Migrate your data

  1. In FileMaker Pro, open the file to be cloned.

  2. Choose File menu > Save a Copy As, then choose clone (no records).

    Important: Do not open the clone with FileMaker Pro.

  3. Make sure the source file is closed.

  4. Depending on your operating system, download one of the following:

    • fm_data_migration_version.build_win.zip (Windows)

    • fm_data_migration_version.build_mac.zip (macOS)

    • fmdmt _version.build_ubuntu.zip (Linux)

  5. Unzip the downloaded file and move the contents to a location of your choice.

  6. Linux: If you want to use the data migration tool in a standalone environment where FileMaker Server is not installed, you must install the data migration tool package. Enter the command:

    $ sudo apt install dmt_package_path/filemaker-data-migration_version.build_amd64.deb

    Where:

    • dmt_package_path is the location of the data migration tool package

    • version is the version number for the data migration package

    • build is the build number for the data migration package

    Note: The data migration package is located in the downloaded zip file for Linux and contains prerequisites needed to run the data migration tool. See the README_DataMigration.txt file.

  7. Use the following command at the command-line prompt:

    FMDataMigration -src_path source_file_path -clone_path clone_file_path

    The parameters -src_path and -clone_path are required. All the other parameters are optional.

    Parameter Description

    -src_path

    Source filename and path.

    -src_account

    Account name used for opening the source file. The default is Admin.

    -src_pwd

    Password for accessing the source file.

    -src_key

    Encryption password for decrypting the source file.

    -clone_path

    Clone filename and path.

    -clone_account

    Account name for accessing the clone. The default is Admin.

    -clone_pwd

    Password for accessing the clone.

    -clone_key

    Encryption password for decrypting the clone.

    -target_path

    Target filename and path. The default target file, source filename migrated.fmp12, is located in the same folder as the source file.

    -plugin_folder

    Plug-in folder path.

    -force

    Overwrites an existing target file. If you have an existing target file, you must use a different name for the new target file, or use -force to overwrite the existing file.

    -ignore_valuelists

    Uses custom value lists from the clone instead of the source file.

    -ignore_accounts

    Uses the account names, passwords, and the encryption password from the clone instead of the source file.

    -ignore_fonts

    Doesn't check the font mapping for field contents.

    -version

    Ignores any other parameters and only outputs the version number.

    -v (verbose mode)

    For accounts with the Full Access privilege set, provides a detailed report about the data migration process. For accounts with the fmmigration extended privilege, in both normal and verbose modes, the tool provides only a brief report without displaying any information about the schema.

    -q (quiet mode)

    Doesn't provide a report.

    -rebuildindexes

    Rebuilds existing indexes during migration instead of copying them from the source file.

    -reevaluate

    Causes all stored calculations to be reevaluated.

    Note: Calculated values are recomputed and the orginal values might change, especially if the calculation includes some of the Get functions, the Random function, or any external functions (because the data migration tool doesn’t load any plug-ins).

    -target_locale

    Locale name (see table below) or path of a locale text file. If you specify a file path, the text file must contain the JSON object returned by the Get(FileLocaleElements) function in a custom app with the chosen locale or by the Get(SystemLocaleElements) function on a system with the chosen locale.

    The following are the supported names for the target_locale parameter.

    System

    Arabic

    Bengali

    Bulgarian

    Catalan

    Chinese

    Croatian

    Czech

    Danish

    Dutch

    English

    Estonian

    Finnish

    French

    German

    Greek

    Gujarati

    Hebrew

    Hindi

    Hungarian

    Icelandic

    Italian

    Japanese

    Kannada

    Korean

    Latvian

    Lithuanian

    Malayalam

    Marathi

    Norwegian

    Panjabi

    Persian

    Polish

    Portuguese

    Romanian

    Russian

    Serbian

    Slovak

    Slovenian

    Spanish

    Swedish

    Tamil

    Telugu

    Thai

    Turkish

    Ukrainian

    Vietnamese

Notes 

  • The data migration tool returns zero (0) when it is successful, and returns a non-zero number when there is an error. For the meaning of an error, see the error message that the tool outputs.