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Buy — £39

Looking for a FileMaker Pro alternative? Read this first.

Get your old .fp5 database back — as a clean spreadsheet.

Searching for a FileMaker Pro alternative? Fetchavo is not one — it does not build tables, layouts or scripts, and it is not somewhere to run a live database going forward. If current FileMaker won’t open your old .fp3 or .fp5 file, Fetchavo can still get the data out — as CSV, XLSX or JSON.

If your old .fp3 or .fp5 file — the kind that ran countless offices and personal databases through the 2000s — won’t open in modern FileMaker, the usual conversion route is a chain of upgrades through intermediate FileMaker versions, which needs licences and installs you may no longer have. Fetchavo is a Windows and Mac tool that reads your own legacy database, read-only, and recovers the tables, field names and the records it can read straight out to CSV, XLSX and JSON you can open in Excel, Numbers or anything else — all on your own computer.

Platform, plainly: Windows and Mac — Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), and macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon. One purchase covers both.

  • Your original database is never changed — read-only
  • Stays on your computer — nothing uploaded, no account
  • Buy once — yours forever, no subscription
Buy Fetchavo — £39 See what it recovers

A recovery tool from High Caliber. Independent — not affiliated with Claris or FileMaker.

Recovers your legacy FileMaker databases to clean CSV. £39 one-time.

.fp5 database opened
Field names & types
Records → CSV, XLSX, JSON
Honest recovery report

What it does — 30 seconds

A quick look at Fetchavo.

What the tool actually does: read a legacy FileMaker .fp3 or .fp5 database on your own computer, give you back the field names and every record, and leave the original untouched. Captions on — no sound needed.

Fetchavo — by High Caliber. This is an animated overview of what the tool does — an illustration, not a screen recording of the app. Your original files are only ever read.

The problem

The database still exists. Nothing will open it.

Small businesses, clubs, researchers and households built real records in FileMaker Pro through the 1990s and 2000s — customer lists, inventories, collections, contacts. When those files are .fp3 or .fp5, today’s FileMaker simply refuses them, and the migration chain that could once open them needs a running copy of the old software. Fetchavo is built so the file isn’t a dead end: open it, read the table inside, and get your rows out as a spreadsheet — without a subscription, and without sending anything anywhere.

Reads onlyYour source database is opened as an input and never written back to.
Local by designRecovery runs entirely on your own computer — no upload and no account. The only things the app ever sends are your licence key and a device identifier (a one-way hash, not your name and not your file names), to Lemon Squeezy, to confirm your purchase.
Open exportContent comes out as standard CSV (RFC 4180), an XLSX workbook, structured JSON and a readable SCHEMA.txt, plus a JSON recovery report — no lock-in.

What it recovers

What Fetchavo gets back for you.

A FileMaker file is a structured container. Fetchavo reads that structure directly — no copy of FileMaker needed — and pulls out the parts of your database it can honestly recover. Here is the real scope of the tool. Where something can’t be read, it is reported as missing.

Your field names The table’s column (field) names are read from the file’s own metadata, so your spreadsheet has real headers — not Column1, Column2. Each field is marked text or number where that is positively decoded, and unknown where it isn’t; an unknown value is exported exactly as stored, never reformatted.
The records → four files The records the file yields are written out four ways: a clean RFC 4180 CSV (one header row, one row per record), an XLSX workbook with one sheet per table, structured JSON, and a plain-text SCHEMA.txt listing tables, field names and row counts. Long text cells are reassembled from their segments, and accented letters and symbols survive (MacRoman-decoded).
An honest recovery report A JSON report in plain terms: the creating-application string the file reports for itself (for example Pro 3.0, Pro 5.0), how many fields and records came out, and any integrity notes — including a warning when the file’s size doesn’t match the block count its own index declares, which can mean it is truncated.

Scope, stated plainly: this release recovers your tables, field names and record values from .fp3 / .fp5 files. It recovers your data — the stored field text. It does not carry across database behaviour: layouts, scripts, calculations, value lists, relationships, container/media fields, or number/date display formatting are not reconstructed. Nor can it promise a row count in advance — a damaged or truncated file yields what it yields, and the report tells you when it looks short rather than filling the gap.

Your files stay yours

Comfort and control, built in from the start.

These aren’t nice-to-haves — they’re the point of a recovery tool. This is how Fetchavo behaves, and how it’s built to behave.

Read-only on your originalThe tool opens your database only to read it. It never modifies, moves or overwrites the source.
Nothing uploadedRecovery runs on your own machine and your database never leaves it. The recovery engine carries a no-network ban enforced in the build, not just promised. The app’s only online action is checking your licence key with Lemon Squeezy — your data is never part of it.
No lock-in, your own filesExports are open formats you already use — CSV, XLSX, JSON and plain text. It works only on files you own; it does no password cracking and no protection bypass.

Compatibility & scope

What’s in scope — stated plainly.

We separate what the tool decodes from what it only detects, so there are no surprises. Anything out of scope is reported plainly, so you know where you stand.

Detected & triaged — not decoded this release

.fp7 (FileMaker 7–11) — recognised & reported as unsupported .fmp12 (FileMaker 12+) — recognised & reported as unsupported Password-protected / encrypted files — reported, never bypassed or cracked Layouts, scripts, calculations, value lists & relationships — database behaviour, not carried across Container / media fields and display formatting — not reconstructed Date, time and number reformatting — values are exported exactly as stored

A straight word on the newer files: .fp7 and .fmp12 are the FileMaker 7-and-later family, which is a materially different, obfuscated format. This release recognises these files and tells you plainly that it can’t decode them — you get a clear answer, not an empty export. If your files are .fp7 or .fmp12, email support@highcaliberapplications.com and tell us — it helps us prioritise.

