I'm hoping that I can gain some insight into solving the following ....
I maintain a Family Archive that contains a large collection of papers, photos and memorabilia that currently covers four generations. While much of the material is personal in nature, some is related to the early years of a family business. It is all housed in 10X10 climate-controlled storage.
When first organized I made the decision to go with FileMaker; it was fairly simple to learn, flexible, and had been around long enough to commit to. That was FM 8.5, but given FM's steady upgrade cycle alongside macOS and hardware upgrades I now feel obliged to consider alternatives. The expenses to related to all of these upgrades are very real.
More specifically, FM contains: over 600 individual records describing thousands of individual items. Fields include: Box Number, Record Number, Description, Notes, Date, Series, and Subseries. There are no photographs in FM. All records/fields must be searchable since sorting remains - and will remain - on on-going process. Additional items are also being added on a regular basis.
So the central question is whether I remain with Filemaker. I'd like to know what alternatives might exist. It does seem clear that this is hardly a complex database. The process of changing doesn't seem especially scary since sorting and additions means the records are being regularly updated anyway. Access to records by iOS doesn't seem critical though it might add some convenience.
I maintain a Family Archive that contains a large collection of papers, photos and memorabilia that currently covers four generations. While much of the material is personal in nature, some is related to the early years of a family business. It is all housed in 10X10 climate-controlled storage.
When first organized I made the decision to go with FileMaker; it was fairly simple to learn, flexible, and had been around long enough to commit to. That was FM 8.5, but given FM's steady upgrade cycle alongside macOS and hardware upgrades I now feel obliged to consider alternatives. The expenses to related to all of these upgrades are very real.
More specifically, FM contains: over 600 individual records describing thousands of individual items. Fields include: Box Number, Record Number, Description, Notes, Date, Series, and Subseries. There are no photographs in FM. All records/fields must be searchable since sorting remains - and will remain - on on-going process. Additional items are also being added on a regular basis.
So the central question is whether I remain with Filemaker. I'd like to know what alternatives might exist. It does seem clear that this is hardly a complex database. The process of changing doesn't seem especially scary since sorting and additions means the records are being regularly updated anyway. Access to records by iOS doesn't seem critical though it might add some convenience.