This product is a relational database program, with this version having Web publishing capabilities and ODBC import. (Note: For publishing your database on the Web and ODBC importing, this program requires Windows 95 or newer, or Windows NT 3.51 or newer, and a host computer with access to the Internet or an intranet via TCP/IP.)

Installation went very quickly and easily; just follow the instructions on the CD. There are three installation types; Typical - installs the most common options and recommended for most users, Compact - installs the minimum required options, and Custom - you choose the options you want to install, for advanced users. I used an M-II 300 machine, with 48 MB of RAM and a 32X CD-ROM drive, as my test machine and I did a Typical install. Installation took about 2 minutes and approximately 36MB of hard drive space. The Typical installation provided me with the program, templates, examples, dictionaries, filters, and a tutorial.

Even though I have used both the Macintosh and Windows previous versions of FileMaker, I ran through the tutorial, which took about 2 hours, done in 4 sessions. The tutorial is a FileMaker database, and provides hands on examples of using the program, it even explains how to plan a database. I strongly recommend that anyone getting this program go through the tutorial, to be familiarised with how everything works. I found this tutorial to be very informative, even though I have been running previous versions for years. The printed user guide is a little harder to work with, but comes in handy when you have a specific problem.

I played with a few of the predesigned templates and found that there was very little adjusting that had to be done to make them work for me. There are business, home and education templates.

My main concern was compatibility with previous versions, as I deal with people having version 2.1 and 3.0. If you open a version 2.1 file, this program will automatically convert it to the new format while leaving a file with "OLD" attached to the name of the original. Version 3.0 files opened with 4.0 have no problems; the one caveat being the new 4.0 features will not work. I have been working with and exchanging 3.0 and 4.0 files for a couple of weeks now and have had no problems with the transfers.

This version now supports direct import of Microsoft Excel worksheets (.XLS files), including versions 4.0 through 8.0. In addition, you can import a specific worksheet from an Excel workbook.

I have not been able to check out the web publishing features, as I do not have access for publishing to the Internet or the Intranet. I have been hearing through the grapevine that eventually my location will be hooked up to the Intranet and will probably be using FileMaker for databases. I also am not familiar with Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and have no use for it at this time, but for those for whom it might be useful, the documentation explains how to do everything and even provides a working example.

All in all, I did not find all that much difference between this new version and version 4.0, except for ODBC import. This opinion might change once I am hooked up to the Intranet for database publishing, but I won’t know until that time comes.

If you need a relational database, this is a good one, due to ease of use and setup. Great for someone just starting out with databases. No programming language to learn, easy to make layouts or adjust those provided. For more information visit http://www.filemaker.com.