Standard Window Sizing and Zooming

Back when computer monitors were small, we wanted FileMaker Pro windows to be as big as possible, so I set them all to “maximize”, so they’d entirely fill your computer screen, completely covering up everything else (including other FMP windows).

Well, now that computer displays have expanded, that just seems greedy. OTOH, there are times when you really do want a particular file maximized. You’ve always had manual control over window size and shape, of course, but you don’t want to have to be doing it every time you switch to a different layout. So now, for each individual file, you can customize window sizing and zooming to your preferences. You get to the control settings from each file’s Router (welcome) screen, by clicking for info on This Particular File, followed by a couple of clicks on the "next page" arrow:


Standard Window. You can specify what you’d like the standard window to look like. These are your options:


As you navigate to each window in a file, its size will be set to the preference you've specified:

• Maximize expands it to fill your entire computer screen.
• Resize to Fit shrinks it so that it’s just big enuf for its contents.
• Restore resets it to whatever size you had previously set it at.

You can also change these sizes manually, from the “Window” menu, or via a script. In addition, you can manually choose 2 other settings:

• Hide makes the window vanish from your screen altogether. Bring it back by choosing “Show Window” from the “Window” menu.
• Minimize shrinks the window down to a minimal placeholder in your dock. Bring it back by clicking on that icon.

Manual controls are in the upper left corner:


Use the red dot to close the window altogether, the yellow dot to minimize it, and the green dot to toggle between maximized and previous size.

Standard Zoom. Similarly, you can specify what you’d like the standard zoom factor to be. These are your options:


As you navigate to each window in this file, its magnification factor will be set to the preference you've specified. You can also change these zoom factors manually or via a script. In addition, you can manually choose 3 other settings: 25%, 300%, or 400%.

Manual controls are in the lower left corner:


Use – to zoom smaller or + to zoom larger. Click on the number to toggle between 100% and whatever your previous zoom factor was.

Do It Now. You should do this for every individual file in your system. If other people also use these files, get some kind of consensus before you arrive at your standard settings.

Changes to "Tag" and "Obsolete" Buttons

You should be familiar with the following arrangement of housekeeping fields and their associated control buttons, because they appear on every data-entry screen in the database system.


Henceforth the buttons will be treated differently.

Tag Buttons. The Set and Find` buttons next to the Tag box will migrate up to the top of the screen, where they will now be known as Tag and Tag`, respectively.


As before, holding down any modifier key while clicking on Tag` will offer you a chance to clear all found tags.

There are 3 motivations for this transition.

1st, having those buttons right within each individual record falsely implied that they’d only affect that single record, when in fact they affect multiple records, which is what the top-of-the-page buttons normally do.

2nd, the tiny Find` button that affected only the Tag box was too easily confused with the big top-of-the-page button of the same name, which performs general searches.


3rd, in general, gold buttons that do searches are labelled everywhere else by the name of the field they search on, which Tag` will now do too.

Obsolete Buttons. The twin Set and Clear buttons next to the Obsolete field will be replaced by a single context-sensitive button that will read Set if Obsolete is empty ...


... or Clear if it’s got a date in it.


This button does affect only the record it’s in, which is why it appropriately remains there.