FileMaker Pro 11 review

In many ways, this makes the Table view feel much more like a spreadsheet rather than a conventional database. That's no bad thing, especially as many people choose to use a spreadsheet for the sort of tasks that really belong in a database because they feel it will be faster and easier to set up.

Layout design has been streamlined by a new Inspector window that brings together all the formatting, layout and field options in a single floating panel. This replaces the old Object Info box and includes many of the items that used to be in the Format menu. Layout management has also been improved with the ability to group layouts into folders.

Developers and more advanced users will welcome the addition of some new script triggers as well as the new portal filter, which lets you define criteria for filtering the related data that's displayed inside a portal without altering the underlying relationship between tables.

Among other novelties, there's now a Quick Find feature that lets you search across all fields at once.

Also new is Snapshot Link, which allows you to grab the current state of a set of records and save it or email it to anyone else who's using FileMaker Pro 11. Any changes made to the snapshot will be reflected in the database, but not vice versa. This could be useful if you want someone to view or work on a subset of records without giving them access to the whole database.

The Recurring Import tool, meanwhile, lets you import records in read-only form from an external file, such as an Excel spreadsheet. The import can be updated manually at any time or automatically each time you open the database. Finally, the file format remains unchanged, with both backwards and forwards compatibility (without access to the new features) remaining intact, although you can lock a file so it can't be opened by earlier versions.

With a long list of other small-but-useful additions and improvements, this is one of the most feature-packed FileMaker Pro upgrades we've seen in a long time. It's a significant upgrade that takes an already good product to the next level, and offers genuine productivity improvements.

Author: Jack Webber