FileMaker to Slack, Dropbox, Trello, MailChimp, ZenDesk and back. Automatically.

FileMaker to Slack, Dropbox, Trello, MailChimp, ZenDesk and back. Automatically.

At FileMaker DevCon 2016, I caught glimpses of the future for FileMaker and FileMaker developers. And Salvatore Colangelo’s Devcon2016 presentation drove it home by showing how FileMaker’s role in this future it to act a central information hub for a variety of web services: FileMaker to Slack, Dropbox, Trello, MailChimp, ZenDesk and back. Automatically.

And that is just the beginning

Virtually all cloud based solutions allow the use of web services to setup two, automatic services between themselves and a client app, such as a custom FileMaker App. Armed with the knowledge shared by Colangelo, a FileMaker developer can send and receive information from a FileMaker “information hub” app, combining the best parts of the FileMaker (easu of use, Rapid Application Development, lower entry level cost, more easily changed) with world class productivity tools already used by millions of businesses.

Here’s the description of the presentation:

Hundreds of tools — such as Slack, Dropbox, and Asana — have been developed for the purpose of coordinating teams. But if your team uses several of them, your information ends up scattered throughout the cloud.

This session shows how to use web services to link each of these tools to a FileMaker app, allowing you to manage your projects from a central hub while your team continues to use all the cloud tools that keep them productive.

Connect to the Online World

In the video, you will learn how to use web services to connect a FileMaker solution to these online services:

  • Slack
  • DropBox
  • Trelle
  • ZenDesk

Colangelo shows automatic connectivity in his demo:

  • Adds a project to FM, it shows up in Trello
  • Creates a folder on Dropbox and names it
  • Starts a group in Slack
  • Sets up a mail list in MailChimp

All in one script.

It gets better with automatic two way connectivity

For example, when a message is added in FileMaker, it goes to the Slack automatically. And when someone answers in Slack, FileMaker is updated.  Automatically, due to the ability to set a trigger in Slack that sends the information to FileMaker.

And Colangelo shows this capability with MailChimp, Trello, ZenDesk, and MailChimp.

There are demo files

  • A FileMaker example file
  • 3 PHP files that authenticate a source
  • A read me file

These files make is easier to get started.  Don’t wait – watch the video now, download the files, and get started with the future for you clients.


Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

Samuel Johnson
English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 – 1784)

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