Exporting FileMaker Data

It's easy to export FileMaker records for applications besides Excel and PDF viewersin fact many of the steps are identical. Just remember that the target application (the one in which you'll open the exported file) must be able to read one of the formats listed in Table 14.1 on page 234.

Table 14.1. Using FileMaker with Other File Formats

FILE EXTENSION	FORMAT	WHAT FILEMAKER CAN DO WITH FORMAT
.fp7	FileMaker	Import data from FileMaker 3 or later) Export to FileMaker 7 or 8
.tab or .txt	Tab-separated text	Exchange data with almost any application
.csv or .txt	Comma-separated values; Comma-separated text	Exchange data with BASIC programs and dBASE
.slk	SYLK	Exchange data with spreadsheet applications
.dif	DIF	Exchange data with spreadsheet applications, such as VisiCalc
.wk1 or .wks	WKS	Exchange data with Lotus 1-2-3. FileMaker can import both formats but only exports .WK1
.bas	BASIC	Exchange data with Microsoft BASIC programs
.mer	Merge	Combine Merge file data with main file text to create form letters
.htm or .html	HTML	Export FileMaker data as HTML table
.DBF	DBF	Exchange data with dBASE III and dBASE IV
.XLS	Excel	Import data from Microsoft Excel
	ODBC	Import as ODBC, serve FileMaker data.
.XML	XML	Import and export XML data.

To export FileMaker records

1.	Before you export the FileMaker database, use FileMaker's Find and Omit commands to expand or narrow the Found Set to just the records you'll want. Use FileMaker's Sort command to then put the records in the order you want them to appear within the receiving document.
2.	In Browse mode ( in Windows, on the Mac), choose File > Export Records.
3.	When the Export Records to File dialog box appears, type in a name for the file and navigate to the folder where you want to store it. Use the Type drop-down menu to select a file format accepted by the application to which you're exporting (Figure 14.12). Figure 14.12. Name the exported file, set where it'll be saved, and use the Type pop-up menu to pick a compatible format for your target application.
4.	Use the After saving checkboxes to select Automatically open file in the target application, or Create email with file as attachment, or both (Figure 14.13). Click Save after making your choice. Figure 14.13. Use the After saving checkboxes to open the file automatically in the target application, create an email attachment, or both.
5.	When the Specify Field Order for Export dialog box appears, the left-hand list automatically displays the fields in the Current Layout (Figure 14.14). If that layout does not contain all the fields you want to export, use the Current Layout drop-down menu to select Current Fields (also see first Tip). Figure 14.14. Use the Specify Field Order for Export dialog box to pick and order the FileMaker fields you're exporting.
6.	After selecting fields in the left-hand list, click the center Move button to place them in the right-hand list of fields to be exported. To export all the fields, click Move All. If you change your mind and want to remove a field from the right-hand list, select it and click Clear.
7.	Once you've moved all the fields you want to export into the right-hand list, click and drag the double-arrows next to each field to rearrange the list's export order.
8.	Select Apply current layout's data formatting to exported data if, for example, you want to preserve particular text, number, or currency formats you already created for the fields you're exporting. Do not make the selection if you just want to export the raw, unformatted data.
9.	Click Export. FileMaker then places the data into a file based on your chosen format, which you open in your other application (in our example, a no-frills text editor) (Figure 14.15). Figure 14.15. FileMaker exports the data in your chosen format: tab-separated text in our example open in a no-frills text editor.

Tips

• In step 5, thanks once again to FileMaker's improved relational abilities, you also can use the drop-down menu to grab fields from any related file or table. For more information on using relational databases, see page 125.

• Also in step 5, if you're exporting records containing subsummary data, other applications may not be able to handle FileMaker's summary fields directly. Take the extra step of selecting in the left-hand list any summary fields, then click inside the Group by window to select a subsummary, and click Move. The field is added to the right-hand Field export order list. (See Using Calculation and Summary Fields on page 119.)

• The Specify Field Order for Export dialog box includes an option to ease cross-platform exports. Click the Output file character set drop-down menu and choose the platform or character coding system for the operating system (Figure 14.16).

  Figure 14.16. Use the Output file character set drop-down menu to ease font mapping problems when exporting to other platforms or character coding systems.

  

• Not every export format can handle the multiple values contained in FileMaker's repeating fields. Work around this by cloning the original file that contains the repeating fields (see To save a copy of a database file on page 37). Then divide the repeating field data into separate records by selecting Splitting them into separate records within the Import Options dialog box (see Using Repeating Fields on page 112).