FileMaker Pro for Mac

19.3.1

19.3.1

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$540 ?!!! can't believe the price.Thank you very much, but NO!

This application is now Claris FileMaker Pro and has been version 19 since April 2020. You only need to upgrade every third year to retain upgrade pricing. I continue to do this because I haven't found another database that come closes to replacing it.

I really like FIlemaker but as an individual user I cannot pay their huge upgrade fees every year nor want to pay a subscription. I'm just a person who keeps my home inventory, book collection and a few things in Filemaker. Not a pro, not a company. Their cost has priced me out and I am looking for an alternative. Maybe they are suffering as over the past 4 months I keep getting email offers from Claris about By 1 Get 1 Free to share. I might do this except they now want a fee PER COMPUTER - I use it on 3 Macs so that sucks again. Anyway I am done with FM once v17 won't work for me...

FileMaker Pro replaced by FileMaker Pro Advanced — May 15, 2018 FileMaker Pro is no longer available. It has been replaced by FileMaker Pro Advanced which includes more features to help you develop and deploy custom apps faster and more efficiently.

FM 16.0.4 is our for a week now.

Filemaker Pro 16 is just fine. Though it would be nice to see FMP modernized a bit in several areas, to reduce development time and occasional agony, it remains a reliable workhorse.

Please note, I have found Filemaker Pro 16.x does not presently mix well with APFS. Filemaker Pro now runs just fine.

Be aware.

I have repeated crashes under APFS but not HFS+ when compacting a large database (>5GB). This invariable crashes the app, macOS High Sierra. And, ultimately, the disk is not useable - the 1TB SSD must be reformatted from scratch.

Thus I have transitioned back to HFS+ for the time being, with not one hiccup.

All is fine.

For the uninitiated, the transition to an altogether new file system (APFS) is a very big deal technically. Presently developers have little experience and almost no technical documentation to go with. And it will take time for Apple to both identify and iron out what will be inevitable technical hiccups.

APFS is a very sophisticated file system that must track far more than does HFS+. I suspect that monolothic disk intensive apps, such as Filemaker Pro, are best left to HFS+ for the time being.

Incidentally, I run an iMac ( i7 @4GHZ and 32GB RAM ), and fast 1TB boot disks, along with several external hard disks.

I don't understand why this version is only now listed here, and listed as new. I bought FMP seven weeks ago, and what I got was this version, 16.0.3.

And still the incredibly long-running (i.e., it has been around for years) GetNthRecord function bug where it displays a "?" after the 140th record has not been fixed despite numerous developers bringing the bug to Apple's attention. I would have given it a four star (or possibly higher) except the function is too critical in financial work and this has really stuffed me around. Hey guys, just let me know when it is fixed and I will be as happy as a pig in mud (or a developer in his FileMaker scripts) knowing I can use the function. Thanks Zzzzzzz......

I think they meant to say FileMaker Pro 16 came out today. http://www.filemaker.com/products/whats-new.html

Why is this on today's listing (May 09)? It came out in January 2017.. This web site is becoming a waste of space, it's certainly not worth suscribing to any more.

FileMaker Pro 15 is out along with updates including version 15.0.3.305.

The seeming annual upgrade fee for Filemaker Pro Advanced is remarkably expensive at $349 per user. I would mind less if there were more extensive feature improvements. But as it is, features such as detecting script errors should have been made integral to FMP long ago. In today's world, FMP is in many respects an aging platform. The big question is whether Apple actually has any meaningful plans for the platform, or not. We could sure use a good ad hoc custom database creation environment, for smaller entities, Filemaker's original role. It would be nice if Apple would help to move FMP beyond its legacy constraints to something far more meaningful in this modern age. Apple bought the leading edge FoundationDB in 2015 ... what's happened to that technology within the overall Apple product family?

@MacUpdate: FileMaker 15 has been out for several months.

Why is this posted on August 13? I installed this update on May 13. Why do I bother with this web site that used to be so reliable, and now seemed only to be interested in advertising, at the expense of their raison d'être

I don't have a review for FileMaker (the software), but if I could write a review for FileMaker (the company), I would have to give them one star even though they are a division of our beloved Apple. Bento 1 didn't really work right, but they charged users full price for Bento 2 anyway. Bento 2 didn't work right either, but they charged us again for Bento 3 and Bento 4, and even though it still had many problems, they then abandoned the product with the only consolation being a modest discount on FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro is too expensive (even with the discount) and too complicated for most Bento users. Users who complained about this on FM's forums were not treated well by the moderators. In my opinion, they should have to refund every dollar they ever got for Bento - but even something like a Mac App Store credit would've been better than the lame deal they offered.

Updates for version 14.x are out. http://www.filemaker.com/support/downloads/

FileMaker 15 is now released.

15.0.1 is out:-)

great app, easy to develop, little bit to expensive. current version is: 14.0.5 see http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15645/

Great software. Easy to use and very helpful.
Solution can be used on windows, mac, iPad, iPhone and web browser.

One think could be better: licensing
Renting software is avalible only for 5 and more users.

A simple app for for people with simple happy little needs. That's Filemaker in a nutshell. If you're fond of hacking together solutions that barely holds up you can do it, with the expense paid in time and money (for web solutions that quickly adds to a quite large amount).

Compared to today's open source solutions Filemaker really is a snail with great limitations that you'll not be used to if you've developed large scale database applications before with the plethora of tools available.

There's a longer review in "Filemaker Advanced".

