Selecting and working with objects on panel controls

Creating and managing layouts and reports > Working with panel controls on layouts > Selecting and working with objects on panel controls

1. In Layout mode, select one or more tab panels, slide panels, or objects.

To	Do this
Select the front tab panel or slide panel	Click anywhere in the tab panel or slide panel.
Switch a tab panel or slide panel to be in front	Tab panels: Click the tab of the panel that you want to be in front. Slide panels: Click the dot of the panel that you want to be in front.
Select more than one panel of a panel control	Click a tab or dot to bring the panel to the front, then click again. Shift-click additional tabs or dots until all the panels you want are selected.
Select all tab panels or slide panels and all objects on them	Drag the arrow pointer to make a selection box that surrounds the panel control.
Select multiple objects on a panel	Shift-click each object you want to select.
Select objects on multiple panels	Select some objects on a panel, Shift-click another tab or dot to switch panels, then Shift-click objects to add them to the selection.

2. To modify your selection, choose options in the Arrange & Align area of the Position

tab in the Inspector.

For example, you can align edges of objects, distribute objects horizontally or vertically in the same way, or make objects the same size on one or multiple panels. See Arranging objects and Resizing and reshaping objects.

If you don’t see the Inspector, click Inspector

in the layout bar.

Notes

•If you save records as an Excel file, only fields that are on the front-most panel are saved. If you want more control over which fields appear in the Excel file, then export records instead. See Exporting data from FileMaker Pro.

•The objects on a tab panel or slide panel have their own stacking order within that panel. See Arranging objects.

•You can define a custom tab order for objects on a tab panel or slide panel. However, when you press the Tab key, you navigate only to objects on the front-most panel. If you want to automate navigation to another panel, use the Go To Field script step and specify a target field that is on the panel you want to bring to the front. For information on tab order, see Setting the tab order for data entry.

•If a script step specifies a field that is not on the front-most panel, FileMaker Pro selects that field and moves its panel to the front. If, however, the field also appears on the layout and the script locates that field first, the panel does not move forward. To have the panel move to the front in this situation, assign an object name to the field that’s on the panel and use the Go to Object script step to locate that instance of the field.