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Creating accounts

You can create accounts for every individual who accesses a file, or create fewer accounts that are shared among many individuals, such as a “Marketing” account and a “Sales” account. You must assign a privilege set to each new account. For details about accounts and privilege sets, see About accounts, privilege sets, and extended privileges.

To create an account:

1.	Choose File menu > Manage > Security.

The Manage Security dialog box appears. The Accounts tab lists the accounts defined for this file.

2.	Click New.

3.	In the Edit Account dialog box, for Account is authenticated via, choose FileMaker.

For information about accounts managed by an external server, see Creating accounts that authenticate via an external server.

4.	Enter an account name and password for the account.

Tip  If you plan to create accounts for individual users, you may want to base each account name on the User Name defined in the Preferences dialog box. This User Name is the default account name that appears in the dialog box that prompts a user for an account name and password. The user won’t have to re-type the account name if it matches the User Name.

For tips on specifying a password, see Tips for creating account names and passwords.

5.	To force the account user to choose a new password the first time he or she logs in, choose User must change password on next login.

Note  In most cases, an account that is shared by multiple users should not force a password change upon first login. Instead, you should specify a password and provide it to the users that need it. Also, the privilege set for a shared account should not permit password changes because one user could change the password and lock out all other users who share the account. For more information, see Editing other privileges.

6.	For Account Status, choose whether you want the account to be active or inactive.

For example, you may want to keep the account inactive until you finish setting up its privilege set or temporarily make an account inactive. Users cannot open a database using an inactive account name and password.

7.	For Privilege Set, choose the privilege set you want to use with this account.

You can choose an existing privilege set, or choose New Privilege Set and create a new one. For more information, see Creating new privilege sets.

8.	For Description, enter a description of the account (optional).

9.

Click OK.

10.	In the Manage Security dialog box, do one of the following:

•	If you’ve finished working with accounts and privileges, click OK. In the dialog box that appears, enter an account name and password that is assigned the Full Access privilege set, and click OK.

•	To continue working with accounts and privileges, see Creating and managing accounts, Creating and managing privilege sets, or Managing extended privileges.

Notes

•	Passwords are case-sensitive. For example, if you specify a password as zFootBallz, FileMaker Pro will not accept zfootballz. When you’re entering a password for an account, you may want to make sure the Caps Lock key on your keyboard is not inadvertently enabled.

•	Account names are not case-sensitive. For example, if you specify an account name as Chris, the account user can successfully open the file by entering chris or CHRIS as the account name.

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If multiple users are sharing the same account (such as a shared “Marketing” account or “Sales” account), change the password occasionally, particularly when certain users no longer require access. Re-distribute the new password to the people who need it, and remind them not to share the password with unauthorized users. For more information, see Editing existing accounts.