Accurate recovery, clearly reported

What comes out is what was in there — and the report says which.

Field names and record values — recovered to CSV, XLSX, JSON and a schema listing Long text reassembled, accented characters preserved

Fetchavo decodes the FileMaker Pro 3–6 file format directly and writes your table out — one header row of real field names, one row per record — then tells you in the report how many fields and records it read. Where a value can’t be read, the report says so in plain English rather than filling the gap; where a file looks truncated, it says that too. A file that yields nothing is reported as unread, never as an empty success.

See it work on your own files first

Check what’s recoverable before you pay a penny.

Download Fetchavo and open one of your own .fp3 or .fp5 databases. Without a licence it runs a free preview: it opens the database and shows you the tables, field names, record counts and a small sample of rows, on screen, and confirms your original was opened read-only and left unchanged. Saving that out to files is what the licence unlocks — everything you can see on screen stays free.

So you can find out whether it handles your files before deciding — and if it doesn’t do what this page says for your files, there’s a 14-day refund.

Download the free preview Buy a licence — £39 Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) · macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon · code-signed, and notarised by Apple on the Mac

Pricing

£39 one-time. Yours to keep.

Fetchavo is a one-time purchase, in keeping with every High Caliber recovery tool — pay once, yours to keep, no subscription — for opening your own files. Licence for one person on up to three computers — for example your Mac and your PC, or work and home. Email support@highcaliberapplications.com to move it.

Fetchavo

£39 one-time · three computers

Recover the tables, field names and record values from your own legacy .fp3 / .fp5 databases, exported to CSV, XLSX, JSON and a plain-text schema listing, with a plain-language recovery report on every run. Windows and macOS. (Newer .fp7 / .fmp12 files are detected and reported as unsupported, not decoded, this release.)

Buy Fetchavo — £39

14-day money-back guarantee: if it doesn’t do what this page says for your files, email support@highcaliberapplications.com within 14 days and we’ll refund you in full. Prefer to check first? Run the free preview on your own file before you buy.

FAQ

Straight answers.

Can I buy and download it now?

Yes. Fetchavo is on sale at £39 as a one-time purchase, and both the Windows and macOS apps are available to download straight away. Run the free preview on one of your own .fp3 or .fp5 files first — it shows you on screen a summary of what it can read: the tables, field names, record counts and a small sample of rows. Saving everything out to CSV, XLSX and JSON is what the licence unlocks.

Which files will it open?

Legacy FileMaker Pro .fp3 and .fp5 databases (FileMaker Pro 3–6). For those it recovers the tables, field names and record values. Newer .fp7 (FileMaker 7–11) and .fmp12 (FileMaker 12+) files are a different, obfuscated format: this release detects and reports them as unsupported — it does not decode them.

Which operating systems does it run on?

Both. Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), and macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon Macs. One purchase covers both, and the same licence key activates both. Any questions about which one you need, email support@highcaliberapplications.com and we’ll help.

Will it get every single record out?

It gets out the records the file yields, and then tells you how many that was. On an intact file that is the whole table. On a file that has been truncated or damaged, it is not — and the report says so: it compares the file’s real size against the block count the file’s own index declares, and flags a mismatch rather than quietly returning a short table. Check the row count against what you remember of the database before you rely on it.

Will it change my original database?

No. Fetchavo opens your file read-only — to read it, never to write to it. Your original stays exactly as it is, and everything recovered is saved separately.

Does it upload my files anywhere?

No. It’s a desktop app that runs on your own Mac: your database is read locally and everything exported is written beside it. The recovery engine carries a no-network ban enforced in the build rather than just promised. To be precise about the one exception: the app itself goes online for a single purpose, to check the licence key you paste in with Lemon Squeezy. Your database is never part of that, and there is no account and no other upload path.

What exactly will I get out?

Per recovered file: a CSV (RFC 4180) of your table — one header row of real field names, one row per record, with long text reassembled and accented characters preserved — an XLSX workbook with one sheet per table, a structured JSON document, and a plain-text SCHEMA.txt listing the tables, field names and row counts. Plus a JSON recovery report of what was and wasn’t recovered. Open formats only, no lock-in.

Does it recover layouts, scripts or calculations?

No, and we won’t pretend it does. It recovers your data — the field values stored in the file. Database behaviour — layouts, scripts, calculations, value lists, relationships, container/media fields, and number/date display formatting — is not carried across. Field types are marked text or number only where that is positively decoded; anything else is marked unknown and the value is exported exactly as stored, never reformatted. The report states these limits clearly.

What about a password-protected file?

It’s detected and reported, never bypassed. If a file yields no readable structure because it’s protected, the tool says so in plain English. No password is ever tried and nothing is cracked — this works only on files you own and are authorised to recover.

Is this a Claris or FileMaker product?

No. Fetchavo is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Claris International Inc. or FileMaker Inc. “FileMaker” and “FileMaker Pro” are trademarks of their respective owner, used here only to describe which files the tool reads. It works on your own files — it does not crack, bypass or defeat any protection.

Independent — not affiliated with Claris or FileMaker. Fetchavo is an independent recovery tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or connected to Claris International Inc. or FileMaker Inc. “FileMaker” and “FileMaker Pro” are trademarks of their respective owner, referenced here solely to describe the file formats this tool reads (nominative use). Fetchavo works only with files you already own and have the right to access; it performs no DRM removal, password cracking, or circumvention of technical protection. All product and file-format names are the property of their respective owners.