User manual

FileMaker Pro basics 1-7
Keep these points in mind:
1 When you open a file created with an earlier version of
FileMaker Pro (version 4.1 and earlier), you must convert it to the
FileMaker Pro 5 format. Upon conversion, date fields that were
previously storing and displaying two-digit years (for example, 92)
will now display four-digit years (for example, 1992). You might have
to resize the date fields to display four digits or format the date field to
display two digits. For more information on opening files from
previous versions, choose Help menu > Contents and Index, click the
Index tab, and type converting files.
Important To avoid confusion when using dates, always use four-
digit years. For more information about how FileMaker Pro 5
handles Year 2000 issues, see www.filemaker.com.
1 When you open a file saved with internal default formats that are
different from the system formats set on your computer, you might
see an alert message.Working with international files is documented
in Help. Choose Help menu > Contents and Index, click the Index tab,
and type International formats.
1 You may open a file with limited access if the database
administrator has assigned a default password. For information, see
“Defining passwords” on page 9-1 and refer to the administrator.
1 You can open a file created in another application, like many
versions of Microsoft Excel, directly in FileMaker Pro. See
“Importing data into FileMaker Pro” on page 12-2.
Closing files
You can close a file and leave FileMaker Pro running or you can quit
FileMaker Pro, which closes all FileMaker Pro files.
Important FileMaker Pro saves changes you make to a file as you
work and whenever you close a file or quit the application.
To close a file, be sure the file’s window is active, and then do one
of the following:
1 Choose File menu > Close.
1 Windows: Double-click the document icon in the upper-left corner
of the document window.
1 Windows: Click the close button in the upper-right corner of the
menu bar.
1 Mac OS: Click the close box in the upper-left corner of
the window.
Saving files
FileMaker Pro automatically saves changes to a file as you work.
You can also specify how frequently FileMaker Pro saves changes.
See “Setting memory preferences” on page A-2.
Important You should save a copy of the file to backup your work.
Always save a copy before you make extensive changes. You can’t
restore data after you delete a field from the Define Fields dialog box
or remove records using the Delete Record or Delete All commands.
For information, see appendix B, “Backing up and recovering files.”
To save a copy of your file:
1. Make the file you want to save the active file, and choose File
menu > Save a Copy As.
2. Choose an option for saving a copy from the Save a (Windows) or
Type (Mac OS) list.
Choose this
option To do this
Copy of current file Duplicate the entire file, including the field definitions,
layouts, scripts, page setup options, and data. Duplicating
a file is useful before you make extensive changes.
Compressed copy
(smaller)
Compress the entire file into less disk space by
reclaiming unused space in the file. Saving a compressed
copy is useful if you edit lot of records frequently.