The original database workhorse from 1985 still working hard today. Unfortunately it treats it's native platform and mothership as a second class citizen, bowing to Windows many times over Macintosh. Never the less, a very robust and capable tool with surprising power. Latest install may give you problems if you use anything out of the regular alpha-numeric characters in your drive's name or in the pathname to the application. This defect in FileMaker results in the erroneous error warning: This application has been installed incorrectly or modified by another program. Please run the Installer to get a fresh copy of the application after determining the cause. This will appear immediately after the install when launching or later if you change the name of your drive and then subsequently launch FileMaker Pro. Changing your drive name to something without diacriticals, is in English, etc will work around this FileMaker Pro defect. Removed 1 star for poor out of the box experience and having to reinstall a dozen times in the attempt to figure out this problem. Wasted a lot of time on this and time is money. Removed 1 star for the lack of significant fixes or new functionality in revisions since FMP 12 yet 14 is more expense across the product line.

I still find lots of utility in FileMaker. It's a trusty part of the toolkit that makes quick work of small to medium-sized database solutions. Making a schema, writing scripts, and putting together an interface in very little time with impressive results is what this app is all about. I'll ding its score a bit for its pricing, its java-based server, and no significant improvements to the core database engine in years.

Still no support for BLOB with MySQL… Still no support for SQLite or PostgreSQL… All of these are long term requests by people anyway and come back after every new release… LibreOffice database is full of bugs so not a serious replacement tool.

Testing the GetNthRecord function and Data Viewer security bugs, I see that FileMaker, Inc. has not been able to fix these in FileMaker Pro 13.0v9.

For people wondering what these bugs are:

(i) GetNthRecord function bug
1. Open up FileMaker Pro 13.0v9.
2. Create a New Database.
3. Create a new table.
4. Create two fields called Start and Field in the table you have created.
5. Make Start a global number field.
6. Make Field a calculation field, and enter the following calculation: If ( Get (RecordNumber) > 1; GetNthRecord ( Field ; Get (RecordNumber) - 1 ) + Start; test::Start )
7. Place Start and Field on the layout.
8. Choose List View.
9. Enter the number 1 in Start.
10. Press the Command N keys to create a new record. Keep pressing until you reach record number 157.

Here you will notice the infamous "?" appearing in the calculation field for all records from 157 onwards. Everything before record number 157, Field calculates correctly. After record number 157, FileMaker Pro 13.0v9 goes belly up and can't perform the calculation properly. Certainly a bugger if you are trying to do any kind of serious financial work where you need to grab numerical data from the previous record and perform calculations in the current record. There are workarounds, but all are messy and usually requires an extra script to be run automatically by some means and to create an extra variable field. A pain in the ass if you ask me.

(ii) The Data Viewer bug
Please note that you must have FileMaker Pro Advanced 13.0v9 to see this bug.

1. Launch FileMaker Pro Advanced 13.0v9.
2. Open any password-protected FileMaker Pro database. Do not enter the Admin password. Any other password (or no password if the database automatically enters a default account username and password) account is fine.
3. Since you are technically not able to peek at the tables, fields and the contents of those fields because of your non-admin account, try selecting Tools-->Data Viewer.
4. Click the Watch tab.
5. Click the "Add Expression "+" button.

Viola! You can now look at all the fields in any table. Heck, you might as well not bother putting in an Admin password on the database since technically you already are in the admin account of the database now that you can peek at anything you want. So why not recreate the tables and fields you see in a new database? And with a little common sense and looking at the type of data stored in the fields, you can even figure out how to link the tables to form the relationships. Not hard is it? So yes, it is true. You can reverse engineer any FileMaker Pro database. Even if you are not inclined to steal other people's intellectual property, nothing can stop you from peeking at the contents of every field, so no data can be hidden or made absolutely secure (you will now have to use variable fields and hope no one can figure out the name of the variable fields, which incidentally you can also monitor using the Data Viewer). The data is all exposed for the world to see. Good one FileMaker! So just imagine how easy you can figure out any database created with FileMaker Pro? Very easy. hence the reason why Apple prefers you to use your custom-made databases for personal use or within an organisation. Never attempt to sell the databases commercially (even those you make into Runtime solutions) to consumers where you could potentially compete woth Apple's own OS X free apps (e.g., contacts.app, iTunes.app, etc). Should anyone be surprised from a company like Apple?

NOTE: This Data Viewer bug never existed in FileMaker Pro Advanced 10 or earlier.

NOTE: FileMaker, Inc. have been notified of these bugs for more than 2 years by several developers. The question is, how long will it take for the company to finally quash these bugs? There is already a bet on at the moment that the company probably never will.

Despite this, I still give FileMaker Pro 13.0v9 a generous 3 stars for at least finding the time to make the software more stable after version 13.0v5.

Now if only those two bugs could be fixed....

I've owned FileMaker since v2 and I never stopped using it. It does need to be modernized, perhaps rewritten, to take advantage of core technologies in OS X. It looks/feels like an OS 9 app ported over to OS X. I realize FileMaker is an Apple subsidiary, like Claris was, just hoping it gets a shakedown. Upgrade costs should more than cover resources needed to get this done. ;)

A number of FileMaker developers can now report that the regular sudden crashes on launching FileMaker Pro 13 and less often (but no less annoying) during development work within the FileMaker application since version 13.0v1 continue to persist in version 13.0v3. A selection of crash reports have revealed the following information: Crash 1 Application Specific Information: BUG IN LIBDISPATCH: flawed group/semaphore logic. Crashed Thread: 23 Dispatch queue: com.filemaker.PSConversionHelper.xpcq 0 libdispatch.dylib 0x98bf599f _dispatch_semaphore_signal_slow + 73 Crash 2 Application Specific Information: *** error for object 0x1: Non-aligned pointer being freed. Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit) Crash 3 Application Specific Information: Java information: Exception type: Bus Error (0xa) at pc=0000000081120069. Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread If you experience any of these errors, you must send the crash reports to Apple, Inc. Alternatively, you should not purchase FileMaker Pro 13 until the bugs are fixed and there is a reasonable level of stability in this product. NOTE FOR FILEMAKER PRO ADVANCED USERS: The runtime database solutions created by the Advanced software appear to be free of these sudden crash bugs. However, the Data Viewer security hole and the GetNthRecord function bug remains in both the runtime solution and the FileMaker Pro.app.

