Projects: FileMaker Pro 12 Starter Solution

The Projects Starter Solution consolidates your projects and tasks into an easy to use database. It's one of the 16 pre-made templates that's available for you to start using for your database requirements. It's fully unlocked so you can view and modify the database tables, relationships, layouts, and scripts.

When you start out FileMaker Pro 12, just click File > New From Starter Solution… and select Projects. Type the name you want for the database (in case you'll have multiple of the same database), specify where you want to save it, and click Choose.

You'll be presented a new record where you can begin typing in the project name and description. Then enter all the tasks involved in the project with their priority, due dates, and persons involved. The project status, start and end dates, and completion is automatically computed for you! A Project Report button shows you a printable view of all the project information, and a Send by Email button sends a text version of all the project information to all persons involved.

The Project Report screen

Clicking the Project List button shows you a list of all records you've created, with an option to sort it by Project, Status, Time Frame, Start Date, and Due Date. You can filter the records as well to show all projects or just your projects. You can also import and export item records to any of the file formats supported by FileMaker Pro, or print out the project list.

The Project List screen

You'll also find a navigation menu on the upper right part of the database window. Clicking the menu lets you switch to the Tasks view to see all the tasks for all projects. The Tasks list can be sorted by Task, Project, Status, Time Frame, Priority, Personnel, or Due Date. The Tasks list can be filtered to show all tasks or only your tasks. The Import and Export buttons are available, as well as a printable view.

The Tasks List screen

The Task Detail screen

Aside from the professionally designed templates that look great on the desktop version of FileMaker Pro 12 (for Macintosh or Windows), additional layouts for FileMaker Go 12 for iOS and built-in scripts in the Starter Solution automatically show the best layout based on your mobile device (either iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch). Here's what the iPad layout looks like:

Project Detail screen in iPad

Project List screen in iPad

Task List screen in iPad

Task Detail screen in iPad

You can work with this starter solution in your iOS device in several ways:

• You can sync it with your iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch using iTunes.
• You can email the file to your iOS device and open it with FileMaker Go 12.
• You can enable FileMaker Network Sharing in FileMaker Pro 12, and open the file remotely using FileMaker Go 12.

Enjoy!