FileMaker for Windows

Product summary

FileMaker Pro makes it straightforward to organize people, projects and digital assets. For users new to databases, building and maintaining one can seem overwhelming; FileMaker balances capability with ease of use so you can create a working solution with minimal fuss. It offers an attractive graphical interface and layout tools that are especially helpful for beginners.

Getting started quickly

The application opens to a simple Quick Start interface that guides you through common tasks: start a brand-new database, open an existing file or access tutorials and help. One useful convenience is a single-click “Send Link” option that generates an email containing a clickable link to your database. You can edit that message in your mail client to include any instructions or context for recipients.

Sharing and administration without coding

FileMaker aims to remove some of the technical barriers that intimidate users of traditional stacks. It provides GUI-driven tools to manage connections and integrations with systems such as MySQL and Oracle so you don’t have to write low-level code to perform common administrative tasks. For developers already comfortable with PHP and MySQL, the primary benefit is the visual editor and layout-building features rather than new backend capabilities.

Charts, reports and layout tools

The software includes charting components that let you display data as bar graphs, pie charts and similar visuals. It also supports spreadsheet-style reports and a redesigned layout/report assistant to speed up creation of printable summaries and on-screen dashboards.

Who will benefit

FileMaker Pro is not a direct replacement for deep expertise in PHP/MySQL development, but it does provide a much more approachable environment for users who need to build functional databases quickly. Novices will appreciate the guided UI and fewer technical prerequisites; experienced developers will value the GUI and rapid layout editing when prototyping or producing admin tools.

Recent fixes and improvements

• Send Mail (Mac): Resolved an issue that prevented the Send Mail feature from functioning with Outlook 2011 on macOS.
• Printing (Windows & macOS): Corrected a problem where field text that crossed page breaks could be cut off horizontally in printouts, previews and exported PDFs.
• File reference handling (Mac): Improved the speed of opening hosted files that reference multiple related files when those files are resolved by DNS names instead of IP addresses.
• Printing presets (Mac): Fixed an issue where using printing presets created in other applications could cause FileMaker’s print dialog options to disappear on subsequent print attempts.

Alternative suggestion

If you prefer an open-source or free development environment, consider MonoDevelop as an alternative for general application development tasks.