Note Talkers

Unfortunately the FileMaker Campus Productivity Kit did not pass my initial usability testing. While it may be great for those familiar with FileMaker Pro, I found the following items to be barriers to my readiness to adopt this program…

• Lack of Tab Indenting in the Notes. Goes to next field instead.
• Non-standard keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl- switches views, Ctrl-Shift- does the standard text formatting, like Bold and Underline.)
• Lack of toolbars. Especially Text and Navigation.
• Lack of conditional formatting in phone fields. Such as 1234567890 becoming (123) 456-7890, or at least forcing you to enter it in that format. Looks better and makes import/export to other apps easier.
• Can’t select rows in table view and other limits on copy/paste functions.
• To Do item status can only be Open or Closed. Also does not have subcategories.
• Other differences in basic navigation. Such as no “X” to close most windows.
• No install routine, just unzip to a folder. Makes install/remove easy, but means it won’t integrate into other menus and apps.

I would assume this Kit is an attempt to convert some people to FileMaker Pro, but I foresee it benefitting their existing customer base the most. They know the shortcuts/keystrokes and don’t have to adjust their habits. Plus they could integrate it into their existing databases to achieve a lot more functionality than just these five modules can provide.