User manual

Table Of Contents
Chapter 5 | Sharing and exchanging data 125
1 Converted field names if they are available in the file or source you convert. Otherwise, field
names are generic: f1, f2, f3, and so on.
1 Converted field types if they are available in the file or source you convert. Otherwise, all fields
are text fields.
To import data into a new file:
1. In the source application, save the data you want to import in a file type that FileMaker Pro
supports. See
“Supported import/export file formats” on page 121.
2. Choose File menu > Open.
3. In the Open File dialog box, for Files of type (Windows) or Show (Mac OS), specify the type
of file, choose the file to convert, then click Open.
4. If you see the First Row Option dialog box, choose whether the first row of data contains field
names or the first record of data, then click OK.
5. If you’re converting a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and the Specify Excel Data dialog box
appears, choose a worksheet or named range from the workbook file, then click OK.
6. In the Create a New File Named dialog box, type a name for the new file, choose a location,
then click Save.
FileMaker Pro converts the data to a FileMaker Pro file and displays the file.
For more information about importing data, see Help.
About the exporting process
You can export FileMaker Pro data to a new file, then open it in another application.
The basic steps for exporting records are:
1. Open the FileMaker Pro file and display a layout that shows the records you want to export.
2. Find and sort the records to export. See “Finding records” on page 30 and “Sorting records” on
page 42.
3. Choose File menu > Export Records.
4. In the Export Records to File dialog box, type a name and choose a location for the exported
file, and choose a file type.
5. In the Specify Field Order for Export dialog box, select how you want FileMaker Pro to export
the data.
6. If necessary, choose the character set you want the exported file to use.
To export Choose
A field on the current layout Current Layout (LayoutName) from the table list, then double-click a field in
the list
A field in the current layout’s
table
Current Table (TableName) from the table list, then double-click a field in the list