The short version. The message begins: “This is a genuine FileMaker 7+ file (.fp7/.fmp12 family). This release fully recovers the older .fp3/.fp5 (FileMaker Pro 3-6) family…” Fetchavo recognised the file as FileMaker’s and recognised its generation. It does not read that generation, and it says so instead of handing you half a database.

What the message is telling you

FileMaker’s file format changed over the years. The oldest family, .fp3 and .fp5 (FileMaker Pro 3 to 6), is what Fetchavo reads. Files from FileMaker 7 onward, .fp7 and later .fmp12, use a different layout. Fetchavo can tell that a file belongs to that newer family, and stops there. Nothing was read out of it, and your original was not changed.

The first thing to try (free)

A file from FileMaker 7 or later is the kind of file FileMaker itself is built to work with. If you or someone you know has a copy of FileMaker, open the database there and export it, to CSV or to a spreadsheet. That is the route that keeps the layouts, calculations and relationships the program understands.

If it was an .fp7 file and you are not sure what your version of FileMaker will do with it, the publisher’s own support pages are the place to check, because that depends on the version you have.

What the file is, and how to tell

The extension is the quickest guide. .fp3 and .fp5 are the older family that Fetchavo reads. .fp7 and .fmp12 are the family it only recognises. If a folder holds a mix, each file gets its own answer, and the others are not affected by this one.

Honest scope. Fetchavo does not read .fp7 or .fmp12 files in this release. If those are the files you have, it is not the tool for them, and the free preview will tell you so without costing anything. For .fp3 and .fp5 files it recovers your data, meaning the stored field text, read-only. It does not carry across layouts, scripts, calculations, value lists or relationships, and it does no password cracking and no protection bypass.

Supported operating systems: Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), and macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon. One purchase covers both.

The order to work in

  1. Copy the file. Work on the copy.
  2. Check the extension: .fp7 or .fmp12 means a newer file.
  3. Open it in FileMaker if you can, and export from there.
  4. Any older .fp3 or .fp5 files in the same pile are the ones to bring back here.