User manual

Chapter 5
Sharing and exchanging data
This chapter explains the basics of how you can share FileMaker Pro databases:
1 FileMaker Network Sharing: You can share FileMaker Pro databases on your network, which
allows multiple FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go users to access and use the same database
file simultaneously.
1 Importing and exporting data: You can exchange information between FileMaker Pro and
other applications by importing and exporting data. For example, you can import data that is in
another database or spreadsheet program, or export address data in order to create
personalized form letters with a word processing program.
1 Recurring import: You can set up a FileMaker Pro file to automatically update data imported
from another application, such as Microsoft Excel.
1 Accessing data from external data sources: You can access information stored in other
FileMaker Pro files and external SQL databases that use ODBC technology to share data. This
allows you to work with information stored in external databases and combine external data with
information stored in your file. When you access data from an ODBC database, you can use
supplemental fields in your FileMaker Pro file to perform calculations and summary operations
on the data without changing the schema of the external file.
1 Instant Web Publishing: You can quickly and easily publish FileMaker Pro layouts as web
pages, which allows anyone with a web browser on your intranet (or the internet) to access your
FileMaker
Pro databases.
Note See Help for detailed, comprehensive information and step-by-step procedures about
using FileMaker
Pro. See the FileMaker Instant Web Publishing Guide for information about
publishing databases on the web.
Sharing databases on a network
If your computer is connected to a network, you and other Windows and Mac OS FileMaker Pro
and FileMaker
Go users can use the same database file simultaneously.
FileMaker Pro Network Sharing supports the sharing of files with up to 9 concurrent users (not
including the host and Instant Web Publishing connections). FileMaker
Go clients are included in
the limit of 9 users. To support more users and web publishing technologies such as XML,
FileMaker recommends the use of FileMaker
Server, which provides greater networking
performance in addition to its increased capacity.
Important Your FileMaker Pro licensing agreement requires that you pay for a license for each
separate computer on which the FileMaker
Pro application is installed or run. The software license
may not be shared or used concurrently on different computers. Please read the software license
for complete terms and conditions.
The first person to open a shared file is the host. Any user who opens a shared file after the host
is a client.