Help

Saving, importing, and exporting data
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 527
• If you routinely import data from the same source, you can automate the process by setting
up
recurring imports. Data imported via recurring import is read-only in FileMaker Pro. See
Setting up recurring imports.
Exporting data from FileMaker Pro
You can export FileMaker Pro data to a new file and then open it in another application. For
example, you can export FileMaker Pro data in the merge (.mer) format and use it for a Microsoft
Word Mail Merge.
You can also save records as a spreadsheet for use in Microsoft Excel. See Saving and sending
records as an Excel file. Use export when you want to export records in the current found set or
export in a format other than an Excel spreadsheet. Use Save as Excel when you want to create an
Excel spreadsheet that contains all the fields you have access to on the current layout.
If your FileMaker Pro source file contains summary fields, you can group by a sorted field in order to
export subsummary values, such as subtotals generated by a report with grouped data. This
process exports one record for each group. For example, if you have a report that totals sales by
region, you can export one summary value for each region.
You can also export the contents of a field to a file. See Exporting the contents of a field.
To export FileMaker Pro data to be used in another application:
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.
To export grouped subsummary values, include the break field in the sort order, or run the report
that generates the subtotals you want. For information about finding and sorting records, see
Finding records and Sorting records.
3. Choose File menu > Export Records.
4. In the Export Records to File dialog box, type a name and choose a location for the file.
If you're exporting to XML and applying an XSLT style sheet during export, give the filename an
extension that corresponds to the transformed file's format, such as .txt, .htm, or .xml, so that
different operating systems can recognize the file correctly.
If another file with the same name already exists in the same location, the exported file replaces
the existing file.
5. Choose a file type from Save as type (Windows) or Type (OS X), then click Save.
Use a file format supported by the application in which you plan to use the exported data.
Popular formats include comma-separated text (.csv), tab-separated text (.tab), merge format
(.mer), and HTML (.html). For information about file formats, see
Supported import/export file
formats.
6. For After saving, choose one or both of the following options:
7. Do one of the following:
Choose To
Automatically open file Open the file after it is saved
Create email with file as
attachment
Create an email with the saved file attached