Version comparison
"What changed between these two versions?" is a question FileMaker itself can't answer. Version comparison can: ingest two exports of the same solution and FM Fathom shows you exactly what's different, down to the attribute.
Set it up
Comparison is off by default and enabled per client:
- Upload both exports as two separate files under the same client (for example "Inventory (June)" and "Inventory (August)"). Remember that re-uploading to one file replaces its data, so two points in time need two files.
- In Workspace, on the client's card, choose Enable comparison.
- Pick the Newer file and the Older (baseline) file.
- Compare appears in the sidebar's Overview group.
Everything is framed from the newer file: added means "in newer, not in older" and removed means the reverse.
What you see
The Compare page opens with a scorecard: what changed, by area, with clickable drill-ins for scripts, layouts, fields, tables, table occurrences, value lists, and custom functions.
- Changed objects show exactly which attribute differs: a real line diff for long text (calculation expressions, custom value lists, function bodies) and a plain from and to for short attributes (a serial number's next value, a field's type).
- Scripts get a true step-level diff, including steps that were merely enabled or disabled.
- Layouts separate signal from noise: objects added, removed, or rebound to a different field are the headline; recreated-identical and purely cosmetic move-and-resize changes are set aside, not mixed in. A schematic of the layout marks and numbers where the real changes sit.
- Unified or side-by-side: one toggle switches every long text diff on the page.
Matching is by FileMaker's internal UUIDs where they exist (scripts, layouts, layout objects, table occurrences) and by name for the rest (fields, tables, value lists, custom functions), so a renamed script is still recognized as itself.
What it's for
- Reviewing a month of changes before a release goes out.
- Auditing what another developer did to an inherited file.
- Confirming that the only changes in a hotfix are the ones you meant to make.
Related
- Export your solution as XML: the same-version rule
- Clients and files: how the two-file setup fits the model