I’ve been working with FileMaker for over 20 years and the question that always arises is ‘Why do you use FileMaker?’ or ‘Is FileMaker the right platform to develop our database on?’.

This is part 2 in a series of blogs where I try and answer that question as best I can. You can read part one of the story here.

Part 2: Speed.

What happens when my FileMaker database starts getting quite large, say over a million records, will it still be quick?

As long as your system is well designed then it can easily handle large numbers of records, from tens of thousands to millions.  We’ve designed systems that can search and display the results, on sets of data over a million records, in only a few seconds.  But if you don’t design your system to be optimised for speed then, like any platform, FileMaker can slow down and make the usability of your system tedious.  Making sure the relationships in your system are optimised for the purposes you require and that relevant data is indexed correctly can make all the difference to the users experience.

So even with a complex system, running large sets of data, FileMaker can still manage your data efficiently and quickly.

Paul de Hallé

Paul de Hallé is the CEO and founder of Linear Blue, having set up the company in 1999 to focus on intuitive database solutions and web integration. Paul is a FileMaker Certified developer; and has also been a key player in the implementation of the FileMaker Certification program since it's inception with FileMaker 7. A regular guest speaker at FileMaker Business Alliance & Technet meetings in the UK and the FileMaker Developers Conference in the USA, along with contributing to various technical publications around the world.

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