiest way to handle it), as Comment suggests, here is details of how:

Switch to ANY layout and begin a manual import. When the dialog opens, select your source on the left but on the right for the target, scroll clear to the bottom and it will say 'new table' and it will attempt to name the new table like the source. All mapable fields will map and all records will import and it will create the table as well.

So if you can't get the Manage Database method to work, you can import, creating the new table during the import itself and then delete the records back out. Or better, if it is a FileMaker file, just have the other file open and isolate to one record in the found set and perform the import. Then you'll only have one record to delete. :^)

Both techniques are very valuable.