• Reviews around way (4.53 of 5)

    FileMaker Pro 13 - English

    • I cannot stress this enough, however: if you are new to these kinds of databases, you will absolutely need a reference guide or tutorial to work your way through.)I found the Missing Manual series to be an excellent resource as a beginner
    • What I don't like about the FMP13 approach is that if I have a dozen reports that each has several calculations... I'll then have several dozen additional calculated fields in my FMP13 table, not organized in any meaningful way to tell me which Layouts (reports) they are used in.
    • Plus, generally, you have to just input data and information on the standard spreadsheets, that handle some kinds of information quite well, but don't provide a good way of displaying things like images attached to data
    • But as with many things Microsoft, you'd need to take a course or purchase a wheelbarrow full of books, and that just rubs me the wrong way (especially since I've spent decades as a programmer).
    • You can choose to override this by preventing the inclusion of FMP13 features in dB's that will be used with 12, but I'm still not certain this is the safest way to go (I'll have to test more)
    • I could view and arrange data in meaningful ways that will allow me to glean more useful information from my customer data.
    • But if you suffer from one of the networking, form design or other drawbacks in Version 12, investigate version 13, it is probably fixed (the Filemaker web site has a version comparison chart.)Summary: By far the easiest way to design and deploy single- and multi-user database solutions, on the LAN or web
    • Filemaker Pro does have a learning curve, but it allows you to both manage information effectively and allows you to set up easy ways to input and display that information
    • BEFORE:For those who are not in the know, relational databases are an incredibly efficient way to handle large amounts of data
    • I can see that this program will help me teach concepts to my students in much more accessible ways
    • However, if you are looking for an inexpensive way to put a form on the web, this is not the way to go
    • I use it for my collections, as well as for my business
    • Excel spreadsheets have never looked so good as when they were imported into this program