FileMaker 18 Excellent – But Not Yet Ready for MacOS Catalina

10/25/2019

in FileMaker News, MacOS Catalina, MacOS Mojave

The important message right now is: don’t upgrade your Mac shop to Catalina just yet.  The following screenshot was taken today (Oct 25, 2019 9:33 am PDT):

The fine print below the table says: “Operating systems not listed in the table above have not been tested and are not supported.” Besides what it says, that means use at your own risk. The fine print also says these are the minimum requirements and FileMaker Pro Advanced may also work with later operating systems certified by FileMaker, Inc. I think we can take it that MacOS Catalina is not yet certified until such time as FileMaker Inc./AKA Claris, Inc. says so.

Waiting may be difficult to resist as there are clickable buttons regularly appearing on my MacOS Mojave screen that say an update is available “Updates Available” Do you want to install the updates now or try tonight? Button: “Install/Later”. Nothing like a little encouragement.

Here’s the Link to check for the Technical Specifications for FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced: https://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro-advanced/18-technical-specifications.html.

Besides this warning, a recent Filemaker update did come out: 18.03.317 and should be used to update your FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced if you haven’t done so already. I’ll keep an eye out for an official go ahead on Catalina and be back with a more reassuring message when the coast is clear. It’s likely another update will be issued to handle new features in Catalina. Last year when Mojave came out there were at least 2 updates before a general OK was issued and we may have the same this year. As I recall the OK on Mojave came out towards the end of November.

Other than this warning, we are using FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced for all our normal work as it has several valuable improvements. One improvement is a completely redone importing engine and process that speeds up importing from other sources and matching fields. Very well done, and it is different enough that you may want to read the help the first time you use it on a critical import. Existing scripted imports seem to work without modification.

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