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Working with related tables and files

FileMaker Pro uses related tables as the basis for relational databases and lookups. Relational databases allow you to work with data from other tables dynamically, so that you can change data in one place and your changes are reflected in all places where the related data appears.

Use relational databases to:

•	See and work with data from another (or the current) table in its most up-to-date state. For example, you can display data in related fields when you need current data from a related table, such as the current price of an item.

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Set up and manage data efficiently and with flexibility. Instead of creating many database tables or files with duplicate values, you store single occurrences of values and use relationships to make those values available. You can then make changes to data in only one place, which eliminates data duplication and promotes data accuracy.

•	Save disk space, because data is stored in only one place.

For information about creating relationships, see Creating relationships.

Lookups let you copy data from one table to another; once looked-up data has been inserted, it does not change unless you edit it or tell FileMaker Pro to look it up again.

Use lookups to:

•	Copy data from a related table and keep it as copied, even when the related data changes. For example, use a lookup to copy the price of an item at the time of purchase into an Invoice table. Even if the price in the related table changes, the price in the Invoice table stays the same.

Notes

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The related table could be within the same file, a FileMaker data source, or an external ODBC data source. For information about choosing the data source, see Adding tables to the relationships graph. For more information about working interactively with data in SQL tables, see Accessing external data sources.

•	All FileMaker Pro tables used in your database must be in FileMaker Pro 12 format. Files created with earlier versions of FileMaker Pro must be converted to the current version first. See Converting files from FileMaker Pro 11 and earlier.

Related topics 

About planning a database

Adding tables to the relationships graph

Creating relationships