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Learn FileMaker FAST!

Now it’s easier than ever to tap into the benefits of FileMaker 8.5 by taking advantage of our FREE eBook offer.

For a limited time, get the FREE eBook "Creating a Database in FileMaker 8.5: Visual QuickProject Guide" when you buy and register FileMaker Pro 8.5 and other qualifying products.

Offer expires June 28, 2007.

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Join FileMaker at Macworld Expo 2007

Visit us in booth #1225 to see in-depth demos of the new FileMaker Web Viewer, the FileMaker Learning Center, and much more. Our presentations and demos will help you learn how FileMaker lets you manage people, projects, assets and more – the easy way, and why it’s the #1-selling easy-to-use database software. Talk to FileMaker product managers, tech support staff, developer relations and sales reps.

Visit the experts in the FileMaker Pavilion booth #1236 who are waiting to show you real-world solutions to get organized, grow your business, and take your use of FileMaker to the next level of productivity.

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Listen to the "FileMaker Files" Podcast

Get organized with Liz Franklin
Liz Franklin, author of "How to Get Organized Without Resorting to Arson," and an avid FileMaker user is featured on the FileMaker Files discussing how to use FileMaker Pro for your small business and other organization tips.

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FileMaker Web Seminars: Connect with Knowledge

Take a look at the archive of FileMaker Web Seminars and learn more about FileMaker products. They're FREE and take place on your Web browser. See a range of topics for the beginner or advanced user.

View Archive»

Tell your story to the world!
Are you excited about the new features you are using in FileMaker Pro 8.5 or FileMaker Pro 8.5 Advanced and would like to tell the world about it? You can! We're eager to let you tell your story on our Customer Stories pages.

Support Corner

Need a question answered?
FileMaker Customer Service is dedicated to providing our customers with the best non-technical service possible. Non-technical service includes pricing, product availability, pre-sales questions and promotions.

Simply go to the FileMaker Knowledge Base. and ask away!
The FileMaker Support Team

Tips and tricks

Find Symbols in FileMaker Pro
Regular finds may not be enough for some of your database searching needs. Find out about your other searching options.
Compiled by Stuart Gripman

Regular finds are terrific for a solid majority of your database searching needs, but there are many situations where they just aren't enough. When you need to find records that don't match very specific queries like "Smith," find symbols are your ticket.

In Issue 2 of this journal, I discussed find symbols -- special characters you enter as part of your find request that cause FileMaker to search the data in special ways. Whenever you enter Find mode, they're sitting over there in the Status Area to the left, just waiting for you to click the Symbols button and try them out.

I didn't get to finish the entire list of find symbols in that issue, so I'm finishing up here with Empty values, Omit and a couple of helpful hints.

Empty values
Clients often say to me, "I know how to search for data in a field, but sometimes I need to find records where the field is blank. How do I search for something that is not there?" FileMaker provides an easy way to do this. Enter Find mode and type an equals sign in the field you want to search. FileMaker will find the records with no data in that field.

Omit (not a symbol)
Suppose you want to find every record except those that match your criteria? Let's say you have a geneolagy database and most of the people in it have the last name "Simpson," but you need to find all the non-Simpson records. In this sceanrio, you'd enter find mode and type "Simpson" in the last name field. Before you click the Find button though, check that "Omit" box just above it. Voila. FileMaker will present you with everyone who's last name isn't Simpson.

Helpful hints
When you perform a find, the way FileMaker executes your find request has a lot to do with how your fields are defined. When you create fields in the Define Database window, you must select a type for each field: text, date, time, number, calculation, etc. Here's where things can get tricky. If you've been typing dates into a text field, FileMaker treats those dates as plain text and a find for, say, a date range in that field will fail. Likewise, if you've been entering numbers into a text field and perform a find for "< 20" you may not get the results you expect. It's important to define your fields accurately so that you can get the find results you need.

How not to find
This one may seem obvious, but it took a while to dawn on me. If you enter Find mode and decide that you don't actually want to perform a Find, how do you get out? Just switch to Browse mode. FileMaker will return you to your previous state with the found set, sort order, and active record restored. Phew.

Comparison operators
Remember learning greater-than and less-than in elementary school where the crocodile opens its mouth toward the larger number? Or was that just for my benefit as a second grader? Well those symbols are comparison operators. It's probably obvious to you that performing a find for "< 20" in a number field will return records will values less than twenty. What may not be obvious is that you can use these operators in time and date fields too. In this context, think of "less than" as "before" and "greater than" as "after." A find for "< 1/1/2006" in a date field will return records with dates before the first of January 2006. 

Feel free to experiment and try things out. Finds never alter your database, so you can play around all you want without jeopardizing your data. Once you get the hang of individual find techniques, you’ll start combining them to construct advanced queries that quickly find just the records you seek.