Imports on FileMaker Server, But Better

Many FileMaker solutions need to import data—often from Excel or .csv. When this is done over a WAN, importing large datasets can be painfully slow. Years ago, we developed a technique to run imports directly on FileMaker Server instead of via the FileMaker Pro client. This significantly improved performance. With the introduction of Export Field Contents as a FileMaker Server-compabile script step, we’re now on the third generation of that approach,

An unexpected benefit of simplifying this pattern is that it becomes far more ‘AI-friendly’—the fewer moving parts, the easier it is for AI tools to understand, generate, and help maintain the workflow.

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What Happens in This Window, Stays in This Window

Using Get ( WindowUUID ) and JSON for true window variables in FileMaker 26

FileMaker 26 introduces Window UUIDs, enabling developers to create and manage window-specific variables using JSON. This innovation simplifies state management across multiple windows without the need for global variables or complex table structures. It reduces technical debt, enhances workflow flexibility, and allows for isolated, lightweight data storage specific to each window.

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Introducing Claris MVPs — plus an Interview with Beezwax’s Vincenzo Menanno

We’re thrilled to share some exciting news from the Claris community. Claris, an Apple company, launched the Claris MVP program, a new initiative recognizing the developers, mentors, and advocates who go above and beyond to help the community thrive. And we’re incredibly proud that our own Vincenzo (Vince) Menanno, Beezwax’s Chief Innovation Officer, has been named one of the first Claris MVPs.

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Beezwax Software Engineering Apprenticeship – Celebrating 9+ years

Since 2017, Beezwax has sponsored software engineering apprenticeships. We wanted to share a little more history and info about this program.

We designed our apprenticeships to provide opportunity for graduates of college engineering programs and coding schools like Qwasar.io, 42 The Network or Apple Developer Academy to enhance their professional training in software development plus gain real-world consulting experience working on projects for our clients.

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Why Fast-Growing Teams Outgrow Spreadsheets

In the early stages of building a team or company, spreadsheets are a gift. They’re simple, fast to set up, and familiar to just about everyone. Need to track spend, manage a process, or share information across a few people? Open a new tab in Google Sheets or Excel, and you’re off to the races.

But if your company is scaling quickly as it adds people, processes, and increasing pressure to move faster, spreadsheets can quietly become a liability.

At Beezwax, we’ve worked with hundreds of growing teams who hit the same problem. What started as a clever spreadsheet workaround slowly turned into a fragile, messy system that couldn’t keep up. In this post, we’ll break down why that happens and what comes next.

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See FileMaker analysis tools in action, including InspectorPro 9 — 2025 Claris Community Live

Special event featuring Beezwax’s Vincenzo Menanno and other Claris Partners

Gain deeper insight into how your Claris FileMaker solutions are structured and maintained. With the right developer tools, you can make changes confidently and have full visibility into the impact.

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Beezwax at Build Grow Learn 2025 – Claris Community Conference

Allison Bell Presents Transforming Time: Five Leadership Strategies to Maximize Impact and Model Sustainable Success

This month, September 8–10, we’re in Greenville, SC for Build.Grow.Learn 2025, a business leadership and growth conference designed for founders, entrepreneurs, and emerging executives. Beezwax is proud to support the event and share strategic insights that help businesses scale sustainably.

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Transforming Time: Strategic Framework for Leaders, Consultants, and Individuals

Time isn’t just a constraint—it’s a system. How we engage with time influences how we lead, how we deliver value to clients, and how we build lives that are sustainable and fulfilling.

This article outlines five time transformation strategies that help individuals, consultants, and leaders shift from reactive task management to intentional, purpose-driven action. Grounded in proven operational frameworks and shaped by real-world experience across personal and professional domains, these tools support better focus, sustainable execution, and long-term alignment.

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bBox 1.06 for FileMaker enhances support for macOS text windows and Python

We are pleased to announce the release of bBox version 1.06 for Claris® FileMaker®, which adds support for macOS text windows and many update enhancements, including to bBox’s support for integrating Python code with your FileMaker apps.

bBox is a free utility plug-in to extend FileMaker solutions to easily use code libraries. Supporting both macOS & Ubuntu Linux, it has functions to help you work with Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, AppleScript, Bash/Zsh/sh, XPath, and DuckDB. Also included is a demo file that has over 220 examples of how you can put bBox functions to work for you.

If you’re interested in Python integration with FileMaker, also check out bzPython-FM, which uses bBox.

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Retool, FileMaker, Airtable? Picking the Right Stack for Internal Tools

When building internal tools, you’re faced with a tough question that many fast-moving teams don’t ask soon enough:

What’s the right platform stack for what we’re trying to build?

From prebuilt dashboards to low-code platforms to fully custom apps, there are more options for internal tooling than ever—each with its own trade-offs.

