Filemaker Pro 12 [Old Version]

I had a database I created using Omnis software. I really did not want the expense of upgrading Omnis and opted for Filemaker Pro. I knew a decent amount about DB concepts but nothing about how Filemaker works and its interface. I did purchase two books on Filemaker: Filemaker 12 In Depth and Filemaker Pro 12: The Missing Manual. I exported my old DB in Tab delimited format. Looked into one book to figure out the import and I had my whole DB converted in a few seconds. I defined the format definitions for the loaded fields without any help from the books. I stumbled on the layout formatting section to build a display and update screen for my data. I did not have to read anything, I found most of the layout process to be intuitive. Now I am happily working with my DB. I guess my whole point is I found Filemaker Pro to be intuitive ... the only advantage I had was my experience with other DB's. That is not to say I did not have to look in the extra books for some tricky functions I wanted to build, but I had no trouble finding the information. The Help directly from the program worked well also with links to documentation and forums which gave examples of 'how to do' things. I am happy with this software for my own purposes which currently are not heavily processing based, but the scripting language seems fairly reasonable.

I have used FileMaker since before it was called FileMaker II back in the 1980s. I have never seen any other relational database that was so easy to use. Even using it as a (programmable) spreadsheet is easier than programming the biggest selling spreadsheet software. When my Power PC Mac computers began to die for lack of support, I had to make a change to Intel processor Macs. I decided to "bite the bullet" and go all the way to Mountain Lion and FileMaker Pro 12. I had FileMaker databases we have used since 1990. To upgrade, I had to use the last surviving PPC Mac to convert FP5 format to FP7 and from there I could convert to the FMPRO12 format. It was a bit tedious. I was quite pleased to find that the converted databases worked fine in FP 12. The same databases run fine on my Windows XP laptop and installed from the same installation disk. My advice is: Don't look back. Go to FileMaker 12 and convert every old database you have to the latest version. Of course, always make a backup first.

I was running FMPro 5.5. FMPro 12 couldn't open my file, and claimed I had to use FMPro1 to open it. If my recollection is correct, that is in a box full of diskettes which none of my current computers can use. I tried (on another computer, as I had to switch to FMPro12, the only one that works with the new OS) an export to a tab-delimited file, but my comments field has dozens of paragraph returns in it so the tab-delimited file is a complete mess. FM has not provided any help here, and I have several hundred people relying on my data. I have used and loved FM since the Nutshell days, but they have cast me adrift here.

Was required for meeting a vendor requirement and met that requirement.

This program is very good. Keep in mind that I had NO programming knowledge prior to purchasing this product. I was under the impression that programming knowledge would not be needed at all, but you DO NEED TO KNOW about programming some things, or at least be willing to spend hours and hours learning. The nice thing is that there is so much data on line to help you figure it out- it just takes forever to learn. The example programs are valuable- I would have never figured things out and thrown the program in the garbage if I didn't have some example programs to study and copy from. Some things I don't like: It automatically saves everything you do instantly. This is great if your computer suddenly shuts off (pretty rare). But it is pretty bad if you screw something up on your program and just want to revert to an earlier version (reasonably common in my case), or if you accidentally erase a contact record and want to "undo" (the undo button seems to have limited functionality, especially when you really need it). I think Mac users would be more comfortable with this, it drives me crazy. There is probably a solution to this, it seems there is a solution to everything you might hate about filemaker if you do an internet search. It could be easier. The people that made this program seem really smart, but think everyone else is super smart, or really dumb. There could be more info about what certain settings do- or perhaps, more importantly, why you would NOT want to use this setting that seems like such a good idea. Certain settings should just be default, and they aren't, and you have to tediously change them every time. It is really easy to get started with this program. After the one month trial, I thought there was nothing to it. But then I had to figure out the tough stuff. To me, the tutorials overly baby you (to boredom) on the basics and throw you to the wolves when you actually want to give your program functionality. Overall, this program is really cool. I like it and am happy that I bought it. Simple database organization is really easy and fun to design. If you don't have programming knowledge, get ready to roll up your sleeves and dig in. Hopefully I will get my database to work right eventually.

FileMaker has always used the same database with: 8,9,10,11. With 12 they have changed the data base so that it will not be recognized by previous versions. If you have it running on multiple computers and you install 12, you will not be able to share the new data base with others unless they too upgrade to 12

I purcased this version as an upgrade to FileMaker Pro 7, which I had been using successfully for several years on both MAC and Windows platforms. I upgraded because I had a need for one of the newer features - the ability to save layouts and reports in PDF format. This newer version is a nice refinement on my older version, all of the "old" features are there in a similarform & format so the amount of relearning to use previous features was minimal. If you using FileMaker Pro to build your first data base, the training tutorials are an excellent tool. I wish such a tool was available when I first started to use FileMaker Pro (version 3!).

This is by far the best program with which to build your relational database apps. Very strong scripting makes this really versatile. I have been working for years with an older version and had to upgrade because of the rich variety of new features. What it really needs is a comprehensive training manual.