Three functions to save time
There are three handy functions that most FileMaker users aren't aware of that can save gobs of time. They are all found under the Insert menu in the menu bar at the very top (top of the window on Windows, or top of the screen on Macs):
• Current date. You never have to type today's date ever again! Use the keyboard shortcut, hold the Command (or Ctrl in Windows) key down and type a minus sign. This works in any field, anywhere (whether or not it's a date field) and in Find Mode as well as Browse Mode.
One more tip about dates. To enter a date in the current year, you never have to type the year itself. For example, just enter "5/24" and FileMaker will fill in the year for you, with the result being "5/24/2016". Of course, if you're entering or searching for prior years, you'll have to enter the year by hand as usual.
• From Last Visited Record.* This has an analogy from the world of hand written lists. When making a list on paper, if a value is the same as it was in the line above it, we often use 'ditto marks' (double quote marks ["] ) to indicate 'same as above.' Perhaps a number of people live in the same city, so we don't have to write it out on every line, like this:
One more tip about dates. To enter a date in the current year, you never have to type the year itself. For example, just enter "5/24" and FileMaker will fill in the year for you, with the result being "5/24/2016". Of course, if you're entering or searching for prior years, you'll have to enter the year by hand as usual.
• From Last Visited Record.* This has an analogy from the world of hand written lists. When making a list on paper, if a value is the same as it was in the line above it, we often use 'ditto marks' (double quote marks ["] ) to indicate 'same as above.' Perhaps a number of people live in the same city, so we don't have to write it out on every line, like this:
This command is the equivalent to that, but with an added feature. Here's how it works: You click in any field in a given record that already has the data you want. Then you go to a different record, click in the desired field, hold the Command (or Ctrl) key down and type a quote mark (the key to the right of the semicolon). FileMaker will paste in the exact same value that that field had in the last record you were in. The added feature is that the records don't have to be in order for this to work. You can choose any other record in your database to start with (if the records are not contiguous, just click in any empty space on the layout to close that record before going to the new one). This single keystroke is much simpler than using the copy and paste functions and it doesn't require you to select the contents of the source field before the copy command. It also doesn't use the clipboard, so it will leave any existing contents there undisturbed.
*Note: Because my screen capture software requires that the Shift key be held down when making an image, the variation "From Last and Advance" is shown in the image of the Insert Menu, depicted at the top of this page, above. This variation allows you to paste in a value and advance to the next record automatically, in case you are inserting the same value in a number of records, one after the other.
• From Index. This is perhaps one of the most useful commands in FileMaker! Click in any field, hold down the Command (or Ctrl) key and type the letter 'i' (I, for Index, in this case). A small window will appear which you can easily expand if you have the screen space. In this window will appear a list of all the values ever appear in that field in the entire database, no matter what record they're in:
*Note: Because my screen capture software requires that the Shift key be held down when making an image, the variation "From Last and Advance" is shown in the image of the Insert Menu, depicted at the top of this page, above. This variation allows you to paste in a value and advance to the next record automatically, in case you are inserting the same value in a number of records, one after the other.
• From Index. This is perhaps one of the most useful commands in FileMaker! Click in any field, hold down the Command (or Ctrl) key and type the letter 'i' (I, for Index, in this case). A small window will appear which you can easily expand if you have the screen space. In this window will appear a list of all the values ever appear in that field in the entire database, no matter what record they're in:
For example, let's say you have 300 records with a 'City' field. But only a few cities are ever entered, such as Cambridge, Freetown, and Springfield. This function should give you a list, showing just those three cities, in alphabetical order, no matter how many records have each city. If you see "Main" or "02136" in the index for City, right away you can tell that someone entered a street name or zip code in that field that doesn't belong there. If you enter Find mode, you can use the same command again, then select "Main," for instance, click the "Paste" button at the bottom right corner of the window, and click Perform Find in the tool bar. You'll end up with just the records (probably just one) with the offending data and you can make corrections.
I hope this helps!
I hope this helps!