Help

Creating and managing layouts and reports
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 286
Field names and columns don’t align in a columnar layout
Check the alignment of the field labels and their associated fields — they should both be aligned in
the same direction. If you put a left-aligned label over a column of right-aligned numbers, for
example, the report might look fine on your computer. But font substitution could cause field labels
to shift when the file is opened on another computer. For more information, see
Specifying
paragraph attributes and tab settings.
There are gaps between text and data
To combine text and field data (such as to place a field in the middle of a sentence), don’t use
separate text objects and field objects. Instead, combine the text and fields into a single
merge field.
For more information, see Placing merge fields on a layout.
Colors don’t look the same on Windows and OS X systems
Use only the colors available in the System Subset palette or the Web palette. These colors are
virtually identical across platforms. Any other colors that you use may not look the same on both
Windows and OS
X. For information on specifying the palette that appears, see Setting layout
preferences.
QuickTime files don’t play in Windows
• FileMaker Pro may not be able to find a QuickTime file that was previously inserted. If the
Insert QuickTime dialog box appears, select the QuickTime file and click Open. Then try
playing the QuickTime file again.
• Make sure the QuickTime software is installed in Windows.
• Make sure the QuickTime file is saved in a cross-platform format. If necessary, use a
QuickTime editing application to re-save the file in a cross-platform format. (If you have
upgraded to QuickTime Pro, you can use the QuickTime Player application to re-save the
QuickTime file by choosing File menu
> Save As, and choosing Make movie self-
contained while saving the file.)
For more information about QuickTime, see http://www.apple.com/quicktime.
A script that prints a layout does not print the same in Windows and OS X
Scripts that include Print Setup and Print script steps commands may not be compatible across
platforms. If you’re storing special print options with these script steps such as paper size,
orientation, and number of copies, FileMaker
Pro may not be able to recall these settings properly
on the other operating system. (This can occur because each operating system uses different
printer driver software for printing, even when printing to the same printer.) To correct the problem,
do one of the following:
• Create separate scripts for printing in Windows and OS X. First, open the file on your
Windows computer and create the script for printing from Windows. Then, move the
database file to OS
X computer and create the script for printing from OS X. You can even
create a third script using the
Get(SystemPlatform) function that will print using the
correct script on each operating system:
If [Get(SystemPlatform) = 1]
Perform Script [“Print in OS X”]
Else
Perform Script [“Print in Windows”]
End If