Portal tour

Last updated 2026-08-16

Everything in the portal is scoped to one file of one client: pick the client and file, and the sidebar becomes that file's map. Here's the map legend.

The sidebar

AI: the built-in Assistant. Appears once you've added an API key.
Overview: the Dashboard, Compare (when enabled for the client), and File Options (log database mapping and other per-file settings).
Structure: the catalog of the file itself. Scripts and Script Steps, Layouts and Layout Objects, Themes and Styles, Tables and Fields, Table Occurrences with the Full Graph and Relationships, External Data Sources, Value Lists, and Custom Menu Sets.
Catalog: reference material. Every FileMaker function, every script step, and every error code as browsable pages, with the Error Catalog doubling as your per-client policy for which errors count as real.
Security: Accounts, Privilege Sets, and Extended Privileges.
Analysis: where FM Fathom starts drawing conclusions. Hotspots (most-churned and stalest parts of the solution, and who last touched what), Performance, Schedules, Incidents, and Server Logs, Unused, and the Kanban board.
Footer: Connect to AI and the Workspace (uploads and client management).

The sidebar only shows what's real

A few items hide until they have something to say, so a fresh file isn't a wall of empty pages:

Performance, Schedules, Incidents, and Server Logs appear after your first log upload.
Compare appears once comparison is enabled for the client.
The AI group appears once an API key is added.
External Data Sources appears only if the file declares any.

The top bar

Theme toggle, the Report a bug button (on every page; see Accounts), the notification bell for assignments and mentions, and your avatar menu. Admins get two extra entries there: Users & access, and Bug reports.

Search

Search looks through names and inside the logic: script steps, field calculations, layout text, and custom functions. It's the fastest "where does this live?" answer in the portal. For typo-tolerant, cross-entity questions in plain English, the AI side searches the same catalog.

Detail pages link everywhere

Every entity (a field, a script, a privilege set, a value list) has a detail page, and detail pages cross-link: a script's steps link to the fields they touch, a table occurrence links into its graph, a layout links to its objects. Navigation is meant to follow how you actually think: start anywhere, follow the thread.