Something worth noting for would be FileMaker users and experienced alike: If you intend to store and manipulate financial data or anything that requires the use of the GetNthRecord function in a field for displaying numbers or text from the previous record in a list of records, you will notice after the 79th record how the function turns up its toes and decides to show a "?" (would have been amusing if the application showed WTF before the question mark). This anomaly does not exist in FileMaker Pro 12.0 or earlier, but did exist in FileMaker Go 11 or 12 version before it was fixed in FileMaker Go 13. Since porting a number of features from the Go package into FileMaker Pro 13, it seems FileMaker, Inc. has kind of overlooked the error. FileMaker Pro has been notified in writing to a customer service representative (name withheld for privacy reasons), but whether the email actually reached the software development division of the company is another question altogether. Since sending it in January 2014, the updates for FileMaker Pro 13 have not yet addressed the issue (yawn!). There are also other issues, including unexpected quits of the application on startup and while assigning scripts to lots of buttons and other things (hoopefully not too bad for other FileMaker users). This is another one I've had the pleasure of sending to FileMaker, Inc. Still getting someone to check FileMaker Pro 13.0.3 to see if the crashes are still prominent. Although I don't believe in superstition, but given the more bugs I have noticed with version 13 compared to any previous version, one can't help wonder whether FileMaker Pro 13 is unlucky for the wrong reasons. Perhaps FileMaker Pro 14 would be the better way to go when it eventually comes out (Zzzzz....). The rating I show here is rather generous only because the features provided are reasonable (but still hoping for more if only Apple isn't so protective about its own contacts.app, iTunes.app etc in OSX and the possibility that some FileMaker Pro developers might provide alternative contacts, MP3 player and other solutions at a very low cost or free...)

The new Filemaker 13 family is a big step forward, and lays the foundation for yet more improvements in future. I am pleased.

Requirements is 10.7 (sadly)

Filemaker started out as an affordable, well designed database on the Mac. Filemaker Pro is now fairly well designed, much more powerful, but no longer affordable for personal use. Filemaker killed Bento and left no good alternatives, and an cross-grade price that is too expensive for the majority of Bento users. I've always found Filemaker to be a bit arrogant in dealing with customers, and I've kept up on their new versions enough to see that they offer a little, buy always cost a lot. Too bad their is no Filemaker personal version or something priced to the individual user as it was in its roots. Not all Filemaker users are bigger businesses, but you'd never know it. They act sort of like the Microsoft of Mac databases.

Since Apple/Filemaker have chosen to abandon Bento (why, I wish I knew??), I have been forced to buy Filemaker. Having worked with it for a week or so now I have to say that despite the large price difference between the two, I find Bento to be far and away more stable. While working with FM I'm finding that I get the spinning beach ball on a frustratingly regular basis while working. While FM may have more under the hood I preferred working with Bento. Another there is no upgrade pricing from Bento to FM. If you're looking for a Bento substitute, don't leap straight into FM.

Dear Apple, Is Filemaker Pro effectively dead, or merely in drawn out retirement? When will the core OSX application be brought up to date, so that we can realize its tremendous potential? While iOS is important to us all, many of us still spend most of our working lives using computers - not iPhones, iPods and iPads - to do our real work. We live and breath in an eco-system in which the Macintosh (or PC) remains at the center. That PC sales are declining reflects not the declining absolute importance of the PC. Rather it reflects a market saturated with powerful devices that readily outpace the needs of the software that generally runs on them: ie, hardware innovation outpaces commercial software innovation by a country mile. Could Filemaker be a much better, more effective product? Sure it could, with a little bit of imagination and investment. Would I pay for it: yes, no doubt. Would others do the same: I have no clue ... (everyone wants software for free these days or at nominal prices) There in lies the problem I suppose ... I do hope Apple does move Filemaker's development along ... unfortunately there are no real alternative products to replace it. Well perhaps 4D? Kind regards ... - a 30-year Mac veteran

Dear Apple, iWork is a terrific package: Keynote, Pages and Numbers. ( Filemaker mentioned below, too ) Yes these have almost fully replaced MS-Office in my work. But, as so often occurs with Apple, the package progresses little. I am a power-user. So I am less concerned about iWork apps on iOS or the web. I am also an older user. So I recall when MacWrite, MacDraw and MacProject led the field in software innovation. I also recall how Apple let these great products in their time languish and die. Apple was in its heart, after all, a hardware company. The software had done its job. Finito. And what about Filemaker Pro ( a package with great potential but in need of an overhaul ) which languishes even more? Will the same fate best the iWorks apps? If so, who will take up the slack? The problem is, no investor with $$$ will take up the slack. Only small under-resourced developers are left. The web-based SAS model, still in so many ways flawed (not to mention inherently insecure), has driven investors out of the desktop application space. And who wants to compete against the likes of Google, Yahoo, SalesForce, Apple, etc in that space? We live in a world where software development is all too often driven by a mass market, lowest common denominator mentality. Those of us who are power users find our needs are met less and less. There is just not enough net revenue after the less power-needy users are taken care of. So it seems. I do hope I am proved wrong, and a significant iWorks apps feature upgrade appears this fall. But I am skeptical. Yours sincerely ...

