Specifying formats for fields containing numbers

  1. In Layout mode, select one or more number fields, calculation fields with numeric results, or summary fields.
  2. In the Inspector, click the Data Data tab.
  3. In the Data Formatting area, click Number Number button, then choose a formats you want to use from the Format list.

    4. To display numbers

    Do this

    Rounded as needed or expressed in scientific notation, so the number fits within the default field boundaries

    For Format, select General.

    Exactly as entered

    For Format, select As entered.

    As a Boolean value (a value that is generally expressed as one of two values—zero or non-zero)

    For Format, select Boolean.

    To change the default values, type a new value (up to seven characters) for Show non-zeros as and Show zeros as (such as "Yes" and "No").

    As a decimal number

    For Format, select Decimal.

    • To specify that each value be displayed with the same number of places, select Fixed number of decimals and type a value. (A positive value specifies places to the right of the decimal place, a negative value specifies places to the left.)
    • To specify a unit for a number, type a Symbol to display for the unit and choose one of the options in the Notation list to specify where to insert the symbol.
    • Choose notation and color for negative numbers, change the decimal separator character, and choose a character that separates thousands at every three digits.
    • To include a kanji separator, click Kanji separator and choose either the every 4th place or full notation options.

    As a percentage (FileMaker Pro multiplies the value by 100 and displays %)

    For Format, select Percent.

    As currency

    For Format, select Currency.

    As scientific notation

    For Format, select Scientific Notation. To specify the size of the expression, select Fixed number of decimals and type a value.

    As nothing if the number is zero

    For Format, select Decimal. Then select Do not display number if zero.

    Using the current system formats for decimals and thousands separators

    In the Separators area, select System Settings.

    FileMaker Pro displays the decimal separator and thousands separator based on the current system formats when the file is opened.

    Using a different Japanese numeral type (if you're using a font that contains Japanese characters)

    For Format, choose a display type.

    With different text formatting

    Select text options using the Appearance Appearance tab in the Inspector. See Specifying text formats for fields.
  4. Press Enter or Tab, or click outside the Inspector to apply the changes.

Notes 

  • If you specify General format and the field value is a number with 10 or more digits, FileMaker Pro displays the number using scientific notation, or rounds the number, or both, if necessary, to fit within the 10-character maximum for the default field boundaries. When a number is expressed in scientific notation, you see a decimal number expressed as a power of 10, for example, 123,456,789,000 could be displayed as 1.2346E+11. If the field value is a number of fewer than 10 digits, specifying General format produces the same result as specifying As entered.
  • If FileMaker Pro displays a number in a field as a ?, try enlarging the field boundaries in Layout mode to see the entire value. (When you print a layout with a field that is displaying a ?, FileMaker Pro prints as many digits as will fit within the field boundaries and truncates the other digits.)
  • Numbers formatted as decimals are rounded when the number of decimal digits exceeds the specified fixed number of decimal digits. (For example, if you enter 789.78 and you specify 3 fixed digits, you see 789.780 in the field; if you specify 0 fixed digits, you see 790; if you specify -2 fixed digits, you see 800.) However, FileMaker Pro stores and uses the unrounded number for calculations and summaries.
  • Only numbers are displayed and printed in a number field formatted as decimal (except for separators and notations specified in the Inspector). To display text and symbols (for example, @1.98 per pound) in a number field, select As entered. If you use the field in a calculation or summary, only the numeric value is used.
  • If you specify the format as Boolean, any values in the number field that contain non-numeric data display as blank because they do not contain any numeric content. For example, the value "ABC" would display as blank. However, non-numeric field content returns false in calculations.

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