User manual

2-6 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
If you’re working in a relational database and the option to delete
related records is selected in the Edit Relationship dialog box,
FileMaker Pro deletes related records when you delete a master
record. For more information, see “Defining relationships for
relational databases and lookups” on page 8-10.
Keep these points in mind:
1 To permanently delete a field definition and all the data in the field
in all records, see “Deleting field definitions and data” on page 5-12.
1 To temporarily omit records from the found set without deleting
them from the database, see “Hiding records from a found set and
viewing hidden records” on page 3-7.
About entering data in records
The following sections describe how to add or change data in a
FileMaker Pro database.
If you’re working with a database that doesn’t have any records, you
must create a record before entering data. See “Adding and
duplicating records” on page 2-4.
Note If a file is locked or write-protected, or you don’t have access
privileges to edit records, you can’t modify data. See “Defining
passwords” on page 9-1.
Selecting a field
For more information about selecting a field in Browse mode or Find
mode, see FileMaker Pro Help. Choose Help menu > Contents and
Index, click the Index tab, and type fields,current.
To delete Do this
One record In Browse mode, select the record to delete. (If you’re
deleting a master record in a relational database, select
anything other than a portal row in the master record.)
Choose Records menu > Delete Record, then click Delete.
A related record Select a portal row in the master file by clicking inside the
row but outside any fields in the row. Choose Records
menu > Delete Record, then click Delete.
Note To delete related records, Allow deletion of portal
records must be selected in the Portal Setup dialog box.
(See “Creating and formatting portals to hold related
fields” on page 6-19.)
A group of records Make sure the found set contains only the records you
want to delete. (See “Finding records” on page 3-1.) In
Browse mode, choose Records menu > Delete All Records,
then click Delete.
All records in a
database
1 In Browse mode, choose Records menu > Show All
Records, then choose Records menu > Delete All Records.
1 Create a clone of the database with no records. See
“Saving files” on page 1-7.)
To Do this in Browse or Find mode
Select a field Click in the field.
Select the contents of
a field
Select the field, then choose Edit menu > Select All.
Move to the next field
in the field order
Press Tab (or click in the field).
Move to the previous
field in the field order
Press Shift+Tab (or click in the field).
Move to items in a
value list
Press the arrow keys. See “Entering preset data from a
value list” on page 2-8.
Mac OS: You can’t use arrow keys to move to items in
pop-up menus. (You must use the mouse.)