Terrible upgrade policy for those that purchase FileMakerPro Advanced. Every time you want to upgrade, you pay the exact same as if you are upgrading to Advanced from Regular. In other words, Regular FileMaker Pro users pay less for more features and Advanced users get suckered into upgrading to get their bugs fixed. FIleMakerPro has a lot of potential, but I agree with others here. They have rested while everything else advances and they still have serious usability issues. Screens are getting wider, yet they moved to the top control bar that wastes the entire top of the screen. They also have a mess for their hot-keys. Only Filemaker goes against what is common place for many keyboard shortcuts. Also, server is WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced for what it does. All in all, A+ opportunity, D effort, F Customer service and respect towards developers.

Gosh, if only Apple took Filemaker seriously. Imagine that, we'd have a fully modern relation database creation tool for the "rest of us." The current iPad app does not fit the bill. We need something on the Mac that also ports readily to the iPad. There are few choices these days. The fact is, the undue preoccupation with creating web applications (and marketing tools) has decimated investment in useful ad hoc development tools such as Filemaker. It's a real shame, for all of us.

I waited a while for Filemaker 12 but now that it's out I just don't think they're doing enough to remain competitive or relevant. There haven't been any major changes for a number of years and even Filemaker themselves claim that one of the major new features of Filemaker Pro 12 is...new themes! I agree with the comments about the lack of any form of undo. I can't think of any other major database that doesn't have the ability to enter an edit mode that tracks changes and then allows you to publish them when and if you're happy with them. I'm forever nervous when opening a Filemaker file that I'll inadvertently make some change and not ever realise!

Version 12 has nice theme enhancements, but like most Filemaker upgrades, most of what they upgrade doesn't have value for most common users, as they mostly target enterprise customers. The best value in this upgrade is that it works with their free iOS apps. Power users need simple usability improvements too, and Bento's complete lack of files is too simple for anyone with slightly complex needs. Bringing improved usability like is found in Bento is sorely needed. My Filemaker suggestions that have been ignored for years: Undo: It is easy to accidentally hit return and erase data, and there is no way to undo that once return is pressed, apart from using Time Machine. It should be easy for Filemaker to copy and remember the contents of the cell being edited, regardless of Filemaker's excuse that it is a real database that makes changes instantly so undo is impossible. Impossible, really? Table View: add copying/pasting/deleting and selecting across multiple cells/columns, like you can in a spreadsheet and Bento. There is no way to do this otherwise and it would make working with data lot easier.

Parts of the ageing interface (such as the new forms) have been dragged into this decade but there is still much to dislike if you are used to modern Mac applications. Viewing your data in a table is particularly slow and clunky, and unintuitive. Undo is still inconsistent. Here are a few questions and comments I have sent to Filemaker after using the trial for a while: Thank you for making Filemaker Pro 12 available for trial. I have tested almost every version since I owned Filemaker Pro 7, always hoping that the software would develop to better support my needs and expectations. The news that you were moving on from the Mac OS 7-style interface elements was a relief, and there are some good themes which show what style and elegance can now be achieved. Unfortunately, table view doesn't seem to have been updated much over the years. It would be good if you could make table view work as smoothly and look as elegant as the similar table interfaces in Bento, Numbers or iTunes. Anyway, here are some other questions/feedback, to which you are welcome to reply if you think you can help me: If I import a spreadsheet and end up with a bunch of extra rows, how do I select multiple rows (entries) and delete them? I still can't copy data easily from a table by selecting with the cursor as if you were using spreadsheet. I appreciate that this is not what databases are for, but it would be useful, just like it is in Bento. When viewing a large table, is it possible to 'freeze' columns so that I can see at least my first column, even as a scroll horizontally to view other columns? I tried making a database with a container for files. Firstly, how do I then access those attachments? It added them but apart from the thumbnail there didn't seem to be a way to view them (no quickview) let alone open them. Also, the check box for referenced file was never functional, so adding a movie, say, increased the size of my database by 2 GB! Why is horizontal and vertical scrolling of a database in list view on a fairly recent MBP so clunky? Why can't you optimise the software to scroll smoothly, or at least with a refresh rate that is faster than 0.5 s? When I resize the columns in table view how come the contents aren't updated dynamically like in Bento and Numbers? And despite the lack of dynamic updating of the headers and content, resizing a column is still hampered by an incredibly slow refresh rate. Seriously, it's this underlying clunkiness that suggests that some very fundamental things have not changed since the last version I used (fm7) or before. I try every update (with optimism) and I find your repetitive claims of a modernised interface are always exaggerated. Perhaps I'm not your Filemaker Pro customer, although as a teacher/manager in a small school, I maintain many large databases in Excel. I would love to manage this data properly in a database but as a Mac user I don't have a lot of choice unless I go down the VM route. If Filemaker Pro is never likely to shed its legacy roots and offer the features I want, can't you just add reports and non-ugly themes to Bento or release a Mac/iOS/online Bento Pro?

Does it talk with THE office suite, iWork, from that totally unrelated company, Apple? NO!

