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Using supplemental fields

If your FileMaker Pro file accesses data from an ODBC data source, you can use supplemental fields to define unstored calculations or summary instructions that act on data coming from the external sources. These fields display calculation and summary results in the FileMaker Pro file without changing the external database. For example, you can use supplemental fields to display aggregated data from an external file similarly to how you use summary fields to display aggregated data stored in FileMaker Pro files.

To do calculations on ODBC data:

1.	Open the file with the link to the external data source.

2.	Choose File menu > Manage > Database.

3.	In the Manage Database dialog box, click the Fields tab.

4.	Choose the ODBC table you want to work with from the Table list.

5.	Add a calculation field or a summary field.

See Defining calculation fields and Defining summary fields for more information.

6.	Specify the fields in the ODBC table for which you want to calculate or summarize values.

The supplemental fields appear in the Fields tab for the specified ODBC table.

Related topics 

Placing and removing fields on a layout