Recovering Damaged Files

A file can become damaged from any number of causes: a sudden power loss, hard drive crash, or corrupted bit of software. Most of the time, if you close and reopen the file, FileMaker performs what it calls a consistency check and everything works fine. If that doesn't work, you try to rescue the file with FileMaker's Recover command.

To recover a damaged file

1.	If you suspect that the file's been damaged, close it immediately ( in Windows, on the Mac).
2.	Choose File > Recover.
3.	In the Open Damaged File dialog box, navigate your way to the damaged file. Click Open.
4.	When the Name new recovered file dialog box appears, FileMaker by default adds the word Recovered to the end of the file's old name (Figure 14.32). If you like, type in another name. Click Save. Figure 14.32. When it opens a damaged file, FileMaker automatically adds Recovered to its previous name. Change the name if you wish, then click Save.
5.	As it runs through a number of steps to recover the file, a progress bar appears briefly. When FileMaker's done, a status report dialog box appearshopefully with good news (Figure 14.33). Click OK to close the dialog box and return to your work. Figure 14.33. May the news always be this good: FileMaker provides a detailed report on how many records, fields, and values were recovered.