Sadly, Filemaker has not been brought into the modern Mac age. It is looking long in the tooth, a legacy from its past. Too bad, the Mac really needs a reasonably powered, yet easy to use, customizable database environment. In some ways, Bento exhibits some nice needed features, such as Smart Folders. But Bento is incredibly limited even for layout design. If Filemaker is to re-position Filemaker and Filemaker iOS as a rapid application development tool, then maybe folks at its parent company need to assist. The user interface capabilities are increasingly oh so important. What Filemaker needs: a fundamental re-think, and re-build.

contacted Filemaker about several serious bugs that make using 11.02 impossible. they were able to reproduce the problem and confirmed the bugs. now after six months they finally release 11.03 and no fixes. Filemaker get your act together.

Not support Thai.

tried installing the 11.0v2 update on 2 difference machines so far. both would get nearly 98% done with the install and then fail saying a valid copy of Filemaker v11 could not be found. both had valid copies of Filemaker 11.0v1. the bunk installs don't seem to have 'ruined' the existing install. but i am not ever able to get the actual update.

Within minutes I am stymied and repelled by conventions which seem quite unlike any other OS X app: Can't undo most actions. Can't select text from a list, like a spreadsheet. I just want to be able to do this occasionally. Can't seem to format a column, just one item at a time! Pop-ups in a form don't work like in OS X - it's like a clumsy webpage. Lists are just ugly. Form design looks ugly, as it did 6 years ago. There's an image field but I can't drag an image to it. etc... I know I shouldn't pass judgement in minutes but every year I try to get into Filemaker. I owned, used and largely disliked v7 or 8 for a while. I'd just like an easy to use database with a few decent reporting features. Why can't they make an app with the ease and style of Bento and some of the features of Filemaker?

This company seems to be copping a lot of flack for their pricing, but I actually think $299 is pretty reasonable. I've only been testing it for a couple of weeks but am pretty impressed so far by its speed, stability, and feature set. If you're considering spending $49 on Bento, I'd strongly advise against wasting your money on a rubbish product. If possible, you'd be better to stretch your budget and get a proper robust database with great data transforming and import/export features. Filemaker even comes with templates for things like CD and movie libraries. For me, Filemaker seems to fill a need left vacant by spreadsheet software like Excel, and the even more limited Numbers. It seems there were download and registration problems early, so maybe they underestimated the popularity of the trial. A 30 day unrestricted trial gives you plenty of time to asses it also.

I don't think a graphic of some charts sitting on a surface with a little blurb above is the same thing as a screenshot, but whatever.

Heads up: 1. It took about 30 minutes to get the email link for the trial (as of 9:40am ET) 2. The trial link landing page says version 11 everywhere, but the download is still serving up version 10. Looks like FM needs a bit more time to sort this out...

I take issue with the user BIBERKOPF's review of September 16, 2009. I am not a developer and cannot offer a detailed analysis of this software but I do have a short comment on one of the claims in that review: "send email from server or client via smtp". Have you actually tried to send email from FM Pro? Today I lost more than an hour of my time trying to do just that. Unless there is undocumented info on how to do that, you CANNOT send email with the content of a layout in the found set of records. In my case this was simply a letter with one variable field, the name of the recipient. After long and frustrating experiments I had to copy and paste the contents into the message field and replace the personal name with an impersonal "Customer". This kind of "functionality" is simply idiotic. Moreover, the email dialog box exhibited unstable behavior -- different results for the same inputs. You can add to that this crown jewel of developer's newspeak: "cannot send email successfully"(?!) as a notification of a failed attempt. Actually, there are more problems with that dialog box. Once the send fails, you can no longer edit the address, cc, and bcc fields -- you immediately get another failure notification. It also appears that the subject field does not like phrases starting with numbers, for example, 2010. I am also puzzled by the "collect addresses across found set" check box under the BCC field. Doesn't it defeat the purpose of the BCC field, at least according to the warning in the FM Help section? Speaking of the check boxes, they get checked even when you click outside those boxes(?!) This is particularly bad because of the disastrous consequences of that action when, again according to the Help section, say, 10 recipients would receive 10 emails instead of one. (Now, the Help section also gives you food for thought: at one point it claim that under Mac OS X you can only use Entourage as a mail client, but in a different place it claims that Apple Mail can be used). All that brings me to the final point -- do all other items in BIBERKOPF's list work the same way as email does? Also, where does the $300 price tag fit in all that?

This just may be the final straw for me - Filemaker is the MOST frustrating product to work with. Now it's a problem with activation - I have just migrated across to a new 27" iMac and in every other respect this has been a pretty straightforward process. However when I try to launch Filemaker Pro I get a dialog requiring me to activate. When I do it first of all takes twenty or so minutes before a response comes back from the activation server, and this tells me that I need to deactivate my copy on another computer - presumably the one I've just migrated from. Fair enough, except that I don't know why it takes so long to get a response on this when I obviously want to be able to use the software as soon as possible. So anyway I go to the old system, connect it up and then boot it up. Launching Filemaker Pro and guess what - I get a dialog telling me I need to activate it! And no way of getting any further at this point - if I click the "Activate Later" button I get a dialog that says "A trial version of FMP has been used on this computer. Contact FileMaker or your reseller to purchase FileMaker Pro. If you receive this message after selecting Activate Later, then please activate your licensed copy of FileMaker Pro." This dialog also appears on the new system, even though that one DEFINITELY has never had a demo copy installed. So that's it - I'm screwed and because this is a weekend I have no way of getting any further because their licensing team is not available out of working hours. So all my data that is in FMP is unuseable and inaccessible on either of these systems. This is pathetic in my view - its shouldn't be possible to be so locked out of your data. I don't know what's gone wrong - I am a totally law-abiding purchaser of the product and yet I am unable to use it.

