Specifying formats for fields containing numbers
- In Layout mode, select one or more number fields, calculation fields with numeric results, or summary fields.
- In the Inspector, click the Data tab.
- In the Data Formatting area, click Number , then choose a formats you want to use from the Format list.
- To specify that each value be displayed with the same number of places, select Fixed number of decimals and type a value. (A positive value specifies places to the right of the decimal place, a negative value specifies places to the left.)
- To specify a unit for a number, type a Symbol to display for the unit and choose one of the options in the Notation list to specify where to insert the symbol.
- Choose notation and color for negative numbers, change the decimal separator character, and choose a character that separates thousands at every three digits.
- To include a kanji separator, click Kanji separator and choose either the every 4th place or full notation options.
- Press Enter or Tab, or click outside the Inspector to apply the changes.
To display numbers |
Do this |
Rounded as needed or expressed in scientific notation, so the number fits within the default field boundaries |
For Format, select General. |
Exactly as entered |
For Format, select As entered. |
As a Boolean value (a value that is generally expressed as one of two values—zero or non-zero) |
For Format, select Boolean. To change the default values, type a new value (up to seven characters) for Show non-zeros as and Show zeros as (such as "Yes" and "No"). |
As a decimal number |
For Format, select Decimal. |
As a percentage (FileMaker Pro multiplies the value by 100 and displays %) |
For Format, select Percent. |
As currency |
For Format, select Currency. |
As scientific notation |
For Format, select Scientific Notation. To specify the size of the expression, select Fixed number of decimals and type a value. |
As nothing if the number is zero |
For Format, select Decimal. Then select Do not display number if zero. |
Using the current system formats for decimals and thousands separators |
In the Separators area, select System Settings. FileMaker Pro displays the decimal separator and thousands separator based on the current system formats when the file is opened. |
Using a different Japanese numeral type (if you’re using a font that contains Japanese characters) |
For Format, choose a display type. |
With different text formatting |
Select text options using the Appearance tab in the Inspector. See Specifying text formats for fields. |
Notes
- If you specify General format and the field value is a number with 10 or more digits, FileMaker Pro displays the number using scientific notation, or rounds the number, or both, if necessary, to fit within the 10-character maximum for the default field boundaries. When a number is expressed in scientific notation, you see a decimal number expressed as a power of 10, for example, 123,456,789,000 could be displayed as 1.2346E+11. If the field value is a number of fewer than 10 digits, specifying General format produces the same result as specifying As entered.
- If FileMaker Pro displays a number in a field as a ?, try enlarging the field boundaries in Layout mode to see the entire value. (When you print a layout with a field that is displaying a ?, FileMaker Pro prints as many digits as will fit within the field boundaries and truncates the other digits.)
- Numbers formatted as decimals are rounded when the number of decimal digits exceeds the specified fixed number of decimal digits. (For example, if you enter 789.78 and you specify 3 fixed digits, you see 789.780 in the field; if you specify 0 fixed digits, you see 790; if you specify -2 fixed digits, you see 800.) However, FileMaker Pro stores and uses the unrounded number for calculations and summaries.
- Only numbers are displayed and printed in a number field formatted as decimal (except for separators and notations specified in the Inspector). To display text and symbols (for example, @1.98 per pound) in a number field, select As entered. If you use the field in a calculation or summary, only the numeric value is used.
- If you specify the format as Boolean, any values in the number field that contain non-numeric data display as blank because they do not contain any numeric content. For example, the value "ABC" would display as blank. However, non-numeric field content returns false in calculations.