About choosing a field type

When you define a field, you select a field type based on the kind of information the field will contain. The field type determines what kind of data can be entered and what kinds of operations FileMaker Pro can perform with the data.

FileMaker Pro uses the field type to interpret the data for tasks like sorting records and performing calculations. For example, if you create a text field and enter numbers, you can sort the data only in alphabetical order. (The first character sorts, then the second, so that 11 sorts before 2.) You must use a number field, or a calculation or summary field with a numeric result, to sort data in numerical order.

Important Be sure to use a date field (instead of a text or number field) to store dates. To avoid confusion when using dates in FileMaker Pro, always use four-digit years. For more information, see Defining field validation and Conversion of dates with two-digit years.

You select the field type in the Fields tab of the Manage Database dialog box. To select the field type in Table View, right-click the column heading, choose Field > Field Type > and select one of the options for Field Type.


Select this type	If the field data will be
Text	Up to approximately 2 GB of letters, symbols, and/or numbers used as text per field repetition, limited by available RAM and disk space. Indexes nominally based on the first 100 characters of each word or value. Text fields may contain carriage returns.
Number	Values up to 800 digits or other characters, and the negative values of the same range. Index is based on the first 400 significant digits. Number fields can also contain Boolean values, to indicate, for example, true, false, yes, and no. Number fields can't contain carriage returns.
Date	Dates only. Gregorian calendar with a range of 1/1/0001...12/31/4000. Month, day, and year order is based on system settings when the file is created.
Time	Times only. A time field can contain the hours, minutes, and seconds portion of a time.
Timestamp	Dates and times together to reference a fixed point in calendar time. For example, 10/25/2014 2:39:46 AM.
Container	A file of any type, such as a picture, a PDF, or a multimedia file. You can set up storage and display options for the field. You can reference container fields in calculations and summary fields. You can't find or sort records based on container fields, but you can define text fields to describe or identify them. Then, you can find or sort records based on the description or identifying number in the text field. Files in container fields can be embedded, stored as a reference, or stored externally.
Calculation	The result of a calculation formula that uses field values from the current record or related records. The result can be one of these types of data: text, number, date, time, timestamp, or container.
Summary	A value that’s produced by summarizing field values from more than one record in the same table.

Notes

•	Any field type except for summary can store a global value.

•	In addition to defining a field and selecting its field type, you can create repeating fields, global fields, and supplemental fields.