Home > Designing and creating databases > Editing objects, layout parts, and the layout background > Formatting and setting up field objects in Layout mode > Adding borders, fill, and baselines to fields

Adding borders, fill, and baselines to fields

To enhance the appearance and usability of your layout, you can add or customize:

•	the background color or fill of fields

•	borders around fields

•	the shape of each corner of a field

•	the text baselines of fields

To add borders, fill, and baselines to fields:

1.	In Layout mode, select one or more fields.

See Selecting objects.

2.	Click Inspector in the layout bar, then click Appearance.

3.	In the Graphic or Text area, select the options you want to use.

The options you choose affect the appearance of the selected fields in all modes.

 

To	Do this
Add a fill color to fields	In the Graphic area, for Fill, choose a color or specify a color gradient or image. See Filling objects, layout parts, or the layout background with a color gradient or Filling objects, layout parts, or the layout background with an image.
Add borders to fields and set their attributes	In the Graphic area, for Line, choose a style (Solid, Dashed, or Dotted) from the pop-up menu. Then specify a line width and choose a line color. Choose All borders, or choose any combination of Left border, Top border, Right border, or Bottom border.
Add borders between repeating fields or portal rows	Click .
Change the shape of field corners	In the Graphic area, for Corner radius, choose each corner that you want to have a rounded appearance, and specify a value in points. The larger the value, the more a corner is rounded. Tip  If you are designing databases for FileMaker Go, use Corner radius to optimize the spacing between adjoining fields.
Add text baselines and set their attributes	In the Text area, select Text baselines, and then choose a baseline style from the pop-up menu, specify a width, or choose a color.
Change the offset position of the text baseline	In the Text area, select Baseline offset, and then specify a value in points to move the text baseline up or down.

If the current layout is set to show field boundaries in Layout mode, you may not be able to see some of the border effects that you have applied. To see the effects, do one of the following:

•	Hide the field boundaries while in Layout mode: View menu > Show > Field Boundaries to hide them.

•	Switch to Browse mode: Choose Browse from the Mode pop-up menu at the bottom of the document window.

Notes

•	To quickly change a field’s border or fill, use the formatting bar. See Setting the fill, line style, and borders for objects, layout parts, and the layout background.

•	You can set an option to show borders and fill on all records in a field in List View instead of on the current record only. See Showing field borders and fill for the current record.

•	You can set up an alternating background fill color for body parts to create a visual contrast when viewing lists of records. See Setting the fill, line style, and borders for objects, layout parts, and the layout background.

•	If you add a background fill for an interactive container, you can only use a solid color fill. See Specifying formats for container fields.