Most FileMaker Slowdowns Aren't FileMaker's Fault

It Usually Starts Quietly

Somewhere around year three, a FileMaker solution starts feeling different.

It is not broken. It still works. Users can still do what they need to do.

It just feels heavier.

Screens take longer to open. Reports take longer to load. Simple actions start taking more time than they should.

That is usually when someone calls.

The Problem Is Often The Design

In most cases, FileMaker itself is not the problem.

The slowdown usually comes from decisions that were made early in the life of the system.

A calculation was left unstored because it was faster to build that way.

A layout created for one workflow became the layout everyone uses.

A script written years ago loops through thousands of records one at a time because it was never updated.

At the time, these choices were reasonable. The problem is that the system grew, but those decisions stayed the same.

Working Doesn’t Always Mean Performing

A FileMaker solution can run for years and still have performance issues hiding underneath.

There is a difference between something that works and something that performs well.

A script finishing successfully does not always mean it is written efficiently.

A layout loading correctly does not always mean it is loading only what it needs.

Most Systems Don’t Need A Rebuild

The good news is that most slow FileMaker systems do not need to be rebuilt from scratch.

They usually need an audit.

Look for things like:

• Unstored calculations that could be stored or optimized.
• Layouts loading fields that are not actually needed.
• Scripts doing unnecessary loops.
• Processes where FileMaker Server could handle more of the workload.

The Weight Was Added Over Time

Most performance problems are not caused by one big mistake.

They come from small decisions that add up over the years.

The same way the weight was added, it can be removed.

One optimization at a time.