I'm surprised and really sorry to read all the bad responses to FileMaker. And as someone who has followed the product closely since version 2 in 1989, I have to say: It's utterly unfair! Some of you seem to judge the product as a cheap piece of shareware after 5-10 minutes testing. Others compare it to unnamed databases. Sure, you can get databases that will provide in- and output possibilities for free. I, too, use some of them for certain projects. But for differenct tasks than FileMaker. FileMaker is a full featured, extremely mature and reliable DB with a rock solid server foundation that you can build your buisiness on. Year after year. And with a developer environment, that hands you so many features and functions. If you add to that: • client-server with up to 999 simultaneus users • perfect cross-platform (Windows/Mac - alas, no Linux :-[) • web-publishing (instant, customized or xml-feed) • ligtning fast search in millions of records • flexible and intuitive design tools to build user totally customizable interfaces • send email from server or client via smtp • webviewer that enables presentation of web pages inside FM • tabs to cut down on presentation layouts • very low learning curve for beginners • direct SQL-access (read/write) to MySQL, MSSQL and Oracle • excellent, flexible and unrivalled reporting (print or pdf) • very compatible import/export posibilities • script triggers • customizable business logic • many exellent, cheap plug-ins to further expand the power of FileMaker (provides a.o. system and internet integration) To name just what spring to mind ... In the late 90's I was giving up on FileMaker. The developer platform was not moving anywhere. But with the totally revamped version 7 in 2004 things changed. Since then every single update has been a major one. Check out the frequency here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filemaker#Version_history Since 7 I have felt that the developers at FileMaker are actually listening and understanding what is important for FMP developers to get value to the customers - easy, fast and reliably. FileMaker is not Oracle - and shouldn't be, but I bet it could often do the job of many existing Oracle installation much cheaper, much more flexible and with less developing time. Still, what is more interesting is, that at a very fair price you can get your business up and running on FileMaker AND grow and scale securely and with an incredible flexibility while growing your business. FileMaker is a professional tool with amazing power if you understand and known it to its full potential. Unless you want to build a transatlantic tunnel or send rockets to Mars FileMaker can help you. However if you just want to keep track of your VHS-video-collection, don't bother. I'm surprised and really sorry to read all the bad responses to FileMaker. And as someone who has followed the product closely since version 2 in 1989, I have to say: It's utterly unfair! Some of you seem to judge the product as a cheap piece of shareware after 5-10 minutes testing. Others compare it to other unnamed databases. Sure, you can get databases that will provide in- and output possibilities for free. I, too, use some of them for certain projects. But for differenct tasks than FileMaker. FileMaker is a full featured, extremely mature and reliable DB with a rock solid server foundation that you can build your buisiness on. Year after year. If you add to that: • client-server with up to 999 simultaneus users • perfect cross-platform (Windows/Mac - alas, no Linux :-[) • web-publishing (instant, customized or xml-feed) • ligtning fast search in millions of records • flexible and intuitive design tools to build user totally customizable interfaces • send email from server or client via smtp • webviewer that enables presentation of web pages inside FM • tabs to cut down on presentation layouts • very low learning curve for beginners • direct SQL-access (read/write) to MySQL, MSSQL and Oracle • excellent, flexible and unrivalled reporting (print or pdf) • very compatible import/export posibilities • script triggers • customizable business logic • many exellent, cheap plug-ins to further expand the power of FileMaker (provides a.o. system and internet integration) To name just what spring to mind ... In the late 90's I was giving up on FileMaker. The developer platform was not moving anywhere. But with the totally revamped version 7 in 2004 things changed. Since then every single update has been a major one. Check out the frequency here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filemaker#Version_history Since 7 I have felt that the developers at FileMaker are actually listening and understanding what is important for FMP developers to get value to the customers - easy, fast and reliably. FileMaker is not Oracle - and shouldn't be, but I bet it could often do the job of many existing Oracle installation much cheaper, much more flexible and with less developing time. Still, what is more interesting is, that at a very fair price you can get your business up and running on FileMaker AND grow and scale securely and with an incredible flexibility while growing your business. FileMaker is a professional tool with amazing power if you understand and known it to its full potential. Unless you want to build a transatlantic tunnel or send rockets to Mars FileMaker can help you - and fast. (Well, not quite, but almost... ;-] ) However, if you just want to keep track of your VHS-video-collection, don't bother. I have no affiliation with FileMaker Inc, but I admit: I am a big fan and long time user as well as a prof. developer.

I stopped upgrading at 8.5. The pricing structure is a bit ridiculous. I can see FileMaker developers making a lucrative business out of selling companies on the idea of upgrading to the newer version of FileMaker for whatever reason. If 8.5 "breaks", I'll sell my copy on Craigslist and move on to something else. I would hate to believe FileMaker is the only game in town... Don Montalvo

"In just a few minutes, you will receive an e-mail that provides the link to the private download page where you can get your free 30-day trial of FileMaker Pro." Well I waited and waited and waited. Several hours later nothing so I tried again - same thing. Any correspondence I receive from FileMaker will now be deleted and advertising reported as spam. Bye

Raddle, $179 is better than my upgrade price. I have version 7 and was a bit shocked when I read "FileMaker Pro 7 or earlier. Purchase full version for $299.00" :-) The new interface looks nice, but for me the upgrades after version 7 -although good- have not been worth the asking price. I only checked the upgrade price out of curiosity, though. I purchased Panorama last month, and it's more than enough for my needs. I don't know about speed, but their databases are smaller than FileMaker's, and the price was VERY attractive thanks to a promo they were having (Panorama Twenty Year Anniversary Sale). It ended December 20, but who knows, maybe it still works. The interface looks a bit outdated, but it doesn't bother me. Panorama's upgrades for older versions are also quite expensive, though. Overall I'm glad that my money went to ProVUE. I don't know their current prices, but 4D is also another option.

