Sharing a FileMaker 15 Solution with other Devices and Users

As a user of FileMaker Pro, you can setup your database files to be shared over the network so that you and other FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go users can access the same file simultaneously.  This is referred to as FileMaker Network Sharing or peer-to-peer sharing in FileMaker Pro.

The version of FileMaker Pro that you are using dictates how many FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go clients can connect to a FileMaker Pro host at one time.

If the maximum number of clients are connected, additional clients attempting to connect will receive the error,'The file "filename.fmp12" could not be opened. The host's capacity was exceeded, try again later'. Previous versions of FileMaker Pro could also be used as a host for Instant Web Publishing clients.  Instant Web Publishing was deprecated in FileMaker 13.

CONFIGURING NETWORK SHARING

In order to enable the file sharing capabilities with a FileMaker Pro file you must log into the file with an account name and password whose privilege set allows for the managing of extended privileges.  An extended privilege allows for the control of how users of a database file can access and interact with it when it is shared.  The[fmapp] extended privilege is the one that controls whether others using FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go can access a FileMaker Pro file that is shared.  Users do not need the ability to manage extended privileges to become a host of a file, but they must have the appropriate access privileges to change the sharing status of a file.

To enable a FileMaker Pro file for FileMaker Network sharing it must be opened in FileMaker Pro.  Once open, you must configure the network access for the file in the FileMaker Network Settings dialog box.  The FileMaker Network Settings dialog box is where you enable, disable, and modify network access to any file that is currently opened in FileMaker Pro.  You can get to this dialog box by:

The FileMaker Network Settings dialog box has a master switch that enables and disables FileMaker networking functionality for the entire application.  This dialog is also where you individually configure network access to the files you currently have open in FileMaker Pro.  Simply highlight one or more open files from the "Currently Open Files" section and choose the type of network access to grant them.

Once a file has been opened and shared, only the host machine can change the file sharing status, close the file, and disable Network Sharing.

Keep in mind if any of the FileMaker Pro files you are hosting have associated lookups, related files, and/or use external scripts, that they will also need to be opened and shared as well.

It is also in the "FileMaker Network Settings" dialog box where you can choose to not display (hide) a shared file to FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go clients.  This is done by highlighting a file and enabling the "Don't display in Open Remote File dialog" option.  There are several reasons why you may choose not to display a shared file, including:

• If you have related files as part of your FileMaker Pro solution, it may not make sense for a user to open these files directly.  Instead, you may want to hide these files and direct the users of your solution to open a "main" file that would access, as needed, the hidden shared files.
• You may want to share a file but you do not want everyone know that the file is shared.  In this case you can share and hide the file and only tell those that need to access the file that it is available and how to get to it.

Additional Notes:

• For performance and reliability reasons, it is not recommended that you open a file to host that resides on a remote or networked volume.  FileMaker Pro will warn you if you attempt to open a file as a host across a remote or networked drive.  Whenever possible the file(s) that you are hosting should reside locally on the host computer.
• To prevent others from attempting to directly open a hosted file across the network using the file sharing capabilities of the computer's operating system, it is recommended that file sharing be disabled on the host machine.  This includes storing your FileMaker files in a shared directory.  Attempting to share access to a FileMaker Pro database using the file sharing services of the host's operating system puts your FileMaker file(s) at risk for file corruption.  Learn More > .
• When acting as a host of a FileMaker file in a peer-to-peer network environment, it is recommended that you avoid processor intensive tasks in other applications while clients are connected.  The reason for this is that much of the processing of a hosted file is done on the host machine itself and not the client machine.  So, if the host machine is busy doing other things while hosting your FileMaker files, the client machines may experience performance issues.
• If you are the host of a FileMaker database, you can send a message to all the clients that are accessing your database.  This functionality is part of the "FileMaker Network Settings" dialog.  Simply type a message in the "Send Message" field and click OK.  Clients will receive the message in a dialog box on their monitor or iOS device.  The clients can dismiss the dialog box by clicking or taping "Cancel", or the dialog will automatically be dismissed after 30 seconds.
• In previous versions of FileMaker Pro, a single user database that was stored on a CD or DVD could be opened and hosted as a multi-user database.  Newer versions of FileMaker Pro require that you enable network sharing for the file before you copy the file to a CD or DVD
• Connecting to a file via FileMaker Go.