Can you use FileMaker Pro 12/13’s Document Management Features without Server?

Yes, you can!  And you have Douglas Alder at Homebase Software to thank for showing us how to do it.  For some reason, I just assumed it would work, but it’s good to see someone do it–and write about it:

Many small businesses take advantage of FileMaker Pro’s ability to host up to 5 clients from a copy of FileMaker Pro, rather than invest in the more pricey FileMaker Server. Recently, I encountered just such a client who wanted to add some document management features to their solution and I wasn’t sure they would be able to do this without investing in FileMaker Server. Since I had already raved up FileMaker Pro 12/13’s greatly improved document management capabilities, I decided to dig in and see if it could still be done using just FileMaker Pro clients.

In my tests, I found that it is, in fact, possible to set the home directory to store PDFs on the ‘server’ (which is running only FileMaker Pro client software). I uploaded a file from another FileMaker Pro client over the network and ‘Eureka!’, FileMaker Pro intelligently stores that PDF in the specified home directory on the designated ‘server’.

It turns out the setup is pretty much the same, and you still suffer from the same pitfalls of using FileMaker Client as a server (no auto backup, performance issues, no fault tolerance, etc.), but it does work the way it is supposed to work.  Check out the nuts and bolts at the link.

More…Harnessing FileMaker Pro 12/13’s Document Management Features WITHOUT FileMaker Server | HomeBase Software.

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