  • Retool®
  • Claris FileMaker®
  • Airtable®
  • Custom-built Web Apps
  • …and plenty more depending on the department and the problem.

So how do you choose?

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New power for your everyday tools in FileMaker 2025 – Claris Community Live

Special event featuring Vincenzo Menanno from Beezwax, with Claris product team

Watch this Claris Community Live event where Vincenzo Menanno from Beezwax will join the Claris product team to discuss the enhancements available with FileMaker 2025 (v22). Learn about streamlined app upgrades, secure server integrations, and a modernized UI, prioritizing user feedback for improved functionality, enabling powerful new features for implementing AI with FileMaker.

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Native JSON Parsing in FileMaker 2025: A Revolution in Speed

In FileMaker 2025 (v22) a powerful shift has happened that changes how we work with JSON in FileMaker. This shift, thanks to JSONParse, is a huge leap forward in JSON efficiency. For any developer who has fought performance bottlenecks when handling large JSON payloads, the speed improvements are like switching from a bicycle to a Formula One racing car.

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Beezwax Sponsors Vienna Calling 2025 – FileMaker Developer Conference

Vincenzo Menanno Presents “Till Technical Debt do us Part!”

This week, June 5-7, we’re in Austria, at Vienna Calling 2025. The Claris® FileMaker® Developer conference feature open discussions, interactive workshops and collaborative break-out sessions. Beezwax is proud to be a conference sponsor.

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Beezwax Presents at Elevate FM 2025 – Toronto FileMaker Developer Conference

Vincenzo Menanno Presents “Modernizing Code – Maintaining Your Investment”

This week, May 26th, we’re at Elevate FM 2025, a brand new conference taking place in downtown Toronto, Canada. The Claris® FileMaker® Developer conference features sessions by industry experts, training workshops and interactive discussions.

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Explore using REST and cURL with FileMaker Data API

With FileMaker 2024 (v21), Claris unveiled powerful features and improvements aimed at enhancing data management efficiency and security. This blog post series covers the advancements in FileMaker’s Data API (FM DAPI), focusing on REST and cURL, which offer developers greater control and flexibility in their applications.


We’re providing a tutorial file (bzTrainer-FMDAPI) to help you learn and experiment with various REST and cURL functions using FileMaker’s Data API. Enjoy exploring!

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Using OData, Syslog or DuckDB to handle FileMaker Schema Change Notifications (via Plug-in API)

FileMaker Server v21.1 (2024) introduced functionality for plug-ins to receive notifications of changes to database schema, layout, custom functions, or scripts. Notification messaging is passed in the form of JSON. Let’s show a few examples of these JSON payloads, and how a plug-in might use external tools (Syslog, DuckDB or OData) to handle things.

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What’s New in FileMaker Pro 21.1? Exploring AI-Powered Semantic Search, Developer Productivity Boosts, Security and More

FileMaker Pro 21.1, the newest update to Claris FileMaker 2024, introduces powerful new AI capabilities and significant quality-of-life enhancements for developers. The Beezwax team gathered to dive into these exciting updates, including Chief Innovation Officer Vincenzo Menanno, Director of Engineering Andrew “Red” Witschonke, Developer & Systems Engineer Simon Brown, and Senior Developer Fabio Bosisio. Here are the highlights from their discussion.

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bBox 1.05 for FileMaker Now Available

We are pleased to announce the release of bBox version 1.05, which adds support for schema change notifications, a new Ubuntu ARM binary, and DuckDB integration.

bBox is a free utility plug-in to extend FileMaker solutions to easily use code libraries. Supporting both macOS & Ubuntu Linux, it has functions to help you work with Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, AppleScript, Bash/Zsh/sh, XPath, and SQLite. Also included is a demo file that has over 220 examples of how you can put bBox functions to work for you.

If you’re interested in Python integration with FileMaker, also check out bzPython-FM, which uses bBox.

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Beezwax Sponsors EngageU FileMaker Developer Conference

Vincenzo Menanno Presents “InspectorPro 8 for FileMaker: Investigate, Accelerate, Collaborate”

This week, November 17-19, we’re in Malmö, at EngageU. It’s the largest Claris® / FileMaker® Developer conference in Europe this year, and Beezwax is proud to be a sponsor.

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FileMaker Perform Script on Server: Episode IX – Endless PSoS Abilities

If you go looking for a FileMaker script step called Perform Script on Server on Server, you are not going to find it. Because this isn’t a new script step, but rather the same Perform Script on Server (PSoS) that we have always had, except that now it is FileMaker Server-compatible.

This capability allows FileMaker to fire off other Perform Script on Server scripts (from an existing script that is running on server), and either wait for those to complete or not. I have been thinking that with this feature one could build a main controller script and a set of worker scripts. That is just one idea, of many, I am sure.

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