Save Records As PDF

Save Records as PDF [Restore; Append; With dialog: On/Off; “<output filename>”; Automatically open; Create email; Records being browsed/Current record/Blank record, as formatted/with boxes/with underlines]

Note To save records as a PDF file, your privilege set must include Allow printing, or you must set the script to run with full access privileges.

•Append to existing PDF appends the records being browsed, the current record, or a blank record after the last page of the specified PDF file. When you append records, the PDF Options dialog box settings in the Document and Initial View tabs are ignored, but the settings in the Security tab are maintained.

•With dialog specifies whether to display dialog boxes when the script step is performed, if a file has already been specified.

•Specify output file allows you to specify the file path. Choose the folder you want to save to, or type the file path directly into the list. Specify one path per line. FileMaker Pro will use the first path it locates. See Creating file paths. You can choose to Automatically open file or you can choose to Create email with file as attachment after saving.

If FileMaker Pro executes a script that does not specify an absolute path, and the database file containing the script is hosted, the path is assumed to be the current user’s Documents folder.

•Specify options displays the "Save Records as PDF" Options dialog box. From the Save list, choose Records being browsed, Current record, or Blank record. If you select Blank record, the Appearance list is enabled. The Appearance list allows you to specify formatting options for fields: as formatted in FileMaker, with boxes, with underlines, or with placeholder text.

•In the Document tab, you can specify descriptive information for the PDF file. For each of the options in the document tab, you can enter text directly, or click Specify to enter a field name or values from a calculation.

•In the Security tab, you can assign passwords to the PDF file, as well as print and edit privileges. If print and edit privileges are allowed, you can specify if copying and screen reading software are permitted.

•In the Initial View tab, you can define the initial view for the layout and magnification for the PDF file.


Where the script step runs	Supported
FileMaker Pro	Yes
FileMaker Server	No
FileMaker Go	Partial
Custom Web Publishing	No
FileMaker WebDirect	No
Runtime solution	No

Note OS X: Save Records As PDF is not supported in runtime solutions. However, users can print the current record to PDF by choosing File menu > Print > PDF.

•If you don’t specify the output file path, FileMaker Go uses the name of the window to save the PDF file.

Goes to the Products layout, shows all records, sorts the records, and saves the records as a PDF without prompting the user.

Go to Layout ["Products"]
Show All Records
Sort Records [Restore; With dialog: Off]
Save Records as PDF [With dialog: Off; "Product Catalog.pdf"; Records being browsed]

Finds all invoices with the current record's Customer ID, sorts, saves the invoices to a PDF, and appends the products purchased by the customer to the PDF.

Go to Layout ["Invoices"]
Find Matching Records [Replace; Invoices::Customer ID]
Sort Records [Restore; With dialog: Off]
Save Records as PDF [With dialog: Off; "Customer Backup.pdf"; Records being browsed]
Go to Related Record [Show only related records; Match found set; From table: "Products"; Using layout: “Products”]
Save Records as PDF [Append; With dialog: Off; "Customer Backup.pdf"; Records being browsed]
Go to Layout [original layout]