1. Decide exactly what belongs in the PDF
Before opening the PDF dialog, complete this sentence: “This document should contain…” For our practice report, the answer is “three fictional jobs for Cedar Workshop, sorted by job number, with no other customer’s jobs.” That sentence becomes your test.
Use a practice file containing four jobs: C-101, C-102 and C-103 for Cedar Workshop, plus N-201 for North Studio. Give one Cedar job a long description. The extra customer and long text are deliberate: they reveal selection and pagination mistakes that a one-record example would miss.
2. Use a report layout
A screen layout can contain navigation, scrolling portals and buttons that are useful while working but awkward on paper. Prepare a dedicated report layout in your practice file. Use readable fields, a clear heading and enough room for descriptions. Keep the intended paper size and orientation consistent while you design.
For this exercise, base the layout on Jobs and show one job in the body part. Place the job number, customer and description there. Put the document heading above the repeated rows. A child-record report is easier to reason about here than trying to print everything visible inside a scrolling portal on a customer form.
First inspect a short description. Then inspect the longest one. Increasing a field’s height may prevent clipping; it may also move a row to the next page. Check both cases rather than judging only the first page.
3. Find, sort and preview
- In Browse mode on the Jobs layout, find the three Cedar Workshop jobs. Confirm the found count and inspect the customer field.
- Sort by job number so C-101 appears before C-102 and C-103.
- Enter Preview mode and inspect every page. Check that N-201 is absent and that the long description is readable.
- Return to your report setup if the page breaks split the content awkwardly. Repeat the preview after changes.
The found set is the group currently selected for browsing; it is not always the whole table. A layout change alone does not explain which records a report should contain. Establish that selection deliberately.
4. Save and open the actual PDF
Use File → Save/Send Records As → PDF, or the PDF action available in Preview. For this three-job report, choose Records being browsed. Current record would export only the active job; a blank record is a different output again. Save with a clear practice filename and open it in a PDF viewer. Claris documents the manual PDF options.
Check the exported file separately from the FileMaker preview. Count the jobs, read the last lines of the long description, and inspect the final page. A file being created successfully does not prove it contains the intended records.
5. Diagnose the symptom
| Symptom | Check first |
|---|---|
| Only one job appears | Was Current record selected instead of Records being browsed? |
| Another customer appears | Was the find performed on the intended table and field? |
| Text is missing | Does the printed field have enough room for the longest value? |
| Extra blank page | Do objects or parts extend beyond the printable area? |
| PDF cannot be saved | Check the destination folder and your printing privileges. |
For a product such as Sales Starter, use its supplied quote or invoice export action. Its document layout may be driven by related line items and product scripts; do not replace that workflow with a generic export from an arbitrary screen.
6. Automate only after the manual result is right
A later script should establish the layout, record selection, sort order and output destination explicitly, then handle export errors. Keep the three-job example as a regression check. Also test zero matching records and a cancelled save dialog.
This walkthrough concerns desktop FileMaker Pro. Server, Go and WebDirect have different PDF constraints. Check the script-step compatibility notes before adapting it. Finished result: a readable PDF containing C-101, C-102 and C-103, in that order, and no North Studio job.
References
Use a practice copy and verify the result in your FileMaker version. Menu wording and platform behavior may differ.
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