Setting the fill, line style, borders, shadows, and padding

To change the appearance of objects or layout parts:

  1. In Layout mode, select one or more objects or a layout part label.
  2. In the Inspector, click the Appearance Appearance tab.
  3. To change the appearance of the object or the body part when it's in a particular state (for example, when a button is pressed), choose from the object state list (the second list in the tab).

    See Specifying the display state for an object.

  4. In the Graphic area:

    5. To add or change

    Choose

    The fill of an object (including the backgrounds of text objects, fields, and portals) or the layout part

    Fill

    The fill for the body part also affects the background of the table in Table View.

    If your fill setting does not appear in a portal, set portal rows to transparent. See Formatting portals.

    The border around an object or layout part

    Any combination of borders

    Border control

    The borders between repeating fields

    Borders between repetitions Alternate Row Border control

    The style and width of the border around an object or a layout part

    Line

    The color of the border around an object or layout part

    Color Line color palette button

    The curvature of the corners of an object or a layout part

    Corner radius

    Choose each corner to change, and specify a value (in points). The larger the value, the more a corner is rounded.

    Borders between portal rows

    See Formatting portals.

    The transparency of the fill color

    Opacity slider

    Windows: Drag the slider in the color palette.

    macOS: Click Other Color in the color palette, then drag the slider.

    A custom color

    Fill or Line

    Theme colors in color palette

    Drag a color from the color palette or the color swatch to the theme colors area, then click the color. (The light and dark variations of the custom color are generated by FileMaker Pro.) You can replace or add to the existing theme colors.

    The RGB value of a color in hexadecimal format appears in the text box. You can enter or paste a value of three or six characters.

    To set a specific color value, click Sample color button. Move the mouse pointer on the screen to the color, then click.
  5. To add shadows or change padding, in the Advanced Graphic area:
    • For inner or outer shadows on objects, or an inner shadow on a layout part, select Effects options. To change the appearance of shadows, click Pencil button next to an option.
    • For padding between an object's edge and contents, change Padding values (in points).

To fill the layout background with a solid color:

  1. Make sure the fill for one or more layout parts is transparent.

    See "To make an object, layout part, or the layout background transparent," below.

  2. Make sure no objects or layout parts are selected, then click anywhere in the layout background to select it.
  3. In the Graphic area of the Appearance Appearance tab, for Fill, choose Solid Color.
  4. Click Fill color palette button, then choose a color from the color palette.

    To use a custom color, see "To change the appearance of objects or layout parts," above.

  5. To change the transparency of the fill color, click Fill color palette button again, then drag the Opacity slider (Windows) or click Other Color, then drag the Opacity slider (macOS).

To make an object, layout part, or the layout background transparent:

  1. Select one or more objects or a part label, or click anywhere in the layout background to select it.

    Before selecting the layout background, make sure no objects or layout parts are selected.

  2. Do one of the following:
    • In the Inspector: In the Graphic area of the Appearance Appearance tab, for Fill and Line, choose None or transparent Transparent fill in color palette in the color palette.
    • In the formatting bar: For Line, choose None or transparent Transparent fill in color palette in the color palette. For Fill, choose transparent Transparent fill in color palette in the color palette. (To display the formatting bar, click Formatting Formatting bar button in the layout bar.)

Notes 

  • You can't set individual borders on lines, ovals, circles, tab controls, or slide controls.
  • Not all options in the Advanced Graphic area available for all object types.
  • Layout background fill does not extend behind navigation parts.

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