Defining date fields

Contents > Creating a database > Defining database fields > Defining date fields

Defining date fields

Use date fields to store:

dates you need to sort or search through

dates used in calculation formulas or summary fields

Date fields can store values from January 1, 0001 to December 31, 4000.

Important To avoid confusion when using dates in FileMaker Pro, always use four-digit years. For more information, see Conversion of dates with two-digit years.

To define date fields:

1.	With the database open, choose File menu > Manage > Database.

2.	In the Manage Database dialog box, click the Fields tab.

3.	If your database contains more than one table, select the appropriate table from the Table list.

4.	For Field Name, type a name for the field.

See About naming fields.

5.	For Type, select Date.

6.	Click Create.

7.	To set options for the field, click Options.

See Setting options for fields. To make sure dates are always entered with four-digit years, see Defining field validation.

8.	Continue to define fields, or click OK.

Notes

The separators in date fields and the order in which the date parts appear depend on the system formats set for the file and the display format for the field. To change the display format for a field (for example, July 7, 2009 or 7/7/2009), set options in the Date Format dialog box in Layout mode. See Specifying formats for date fields.

New files and clones of existing files use the current operating system format for date formatting.

To specify how data in a date field displays (for example, to specify whether the date is abbreviated or shows the day of the week), see Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode.

If you are using FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can copy field schemas from one file and paste them into the same file or some other file. For more information, see Copying and pasting field schemas (FileMaker Pro Advanced).

Related topic

Working with data in date fields

Dates are not as expected

Contents > Creating a database > Defining database fields > Defining date fields