Instead of First Name and Last Name as field labels, try Contact Name First and Contact Name Last. Use a low-tech solution and rely on the alphabet. FileMaker allows you to set a custom order of fields in the Define Fields dialog box, but it’s a sure bet that you’ll forget to manually position fields, or that someone else may not follow the same organization scheme. Second, keep your fields in order by thinking alphabetically. Err on the side of clarity with field names such as Invoice Number and Customer Name, and script names such as Go to Month Report Layout and Sort by Date. FileMaker works perfectly well with long names. To prevent this kind of confusion, adopt and stick to naming conventions.įirst off, don’t abbreviate.

If you try to pass your database on to a new designer, he or she will really have no clue what some names mean if you don’t label them clearly. Field, script and other names can quickly become confusing. In six months, you’ll have no clue that StAds stands for street address. Once established in your template file, these passwords will propagate across your system as you create duplicates of the file. You’ll find these options listed under File: Access Privileges. For example, you may wish to simply have one password for using the database and another for editing its design. Save yourself a great deal of time and mousing: anticipate your user’s security needs and set up passwords and groups in your template file. Some complex FileMaker Pro systems can include well over a dozen databases. You’ll need to modify user and group settings for each database in your system.

Security in FileMaker Pro gets complicated, especially as you start working with multiple, relational databases.

Filemaker pro database examples