User manual

Chapter 6
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Converting FileMaker databases from previous versions 103
4. In the Open dialog box, select the file to convert, and then click
Open.
Note You can also begin conversion by dragging the file onto the
FileMaker Pro 8 application icon.
The Conversion dialog box appears, where you can choose to rename
the existing file prior to conversion. By default, FileMaker
Pro
renames the file by adding “Old” to the filename.
5. Do one of the following:
1 Skip renaming the old file by clearing the checkbox named
Rename old file and clicking OK. It’s not necessary to rename the old
file if it has an .fp5, .fp3, or .fmj extension because your converted
file will have an
.fp7 extension. On Windows, the filename
extension
.fp7 is added to all converted files.
1 Rename the old file by entering the name you want and clicking
OK. Do this if you’re using Mac OS, the file does not have an
extension, and you want to continue using the existing filename for
the converted file.
The Name Converted File dialog box appears.
6. Enter the filename that you want for the new file.
If you renamed the old file in step 5, the default filename for the
converted file is the original filename (with a
.fp7 extension, if the
original file had an extension). If you did not rename the old file, the
default filename is
filename Converted.
7. Click Save to start the conversion.
During a prolonged conversion, the File Format Conversion dialog
box will appear and show the conversion progress. If a file being
converted contains indexed fields, you can save time by clicking
Skip
when the index is being re-created, which postpones indexing until
later.
In most cases, FileMaker Pro converts the file and opens it. If
conversion doesn’t work or error messages appear, see
“Solving basic
conversion problems” on page 106.
8. Using a text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit
(Mac
OS), open the Conversion.log file located in the folder that
contains your converted database.
The Conversion.log file contains a journal of the conversion process
that you just completed. Much of it contains status messages that
indicate the different file components that were converted. But it also
may contain error messages that indicate areas where you may need
to make manual corrections to the converted file before testing it
further. For more information about the Conversion.log file, see
“Reading the Conversion.log file” on page 105.
Converting multiple files at once
FileMaker Pro 8 can convert multiple files at the same time. You
should use the multi-file conversion method when you need to convert
a database composed of multiple related files, or you simply have
many FileMaker
Pro files that you want to quickly convert without
being prompted to individually rename each file.
When you convert multiple files at the same time, FileMaker Pro
prompts you to specify a folder where you want the converted files to
be saved, leaving your original files unchanged. FileMaker
Pro
automatically names each converted file without prompting you.
FileMaker
Pro won’t overwrite any existing files in the folder. Instead,
it adds a number to the end of the filename, and increments that
number if necessary until a unique name is found.