$179 to upgrade from 9 to 10? No thanks. I'm done with this company. I don't mind paying for software - I do it often - or for worthwhile upgrades. But there's paying, and then there's being bled. I have slugged on with this software for years, and even bought the dreadful Bento. I'm tired of the company's attitude, tired of the continual price hikes, tired of being expected to shell out another upgrade fee to have software fixed (Bento 2) or finally made to look like it actually belongs on a machine running Leopard (FileMaker 10), over a year after the fact. Evidently they're solely targeting the deep-pocketed corporate clients these days, and that's fine, but it's not me. I'll go find something else to store my data in.

It's about time Filemaker updated the look/interphase of this product. It's 2009 now, out with the old, in with the new. - Denny Crane

Used FMP since ver4 and found updates GREAT. Very easy to build templates fast. VERY disappointed FM shifted emphasis from small to corp, esp with IWP now set at 5? users. VERY pissed at the cost of going from ver7.0 to ver8.0 to ver8.5. Ver8.5 really is ver8.0, what a rip! Monopoly as only Apple relational database hurts their clients. Downloaded ver8.5.2 update because I went Leopard & ver8.0 hung & now can NOT print to pdf in Apple printing dialog box. FM says they don't look for backward OS compatibility, so buy the ver9.0. Acts like FM and Apple don't talk to each other. What a crock ...

What are the options? I really would like to know...

It is a pretty clear that there are no other alternatives to Filemaker pro, if there were, Filemaker would most likely have changed their product and policys a long time ago. Cross platform and ›anyone can create a database› is a pretty good thing; and as far as I know, the only application of it's kind for the Mac. But Filemaker is in a CPR desperate need for some serious competition. The whole user interface looks like something made for a PC in the 80's - anyone who thinks Filemaker could not be better then it currently is must be blind or having a seriously bad taste. Filemaker's upgrade policy and backward compatibility stinks and that is about it for me. I am no power user but I need to create simple databases on a regular basis. I also like to know that the work I do is cross platform. So in the end of the day, I will still use Filemaker as I have not other alternatives. But if there were alternatives, I would be the first one to drop my money on it and support that product. Leopard came, Filemaker was not Leopard ready. Apple owns Filemaker!? I believe Apple will do something with Filemaker in the future, but maybe that currently is far down the roadmap. Maybe Apple does not have its focus on Filemaker at the moment and this is why it is as it is at the moment. As someone else said somewhere else on the net ›It's like Filemaker is the Bastard child of Apple› but Apple will do something with this bastaard child sooner or later this I am sure of. However, Filemaker in it's current form and shape is a slow sinking ship, it's the only ship in site so everyone is still clinging to it waiting for another ship to show up at the horizon. Apple knows this, and will someday do something about it and create a database application with a user interface that reflects THIS millenium, good support, cross platform and full of features for the power users (stuff I do not have a clue about). It will come, but until then we all have nurse and babysit the bastard child of Apple.

Wait... before I can even start with this, it requires the latest version of the OSX system? It takes us nearly 2 weeks to recover after every Apple system update, and I have to do it just to test a program that probably hasn't upgraded anything that really needs upgrading? Is the first bug update going to require 10.5?? And then the next version require you to have a Macintosh G6?? I've heard things about interface components changing (lines, font positioning, field boundaries and thicknesses altered). It did this in a previous version, but I never upgraded to it... Still using 5.5. The WHOLE package requires a system update, yet none of the basic controls use the OSX standard (aqua) interface (pull-downs, scroll-buttons, drop-downs, just regular buttons)? What the hell is up with these people? I can suffer with the antique interface, but an upgrade should have some features useable by at leat 90% of it's user base -- you know, features that have actually been requested and would be easy to implement... not just for the developers and web-professionals (which I am, but have never used any part of Filemaker for). I seriously need a cross-platform database, but unfortunately, this is the only program. Thankfully version 5.5 still works for everything required, but simple things in Access still haven't been implemented in Filemaker. So, I guess my databases and information continues to stay workable, but in the "stone age." No improvements or short-cuts for my users. Every time this program is "updated," I am seriously disappointed, and pissed off.

I though Apple owned Filemaker,...why dont they give it the apple treatment. UI seems a bit dated

Uh oh...FileMaker has contracted Upgradeistis, the affliction of depreciating value in software upgrade features resulting in more frequent paid upgrades...it's a slow death with known symptoms of bloatness, poor reviews and rampant piracy. I use version 7 instead of >

First, I have to state, I am still using version 5.5, and that is because several very simple things have not been corrected. These are too numerous to mention, and taken singly aren't much to complain about. However, 8.5 has very little extended functionality over 5.5 other than some web-support and much greater boundaries. Yet, 96^ of all users will never use that. Filemaker has the very worst customer support for professional users and with every upgrade I ask them technical details about the program and what it can do... and they can never answer. "Just download the trial." Well the trial doesn't install at work, and I'm not willing to possibly damage my current database with a conflict. They have also dropped support and functionality for several key structures in my databases -- why upgrade a 60,000 record database with Kanji and picture references, which won't convert over? They also do not take suggestions very seriously... You can't make a calculation to an item (like an image) so that it can be found and displayed, but this is incredibly easy in Access (cringe). They only just started working with scroll-wheels, but it's apparently very sluggish and jerky. And if you use furigana fields... don't. The conversions have "x"s and superfluous "n"s in them, and other things, that don't belong in Japanese translations (chinese, maybe, but that's not what the furigana fields are for). Since many of these problems have existed for over 3 years, I have to agree with the others, below, in the "upgrade" just for cash, theory. And, though I think that Spotlight should be removed, and all copies of it's code, burned... for those that rely on it, this function would be critical. But, based on my experience, you'll have to wait another 3 years for it. other than that, it's a great little database program.

