Defining custom menus (FileMaker Pro Advanced)
With FileMaker Pro Advanced, you can create custom menus for your database solutions. You can add, edit, duplicate, or delete menus and menu items in many ways, such as:
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performing a script or script step from a menu item. You can also run scripts from an associated toolbar icon and shortcut menu.
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specifying menu sets for files and layouts.
You can create a menu by starting with a blank menu or by editing a copy of a standard FileMaker menu. You can duplicate a menu so you can make changes without modifying the original, or you can delete menus that your users will not need.
To create, edit, duplicate, or delete a menu:
1.
Choose File menu > Manage > Custom Menus > Custom Menus tab.
2.
If FileMaker Pro Advanced includes menus that do not exist in this file, click Update to add missing menus to the file.
3.
 
Click Create.
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Click Start with an empty menu.
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Click Start with a standard FileMaker menu, then select a menu from the list.
Tip  You can press Shift and click Create to create an empty menu, then click Edit to modify it.
Note  Default FileMaker Pro menus cannot be edited, so they do not appear in the list.
Important  When you delete a menu, you also delete its menu items.
For View by, choose menu name, display title, custom order (which you create by dragging items in the list), or creation order.
Tip  You can also click the Menu Name or Display Title column headings to sort the list.
Display the menu set in which the menu is used or display comments describing the menu
Click the Used in Menu Sets/Comments column heading.
4.
If you selected Create or Edit, you see the Edit Custom Menu dialog box. Specify options for the custom menu.
Note  The options you specify apply to the entire menu.
 
For Custom Menu Name, enter a descriptive name for the menu (up to 100 characters).
Include a comment describing the menu
Enter a comment about the menu (up to 30,000 characters). The comment appears in the Manage Custom Menus dialog box, not in your solution file.
Specify the title that you want to display in the menu bar of your solution file
For Menu Title, select Override Title, then enter the name (up to 30,000 characters).
Windows: To specify an access key, type an ampersand (&) before the character you want to use as the access key. For example, type &File to display the File menu with the letter “F” as the access key.
To base the menu title on the result of a calculation, click Specify, then build a formula in the Specify Calculation dialog box.
Note  You cannot change the title of the Help or FileMaker Pro menus.
Install menus based on conditions you specify
For Install when, specify a calculation that results in a Boolean value.
For example, for the menu to appear when the file is opened in Windows, enter:
If( Abs(Get( SystemPlatform )) = 2; 1; 0 )
For example, for the menu to appear when the file is opened in Mac OS, enter:
If( Abs(Get( SystemPlatform )) = 1; 1; 0 )
For Include in mode, select in which modes you want the menu to appear (Browse, Find, Preview). When users switch modes, the menu set changes to display only the menus specified for that mode.
5.
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Click OK to close the Edit Custom Menu dialog box.
7.
In the Manage Custom menus dialog box, for Default menu set for this file, choose a menu set. If you do not choose a default menu set, the standard FileMaker menus are used.
8.
Click OK to close the Manage Custom Menus dialog box.
Notes
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When you create a file, no internal structures for custom menus or custom menu sets exist in the file. The first time you open the Manage Custom Menus dialog box, FileMaker Pro creates these structures. If you click Cancel, you are prompted to discard changes made in the file. If you don’t want to store custom menu structures in the file, click Discard.
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To create custom menus or custom menu sets in a FileMaker Pro file created via FileMaker Server, you must open the file using FileMaker Pro Advanced.
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Windows: Choose Help menu > About FileMaker Pro, then click Info.
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Mac OS: Choose FileMaker Pro menu > About FileMaker Pro, then click Info.
When custom menus are installed, the dialog box displays “Custom Menus Active”.
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Custom menus display in FileMaker Pro and runtime solutions but can only be edited using FileMaker Pro Advanced.
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Web published databases do not recognize customized menu commands. For example, if you customize the New Record command to quit the application, this will have no effect in Instant Web Publishing; web users will see the default New Record command.
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FileMaker features only work if they are included in a menu. For example, if you remove the View menu from the menu set and do not have any scripted buttons on the layout to switch views, the mode buttons in the status toolbar are disabled, making it impossible for your users to switch modes.
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To add custom menu items for new features to menu sets created in previous versions of FileMaker, create a new custom menu and add the new menu item from the list of standard FileMaker menus in the Create Custom Menu dialog box.
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Shortcut menus display when a user right-clicks (Windows) or Control-clicks (Mac OS) an object or an area. If you customize a menu item that has a shortcut menu item, you also customize the behavior performed by the shortcut menu item.
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Standard FileMaker menus and menu items are localized based on the operating system’s language. However, if you customize the title of a menu or menu item, it will not be localized when the system’s language is changed.
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Standard FileMaker menu items are dimmed if users don’t have privileges to perform the menu command. Menus are not dimmed if you attach a script to the menu item.
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The Open Help script step displays FileMaker Pro Help, not customized help.
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A previous version of FileMaker Pro Advanced (FileMaker Developer) allowed you to customize the Help, About, and Scripts menus for runtime solutions. If you use FileMaker Pro Advanced to open a runtime file created in FileMaker Developer, any customized About, Help, and Script menus will appear as part of the Standard FileMaker Menus menu set. You cannot change them. Custom Menu Set 1 provides a copy of the FileMaker Pro Advanced standard menus.
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In Mac OS X, menu cropping may occur depending on the number of custom menus installed and the resolution of the display screen. To display all menus, reduce the number of custom menus or increase the screen resolution.
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Custom shortcuts can only use characters found on English/U.S. keyboards. You can also use the yen character on Japanese keyboards. If you use the yen character as a shortcut, the character appears as a backslash (\) in the Specify Shortcut and Edit Custom Menus dialog boxes on Mac OS X. When you install the menu on a Japanese system, the character appears properly as the yen character.
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In Mac OS X, you cannot use AppleScript to access the FileMaker Pro menu (or its menu items) if the menu is not included in the installed menu set.
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If you customize an action for any of the following commands, the corresponding icon performs the customized action. If you remove any of these commands from the menu bar, the corresponding icon performs the default action:
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In Windows, the menu item name for Close and the shortcut, Ctrl+F4, cannot be modified in the Windows System Menu of the document window. The Close behavior will change if the action for the Close Menu item is altered in the Edit Custom Menu dialog box.
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You cannot modify the names for Browse, Find, Layout, and Preview in the Mode pop-up menu. The actions for Browse, Find, Layout, and Preview can be modified and will be activated when the Mode pop-up menu is changed.
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In the Specify FileMaker Command dialog box, the Undo command in files created prior to version 9.0 is listed as Undo (Toggle). The multiple Undo command is listed as Undo. If your solutions are used in pre-9.0 versions of FileMaker Pro, use the Undo (Toggle) command.
Related topics 
Documenting developer solutions (FileMaker Pro Advanced)
Topics in this section
Creating and editing custom menu items (FileMaker Pro Advanced)
Creating and editing custom menu sets (FileMaker Pro Advanced)