Why do you have to upgrade if your current version is working fine? I agree they always upgrade to charge more.

$99 for this upgrade from FMP 8? And this after I just gave them $179 to upgrade from FMP 6 just six months ago? I should have waited to upgrade and saved myself the extra $99! This is a great way to lose customers....

I agree w/ the previous poster. Add to this, yet another developer that is trying to cash in on making the application Universal Binary but adding some minor, if not worthless new features to justify a full upgrade cost. It's pathetic! And this from an Apple-owned company, which mostly probably knew this switch was coming years ago. Well, at least they didn't have the audacity to name it FileMaker 9!

Since FileMaker 4, there were no improvements I really needed. BUT there is one thing I really need, one of the basic OS X features that even FM 8.5 is not capable of: SPOTLIGHT. Is it THAT difficult to integrate this? Just savour this: A database that is not ready for searches (external, Spotlight). Its only purpose is to store and manage information - but you cannot access any information from outside. FM 8.5 is 3 years behind!!! Who cares if it's Intel compatible? This is a gimmick, compared to Spotlight compatibility.

FileMaker Pro 7 is great. I continue to be amazed by how easy it is to perform complicated actions, create customized windows, simplify unusual actions. I've had a taste of Access and the difference is mind boggling. The difference between the two database programs would be using Access would be like riding a bike and using FileMaker would be like driving a Lexus. That said, could use a couple of improvements. Number one: Scroll wheel support. I almost feel like working on Windows version because it supports scrolling. Number two: Cut, copy, and paste functionality with scripts. Number three: Better functionality with the perform find script. I'm sure there are more improvements I could mention, but those are just a few that come to mind.

The lack of scrollwheel support is amazing. I can't believe that such a major application, especially one that is owned by Apple could neglect such a basic thing. There are several things I would use Filemaker for that I simply refuse to do because I can't use the scrollwheel.

Up to 7.0v3, and STILL NO SCROLL WHEEL SUPPORT. Hello, FileMaker Inc, a freaking division of Apple? It's 2004, way *way* past time to support this!!!

Is scrolling with the mouse fixed in this version?

I simply cannot understand the comments made below by a few odd individuals FILEMAKER IS BRILLIANT. I use Access a lot (for asp ect..) but it is crude and slow and un-intuitive filemaker could not be better James

OK, I don't know which program you all are using, but I absolutely love FileMaker 7, even with it's minor problems. Admitedly, I'm a FileMaker developer full time, so I'm sure that makes a difference. But it also seems that the program is still easy to use for the beginner. Major feature changes that have made my work day easier: Comments in calculations Comments in field definitions New functions (the Values functions, especially) Else If script step Single file/multiple tables Script parameters Go to Layout (name by calc) More Get (i.e., Status) functions (especially Get( CalculationRepetitionNumber ) ) Custom functions (Developer version only) Auto enter calc overwriting existing data Bidirectional relationships Grandparent/child relationship referencing Portal specific sort orders Better security model For me, custom functions and script parameters alone are worth the price of Developer. How anyone can say that there aren't any improvements with 7 is beyond me (which is what I still say about 6 vs. 5.5). Now, after saying all of that, I'm hoping that the new 7.0v2 will correct some bugs I've found in the last month, but I've not yet seen any reference to them.

This is a joke, isn't it? Firstly, I had to struggle with the conversion process, but expected this. Secondly, I couldn't open previously password-protected files without going back to FMPro v6.0. To top it all off, I discover that web publishing fails in Safari! Not only this, but since the FMPro interface in OS X is different to the web browser GUI, buttons and checkboxes, and fonts, all distort the layout. How confusing. Thank goodness I kept Internet Explorer for emergencies like this. No sign of any real improvements at all. In short, I had hoped that the web publishing components would allow me to avoid converting all my dbs to MySQL for a while to come. However, the opposite is now true.

It seems to have been Eiesmer-ized. For example, try 'About FileMaker Pro' -> Credits. "Credits are listed in the Acknowlegements document provided with this software." So much for credit given as credit due. Earth to Steve: if you're out to kill FileMaker isn't there a kinder way?

This really makes me mad. Version 7, and this darned program refuses to improve. It still feels like it has been ported from Windows. The icons make me feel I am working with a MS-Office program. Carbon-app means it will work cross-platform, but all the nice things that Cocoa brings will be missing. ODBC support on Mac seems to be non-existent (at least, I couldn't figure it out), and a joke on Windows. Cannot import Access db on Windows. Cannot even import a previous FP5 db with lots of different files into one consolidated db... you have to create each tables manually. Absolutely pathetic SQL support. Goshdarn... I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't expect much more... or I didn't want it to be better. Even the relationships builder is barely tolerable... well, actually, that is quite nice, but nothing compared to the work that XERD does (a 20 something kid wrote that app). Seriously, for desktop databases, Macs continue to lag behind.

Filemaker and SQL: how far goes the integration? There are lots of news on my favourite news search engine http://www.macminer.com/index.cgi?u=Filemaker+SQL, but will it really work? Data